buying laptop

[xUmex]

Hi guys. I am an student in tokyo for this year and really need to have a laptop. The problem of course is that there all Japanese and the few they do have are extra expensive. Does anybody have some advice? Perhaps to order overseas and get it shipped overhere? Any sites for that?

Greetings,

Arthur Wolf

[Ptyx]

If you get a mac, langage won't be an issue and the japanese keyboard is similar enough to the american keyboard not to worry.

But if you hate mac and want a pc, and don't really care about langage and price's not really an issue well i know you care about those stuff but still this thing looks great you should buy one.

[yakinoumiso]

If you're not concerned with having an export model, you can probably buy any laptop that has an exchangeable keyboard, drop in the keyboard of your choice and then do a wipe and clean install of your OS of choice. Then you're all set.

If you can accept Apple products, you can buy any Powerbook or iBook, and they will just swap the keyboard for you at no addnl cost. OSX is inherently multi-lingual, so you can configure it on the fly to give you English menus and messages. The classic OS will be in Japanese, but you can always buy a shrink-wrap copy of the OS.

If you need a Windows machine, I have no idea how well that'll work for them, or how common it is. At the minimum, you'll probably have to buy a shrink-wrap copy of the OS, and the foreign keyboard. At which point, I think the export model starts to look more attractive.

If my limted experience is any guide, you can probably find the same computer cheaper in the US, but buy the time you add in international air shipping, and duty, the price difference is a wash.

Good luck...

[yakinoumiso]

If you get a mac, langage won't be an issue and the japanese keyboard is similar enough to the american keyboard not to worry.

If you touch type, the J-layout may be a problem, at least at the beginning. Almost all of the punctuation and shift keys are moved plus there is an extra 5 or so keys between the letters and return key. You'd get used to it, I'm sure, but it's worth your while to check the layout to see how disruptive it'll be for you.

[tonikoro]

To add to what was previously mentioned, I do know that if you order from the apple store japan online, you can select which keyboard layout you'd like. I'm sure the actual apple store might be able to do the same, unless they have to order it. I have a japanese key on a G5 and it only took a short time to get used to it. *might even be able to get the student hookup

[GridReaper]

I bought an iBook G4 with an English keyboard and also bought an external bluetooth Japanese keyboard for the convienience.

If you are forced to get a PowerBook or iBook with a Japanese keyboard, I believe that there are English keyboard overlays you can get. Just set your OS to the American keyboard layout, place the overlay over your keyboard, and there you go.

They may have Windows equivalents of the overlays for PCs.

The Apple bluetooth keyboard works fine with Windows XP machines, FYI.

The Kansai Flea Market has a few adverts for English system computers for gaijin, as well.

[tonikoro]

-Not quite sure that overlay thing will work in the case of macs, as
it may have to do with the physical input of a JIS keybord and one that is ASCI. My JIS keys are no different in logging into the accnt. in Japanese than would be to log in as english.

[sy-co]

Beware!!

I have a Japanese NEC LaVie. I recently replaced the Japanese version of WinME with XPPro. I couldn't get the sound card to work after trying every damm thing. I had expert help and am pretty comp savvy but no joy. I had to re install ME Jversion

NEC customer service basically said they dont support any OS other than the one supplied with the machine and the sound card didn't have XP drivers.

My other suggestion is to replace the software you use with English stuff. I now run Japanses WinME with English versions of Office and Mozilla. Only when you have OS problems does it get tricky. I try to find help on the net with a site using screenshots of the problem and follow using the letters in brackets as a guide. The bracketed letters are always the same.

Windows sucks soooo bad and Linux is too bloody challanging as a desktop (great as a server though). Buy a Mac!

[emperor]

I got a VAIO with Japanese OS for my year of study in Japan.. and it was fine for the most part.. but now i wish i had bought a powerbook