Hi,

Before moving over to Spain I would really like to replace my desktop PC system with a more streamlined laptop / notebook.
Could anyone please advise me as to whether it might better to buy one here in the UK before I go, or would it be less hassle to buy one in Spain?

Are there generally any compatability problems with PCs intended for the UK market - indeed, would one work over there without modification, other than an adaptor plug?

And is there such a good selection as in the UK?
Any advice appreciated - cheers

C-Cat

I used my UK laptop in Spain for two years without problem. Unless you're going to be typing in Spanish and want a Spanish keyboard an English one is fine.

I agree. My UK pc works fine, and I'm now on broadband as well. I also think that there are probably better deals available in the UK. I know that's a bit of a sweeping statement but it is my impression. I'd say buy it there.

I agree with the statement that bringing your own over here is absolutley no problem, but I do disagree with the fact that to buy one, it is cheaper in UK, in our local shopping mall, (40kms) distance you can buy up to date complete system for two thirds UK price, ( I do mean up to date) I do know what I am talking about (before anyone jumps down my throat) I belong to family of computer IT experts.
But the choice is yours
Pat

Hey, no-one will jump down your throat (I hope!) - you're just trying to help, like the rest of us. That sounds good, where is this place and what can you get (for example) at two thirds the price?

Thanks for the helpful replies. If I did decide to bring my desktop PC to Spain (don't think I can bear to part with it as I've only had it a year!) is a 2-pin plug adaptor the only thing I'd need, or would a more complicated adjustment be necessary for it to work? Sorry if this sounds silly but it's very important to me, as I use my computer for work.
Thanks
C-Cat

Yes, a two pin adapter is all you need. Cost under 2 euros.

firstly, the shop I know of is in the comercial centre at El Ejido, if you are still interested will be there friday and post details once home. secondly buy a surge protector because of the power cuts etc, well worth the cost, I am still using three pin plugs with adaptors but connected to mains with surge protector extension lead.

A surge protector will certainly protect against power surges but for serious protection from surges, spikes, brown outs and actual power cuts you need to consider investing in a UPS.

I would agree that computers in Spain are good value but unless you are going to be comfortable with Windows and any other pre-loaded programs in Spanish you need to be sure that they will load everything in English for you.

If you buy a laptop computer in the likes of Gran Canaria, can it be brought into mainland Spain duty free?? That would be my idea of taking a computer into Spain at the cheapest price..

For those of you who do not know what UPS is see below,

UPS then its basically a battery that plugs in between your PC etc to the mains, so in the event of power loss everything keeps going on battery, heavy buggers though! Can get software to shut the PC's down gracefully while you are not about - if and when it happens.

Pat

The the need arises you enter any special character buy pressing alt and the four digit code on the numeric keypad. Look at the character mapper to find the codes.

Otherwise you could simply buy a spanish keyboard very cheaply.

Software like spell checking will be different, but you can download the spanish version of OpenOffice for free from http://www.openoffice.org/ or install Linux with a spanish language option.

I recently had to fix a laptop owned by an Argentinian.
It was the first time I had dealt with a different language version of Windows, and brought about it's own set of difficulties esp not having the original installation disks.

You may want to check that the shops in Spain can load an English version of Windows for you - or then again you might like to have a Spanish version. Just a thought.

You can add Spanish as a secondary language in Windows XP - control panel, regional and language options, languages . Click details box and add, you can then easily switch between english and spanish keyboard modes to get the Spanish character set.

Buying:
Spain isn't really up to speed with online ordering like in the UK so there isn't a great deal of competition. In Britain you can get fantastic prices on pc parts.

Laptops - generally cheaper in the UK from my experience.

New PCs - not so many mail order companies here so , again, not so much competition. You could and can pay 200 euros for a crappy CRT 17" monitor, something that can cost between 30 and 60 quid now in the UK.

Shop around, strangely LIDL and the Hipermarkets tend to have the best deals I've seen so far but not everything is available all the time. He who sleeps misses the half price memory sticks.

How does that work?
One of the problems I found when installing English Win98 over Spanish was that things like My Desktop, My Documents, Start Menu are named differently. To get things back the way they wre I had to go in to the 'Inicio' folder and copy the structure to the 'Start Menu' folder etc.
Does WinXP handle this differently, after all these are special name folders to the OS?