Can I Use an American Notebook in Europe?

[Monique]

I want to buy an American (Japanese) notebook, since they are quite cheap in the States. The only problem is that I will be moving for good to Europe (Netherlands) next month, so I am not sure how different the systems are. Ofcourse the electricity nets are totally different..

So is it a good idea or will I run into a lot of problems?

 

[eNtRopY]

Originally posted by Monique
I want to buy an American (Japanese) notebook, since they are quite cheap in the States. The only problem is that I will be moving for good to Europe (Netherlands) next month, so I am not sure how different the systems are. Ofcourse the electricity nets are totally different..

So is it a good idea or will I run into a lot of problems?

I don't see why you're so concerned with the electricity net. Most notebooks come with an AC/DC adapter that can take any input ranging from 100 to 240 Volts and 50 to 60 Hertz as long as the current stays below 2.25 Amps. All you need to do is buy a simple plug adapter for $3 from a store like Radio Shack and your notebook will work just fine.

You might be annoyed by the differences in American versus Germanic keyboards, but since you've lived in America for the past two years, you should be used to this difference by now.

eNtRopY

P.S. I wouldn't wait until this last minute to buy your notebook unless you get it from BestBuy and pay to have a full system check before the leave the store. Even then, it's best to allow for about a month of usage before you know that there are no physical problems with your system.

 

[Monique]

Thank you for the reply Entropy, I actually asked a computer person today and he also said that there should be a problem.. except for double taxation :S

It might seem like a silly question but systems in the states and europe, or actually, the states compared to the rest of the world are SO different.. that it made me wonder.

Not just the electricity, but plugs, and vcr tapes in the states are for instance incompatible with vcrs in europe. So I thought there might be hardware differences in the notebooks too (stickshift cars in europe, automatic ones in us).

Why do you say that there is a difference with the keyboard between American and Germanic ones? They are the same as far as I know. There IS a difference with the ones in Italy, I had the hardest time writing e-mail messages, trying to find the shift, enter, dollar etc keys :)

 

[Monique]

Ok this is what a computer store in the Netherlands told me:

They said that the chance is high that the adapter won't stand the different net voltage for a long time and might break.

There is a difference in the TV-out. US televisions use NTSC (?) while in the Netherlands we use PAL (?).

The operating system might be a problem since it is all in english and might give substantial problems in case of technical problems (? That is what he said). In some cases it might not be possible to install a new version of Windows since the US works with recovery CD's whereby the computer with the operating system is reset to the factory settings (?).

And the most important one: an american laptop won't have the service garantee in europe so if it break in the first year I am toast!