I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

Hello all,
I have done some searches on here but haven't quite come up with what I'm looking for.
I can't see any way that I will cope without my pc/email until it arrives from the UK. I have so much info stored on here that I can copy to a CD, that I think a laptop is the best way forward.

But, where do I start?
So far from here I've gleaned that I would be best with Dell, plenty of memory and Fi Wi? Is that right?!!

Oh and I've got 5 days in Singapore on the way through, so any good outlets there (near Merchant Court Hotel).

Any help gratefully received.

Mrs. J.

Re: I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

Dunno about any outlets in Singapore but I bought an Acer laptop in the UK. It has more than enough memory and speed etc and Acer seem far more popular out here in Aus!!!(well Brisbane anyway)

Johnnet

Re: I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

I think its wi-fi - allowing wireless networking to other pc's

Hello the Jones's

This is my first ever post on this forum so it may be a little rough

I'm pondering the same thing, as I am in the same situation.

I have opted for saving all my work to DVD (around £50 for the drive, if you don't have one in your pc) which allows over 4 gig of info to be stored. Even if you are getting a laptop I would back all your files up anyway and keep these separate to your laptop. You never know what might happen.

As for the purchase of a laptop. I bought a laptop for my girlfriend for Christmas so we can keep in touch over web cam when I depart for OZ. To cut a long story short (here comes the moan) it took Dell over six weeks to get the laptop to me, which meant I didn't have a Christmas present for my gf :scared:

Dell also has all of its call centres in India, which adds to the problem of bad communication. The Tsunami has effected these call centres also which may make things even worse! This experience and the thousand phone calls and reference number quotes I made has made sure I will never buy a Dell again.

I'm opting to get a laptop when I arrive in Oz so it will be under local warranty if it breaks down, as laptops can be very temperamental, more so than a desktop pc.


Good luck with the purchase.......post back to let us know what deal you got and where.

Thanks

Re: I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

Lovely, thanks for that info. Perhaps I'll wait until I get there. In which case there is definitely some archive info on here which should help

Re: I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

PC World are doing an offer on Fujisu Siemens 15.4" widescreen notebooks - £800. Bought one myself on saturday. My only complaint was that they don't have enough RAM, but another £50 got me an extra 256K and they installed it for free. Just transferred all my files from the desktop (really worried about the PC working when it arrives in Oz!), and no problems so far. As it's widescreen, it doubles up as a DVD player for the kids - bonus :D

Re: I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

I just bought an Acer,have a look at this thread for the specs http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279268 , cost me $1699. Warranty is back to base (not too far from were we live, so bonus!) but the good part is that they guarantee a 2 hr turn around or they will give you one to use until its fixed.

Dell was a 2 week wait for a new laptop :scared: .

Re: I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

Hello,

We bought a laptop in Singapore on the way through. It cost about £660 and I got about AU$60 (I think) back on the duty (you claim this at the airport and they will pay in AU$). It is a Compaq Presario 4500 with 256k mem and 20G of disk. Note that it may have been end of range. It is supported in Australia; this may be a HP/Compaq thing. It is currently being fixed (the lightning screwed up the modem) in a place that is about 30 minutes drive away. Unfortunately Singapore uses the same plugs as the UK so you might need a new lead when you get here.

I got it in a Tech Mall in Singapore (which also seems to contain hairdressers and coffee shops). I can't remember the exact name of the mall but the hotel will know where it is.

Note that the laptops in Oz don't seem to be that expensive. Have you tried looking on the Dell Australia site?

If you buy one in the UK I think you can claim back some duty if you can prove you are leaving permanently.

This might give you some idea of prices here.
http://www.goodguys.com.au/v3/index.cfm

Regards
Alistair

Re: I need a laptop. Buy in UK or Singapore?
 

It's called Funan IT Mall & it's brilliant. 6 levels of hi-tech heaven. If you like gadgets, you've got to go there. You can also claim back the sales tax at the information desk on the ground floor, saves doing it at the airport.