Laptops
 

Where do I find laptops in Spain with English as user language?

I looked around but seem only to find laptops with Spanish as user language.

I suppose I could buy in UK and have it sent over but that makes things tricky when there is a problem with the machine plus the fact that the warranty would only apply to UK.

Has anyone bought a laptop in Spain with English as user language? If so, where?

Thanks for all useful information.

Re: Laptops
 

I bought mine via Dell spain

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There is a place in Mollina that sells English laptops but they may not be the most up to date

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Either use Linux or purchase a PC and pay a few € more for an English version of windows.
Most shops will do that for you.
Here is one suggestion: UPI

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I have already a pc but need a new laptop.
I looked at Dell but almost all the write-ups where negative.

Please keep the options coming. ;)

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Several schools and colleges in the U.K. use Dell - maybe they just get a good deal.:)

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There is a free program that you can convert it to English, but I changed mine back to Spanish cos it helps learning the language.

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when my OH bought his here he simply chose English when he did the initial set-up

I did mine in Spanish - as did the kids - much to OH's annoyance:lol:

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I use English as a third language and I do find it difficult to work with computers in a different language. The terminology is sometimes difficult to grasp. I prefer to stick to English when working with computers. :cool:

I may have to ask the children to purchase a laptop in UK and ship it over but that would be as a last resort.

Unless of course someone here knows where to find it in ES.

I understand that the set-up is already in place in most laptops unless I am mistaken? Where did you purchase your laptop?

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hi, I am not a trader but can get part used UK laptops - they are good as they are from a bank so come with good software preinstalled. PM me if stuck as I get first dibs on any avail. I am not a trader so don't bin this post, I have given the last few away to deserving causes.

Also, they aren't stolen!

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If you are doing that, M&S and Amazon ship to Spain. My DIL has just been on the phone, asking me for my opinion of a laptop from M&S, two year warranty. It's fine for her needs.

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Buy from Dell Spain, They will supply UK keyboards and English Windows at no extra charge but you will need to phone them - the online site does not give you the option.

Buying in the UK may give warranty problems.

Some local Spanish computer companies will give you English Windows but as they have to pay about €70 for an OEM copy the price will be higher.

If you want details of a Dell contact who can sort it out for you please PM me.

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Unless you buy Windows 7 Ultimate you don't get a choice of language and even then you have to download the different language options and install them.

You can choose regional settings etc. but that does not change the basic language of the operating system.

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Thanks all for the info given.

I will have to digest all this. I won't make a discission yet but I will keep on looking and do a "compare" of all the options.

Thanks again for all the help.

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I bought my laptop from one of the big ones in England (Comet? PC World?) cheaper than it would be in Spain which allowed me to buy a two year Europe-wide warranty for about thirty quid.

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If you buy at Worton in Spain they will change the language to English for you for 40€.

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Buy any computer in any language & use one of these discs to change it to Englaish language. Once you've done that, charge anybody else that asks €80 to change their computer into English. Afterall that's all the majority of so called pc engineers do.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WINDOWS-RESTOR...item3a656a90df

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What about the keyboard?

The Spanish keyboard is quite different to UK keyboard. Not just the letter ñ but a lot of the special characters are in a different place.

Look at the keyboard before you buy. Are you happy with how you have to type in @ or / or : and ;?

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Certainly could, I only suggested the UK suppliers after he said "as a last resort", and rather wait for family to bring it out, the suppliers would have it there in a few days.

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So have you actually used it to change from Spanish to English?

There is nothing in their advert that suggests it can change the language.

There are only two ways that I am aware of to change the language.

The first is to reinstall Windows from an English language version.

The second is to download a multi language interface pack, free, from Microsoft. This will allow you to change the language - in fact you can have multiple language versions running at the same time - useful for multi lingual families.

I have both English and Spanish running on my PC. Unfortunately it only works if you have the Ultimate version of Vista or W7.

However there is a free program available (it's the one JDR referred to) which tweaks the ordinary versions of Windows to allow them to install the language packs.

You will find it at http://www.froggie.sk/

I haven't used it but many have. It's not a monster program - just a very clever registry hack.

Re: Laptops
 

If you use the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft then the language is easily changed and of course it's free.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

This does not resolve any problems with the keyboard.

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I asked a very similar question before Xmas.... this:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=694040
is the link (I hope!)
Not saying you'll get any more of a definitive answer, but it might help...

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I suggested this in post 4. We have a PC for guests and have it set up so that a person can log on in one of several languages. One day Windows will catch up with this idea.
Another advantage is hardly any viruses/malware.

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Yep that is the one Fred, I used it and it changed everything to English, although windows updates would not load up auto.
It`s more fun in Spanish though, so changed it back.

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If you want to stop your guests using your PC it can be fun to change it to Arabic:):)

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Or you can buy one in Gibralta which'll be UK keyboard. Depending where you are may be an option.

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There is a company called Pixmania (European wide web sites) with shops in Madrid and Barcelona, that sells UK laptops

Here's a link to the page about their UK laptops They also do Mac's in English. I can recommend them as I got my Sony VAIO there Oh and they are quite cheap :-)

http://www.pixmania.com/es/es/19343/...criteresn.html

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They are owned by Dixons - hardly a good recommendation!

They have a very bad reputation for customer service. I would hate to have to use them for any warranty support.

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I bought my English keyboard from Amazon UK, I couldn't get along with the Spanish one when touch typing! :confused: ;)

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Don`t make a lot of difference to two finger typists. :D

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Why would you use this disk when it cannot change the language.

It's designed to solve Windows Boot Problems and just contains a set of tools that most good I.T Engineers have anyway.

The only way to change the language is reinstall or download the language pack if you have the ultimate version of Vista / 7.

I bought a Compaq Laptop for a client about 6 months ago and it gave you the choice of language to install the first time you booted it up.

Why do people have a problem with Spanish Keyboards?

Re: Laptops
 

[QUOTE=Neil29649;9339885]Why would you use this disk when it cannot change the language.

It's designed to solve Windows Boot Problems and just contains a set of tools that most good I.T Engineers have anyway.

The only way to change the language is reinstall or download the language pack if you have the ultimate version of Vista / 7.

I bought a Compaq Laptop for a client about 6 months ago and it gave you the choice of language to install the first time you booted it up.

Why do people have a problem with Spanish Keyboards?[/QUOTE]


To get @ \ # you need to use AltGr. £ is impossible to find. : and ; are upper case. There are lots more but these are the most common problems.

I have been using computers since 1966, keyboards since the 1970s. I am used to a UK keyboard.

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[QUOTE=Mama_Carol;9340504]

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Using an English keyboard is intuitive, using a Spanish or even an American one is like learning to type all over again......life is too short to spend it doing that!:ohmy:

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Hi

A word of caution; I bought a Spanish laptop from El Corte Ingles. They said you can´t swap it to English. As I have a Windows 7 Ultimate disk (legal) I thought "Oh yes you can" as I have 35 years experience in computers.

Windows 7 Home edition (Spanish) would NOT update to Windows 7 ultimate because the languages were different.

The answer was to copy the drivers for everything to a pen drive, reinstall Windows 7 Ultimate from scratch, reinstall the drivers.

I have added the English keyboard configuration in case I want a pound sign. The "problem" is that the special characters above the numbers are all one place out!

But it works for me

Davexf

Re: Laptops
 

Froggie can.

Re: Laptops
 

I purchased an acer from el corte ingles. Now some machines came with language options depending on what version of windows was installed. This came in Spanish but over the Internet you can find the language converter to run. The operating system in now English although some software is in Spanish and of course it has a Spanish keyboard.

However I cope with it all very well so it worked out well for me.

One thing that is a good idea is to make sure you install some anti-theft software like Snuko Anti Theft just in case you have it stolen when traveling around.

Hope that all helps :)

Re: Laptops
 

Try looking in a Englisg language paper for where you are, of take a trip to a local town with a lot of expats, there is usually at least one around that will do as you want. We bought two laptops when we were living there, one with a UK keyboard and one with a Spanish one, but both had English operating systems

Re: Laptops
 

If you have a Spanish keyboard and you're used to the layout of an English keyboard -- and you're using Windows -- you can change the keyboard layout. The labels on the keys will obviously not change, but the character that appears when you press each key will.

See here for how to change the keyboard layout: http://erickeyboard.home.comcast.net/

Note that this page gives instructions to add a Spanish layout, but the procedure is the same to add an English (or any other language) layout. Just choose the language you want when you get the language list.

- Eric S.

Re: Laptops
 

I had two keyboard layout set up on mine, the Spanish it came woth and English. I only ever used the English to get the £ sign. I found it difficult to get used to an English keyboard when I bought my current one in England.