Buying Laptop In Beijing

[yayarotem]

hi People!

i'd like to buy a new laptop and i don't know where to buy. either in my home country (Israel) or in Beijing. i heard one can get some really cheap deals in this electronic market in Haidian. but i'm worrying about the quality of stuff. maybe they will put inside the laptop different things than written in the technical specifications.

can you give me some advices about that issue.

thanks.

yaya.

[Senzhi]

If you want to avoid a Volkswagen Beatle that looks like a BMW, then I suggest you order your laptop online.

Dell has always good deals that you can only order online, and other brands (e.g. HP, Lenovo etc.), you can also order over the phone.

If you want quality, I'd suggest the IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad brands, particlulary the business models T60 & T61. However, they do come at a price. Also only buy them from a shop where they actually prove they are ThinkPad certified resellers (the certificate gets renewed yearly).

Any other ways you'll have no guarantee of what's inside, only that it looks like a BMW.

[yayarotem]

thanks for your answer!

do you have a link to one of these on-line shops? is it in English?

and if not, do you know some prices of good quality laptops for example?

thanks.

Yaya.

[sthubbar]

I bought my current laptop in Haidian, specifically in Zhongguancun. I was not concerned at all about what they said was in the computer being misrepresented. I am very happy with my laptop. It is a Lenovo brand, with 1G of memory, 60G HD, I'm not sure about the processor, it's fast enough. It has built in wireless, and built-in SD card reader. Combo CD-ROM burner and DVD.

I had one problem with the DVD reader not reading some DVDs and I brought it to the service center and they replaced the DVD for free. Fast turn around too, I think it only took 1 day.

I paid around 6100 RMB for this laptop, about US $800.

[Senzhi]

Yaya,

Go to the web site of the brand you're looking for ... from there you'll be able to look at the specific country web site and the deals available.

Mentioning prices here is not a good idea, as the pricing market as well as configurations are very volatile. What is available today might not be the case tomorrow.

Why don't you have a look at the web sites of the different brands and start comparing?

[magores]

I have a little experience with buying computer stuff in Beijing.

From what I have experienced, if you are buying a computer, then you are fine buying it in your home country. Prices aren't that much lower in Beijing for a whole computer. (Compared to SF Bay Area, in the the US.)

If you are buying components, then Beijing (specifically Zhongguancun), can definitely be cheaper.

But, in Beijing, there is also the whole "negotiation" issue.

Depending on where you live, the travel time on the bus, how good you are at bargaining in Chinese, and how much you value your time, it might be worthwhile to just buy whatever you need before you get here.

[cdn_in_bj]

and how much you value your time

Not to mention your personal space! But after spending some time here, you will get used to it.

[cdn_in_bj]

How do prices on laptops in Israel compare to the US? If it's about the same, then I'd buy it at home and bring it here with you.

[mmarketing]

I woul not go with Dell. They have some nice designs but most of my friends who own them have encountered problems. I think this is mostly because Dell has different fabs in Asia who makes them and then they just stick their label "Dell" on it.

You should check out to purchase it online because you can find some good deals. If you get it out of your country, don't forget to try to get the tax back. In the U.S. typically you can find a decent Compaq or other middle-class laptop for just 500-700$US at Fry's Electronics ..