Bringing a Laptop from North America to Australasia?

[Hypochondriac]

Dear all,

To bring or not to bring, that is the question. My friends and I have been thinking about this as we're both packing our luggages and preparing our trip down south. Regrettably, we both know virtually nothing about computers. We realize that the voltages in N. America and in the Australasia are different, and would like to know if that would have an effect on the life span of notebooks/laptops.

I've heard that laptops have internal devices that could somehow change their settings according to the voltage coming in to the machine, so that no harm is done to the machine regardless of where you purchase it.

Pleave advise me on whether or not it's better to buy a laptop in OZ/NZ. In fact, I'm thinking of buying one in Asia on our way there as the models in Asia are newer, and cheaper too!

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[redshifteffect]

Originally posted by Hypochondriac
Dear all,

To bring or not to bring, that is the question. My friends and I have been thinking about this as we're both packing our luggages and preparing our trip down south. Regrettably, we both know virtually nothing about computers. We realize that the voltages in N. America and in the Australasia are different, and would like to know if that would have an effect on the life span of notebooks/laptops.

I've heard that laptops have internal devices that could somehow change their settings according to the voltage coming in to the machine, so that no harm is done to the machine regardless of where you purchase it.

Pleave advise me on whether or not it's better to buy a laptop in OZ/NZ. In fact, I'm thinking of buying one in Asia on our way there as the models in Asia are newer, and cheaper too!

here is the main problem i can see. If you buy a laptop from N.America it depends on where you buy it from and who the warranty is with. My housemate got one from malaysia (it was dirt cheap compared to one in CAnada) and on top of that the warranty was international...so she got it fixed free of charge by the ppl in australia.

as for voltage it's no big deal...all computers have the voltage converter built into the power plug unit that you plug into the wall socket. YOu will however need to buy yourself a socket converter which lets u convert from the N.American flat two prong to the angled australian one. Not a big deal..$6 in Radioshack (CDN) or $12 (AUS) in Dicksmith...

 

[Hypochondriac]

Thanks Redshifteffect!

 

[redshifteffect]

Originally posted by Hypochondriac
Thanks Redshifteffect!

No problem.

 

[C.P.]

if you've already got your computers, then call up the tech support line and find out two things; if the warranty is international, and where the repairs will be done if needed.
Some companies will repair it in australia, others will only offer out of country over the phone tech support. The last thing you want is to have to ship the thing by courrier back home to have it fixed.