Hello, I don't have a lot of technological know-how so thought someone on here could help!

I am buying a laptop but will be going to Canada on an IEC visa in February - does it make sense to buy one here and bring it over (as I will want to start using it immediately when I get there) or wait till I am over there and buy one - are there any restrictions regarding software/filesharing/downloading etc? Or will these things be resolved once I get a Canadian internet server?

Thanks in advance!

What do you need the laptop to do?

I would personally start out by comparing the prices in the UK to Canada (make sure you compare bananas to bananas)!

You will not have any difficulties in bringing it over but if you are around for a long time and buy in the uk then I would also see the price of the US/Canadian cord for the laptop rather than having a 'plug convertor' on it.

Probably cheaper in Canada FWIW....

I have no idea (haven't shopped in the UK for a while)

I will mainly just be using it for searching for jobs, editing my resume, writing cover letters and things like that (and after/if I find a job then it will mainly just be for entertainment purposes). Looking at 'ultrabooks' right now, which I believe are the latest version of netbooks...

And that make sense about the cord, will look into that! Thanks for the responses.

Note that you probably do just need a new cord and not the whole power adapter; when I was in Holland a while back with a Canadian laptop I went to the local back street electrical store and bought a new cord for a few Euros that plugged into the power adapter in place of the Canadian cord.

Take a look at futureshop.ca for an example of prices here; you can find better deals online or at specialist stores if you know where to go, but you can walk into a Future Shop in pretty much any city and get a laptop in ten minutes.

This is a good example, still a little pricey imho but uses SSD instead of a regular harddisk drive so should be, in comparison, a lot quicker and consume less battery power.

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ.../10227115.aspx

Copyright laws.

In reality not true.

Legally it is, but with any computer there is no protection - for either user or copyrighter.

Do you want a US keyboard or a UK one? I'd guess the former would be better, making $ signs and such easier to use. If that's the case, get it in Canada.

Good point actually. Never really thought about that aspect before.

In regards to the copyright issues, can you give an example? Just trying to see if this is something that is likely to affect me - I will be buying windows and microsoft packages but I'm guessing their copyright laws are largely universal?

Actually the keyboard issue has probably made me favour getting one from here as US/Canadian ones don't seem to have £ keys? And I can't say for certain how long I will be in Canada for so probably best to get one that is easy to use in both places!

Thanks again for the responses

Machines sold in Canada don't have the £ key (there are other differences too, such as the placement of the @). It's possible to enter a pound by using an encryption but, if the primary intent is to use the machine in the UK, then I think buying it in the UK makes sense.

In order to use the machine in Canada (or most anywhere outside the UK) you'll need a travel adaptor for the plug but they're only a couple of quid.

Alt+0163 = £ Alt+0162 = ¢ Alt+36 = $

or set the keyboard to UK English in the language options and all the keys are where you'd expect them to be! (assuming you know where £$ and @ are in the first place)

on the work computers i foundd myself constantly putting email addresses like Dave"telus.com, so changed all the settings to UK English layout