Job Discussion Forums

grace · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 38 Location: Canada

Hello everyone. I hope that you're all well. I'm planning to to go to Kobe in November to buy a laptop. Does anyone know where I can purchase an English computer and how much I can expect to pay for it? I'm planning to purchase a simple one. Will I also be able to use it once I return to Canada? Thank you very much everyone!! Grace Very Happy

Smooth Operator · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 140 Location: Japan

http://www.mcljapan.com/

Yes, you can use it in Canada...

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

I recommend buying it in Canada before you come. Computers with English Operating Systems are very expensive here, heck everything is expensive here. I just bought a laptop this summer and paid 220,000 yen. You don't have a big selection of English computers here either and all the peripheries are pricey too.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Grace,

if you are going to go to the shop and buy one, you might want to make sure you have cash ready. I tried to buy a laptop at around 20 man a couple of years back at the largest computer store in Nagoya and was told my Barclaycard (VISA) was not acceptable. I paid cash in the end.

Don't know if anyone else has suffered this.

As long as you get Windows XP (which I presume you will) you will have IME as standard and will be able to read and write Japanese characters in ost situations by switching the options for Japanese on there. However, if you purchase and try to install some programs that are Japanese on an ENglish OS, you might have problems reading characters.

We bought a Japanese desktop and a separate Win XP (English) and had a computer bod stick both on the computer. At boot we can select which we want. Just so you know that if you have no option but to buy a Japanese machine there is a way around this if you know someone who can help you do this.

Gordon... shouldn't that be peripherals or is there something else I don't know Wink

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Grace... another option I've thought of is that you could also buy a second hand machine for much less than a brand new one. Shops in my area like Comp Mart (which may be in Kobe too) have almost new stuff that is considerably cheaper than new stuff though only a few months old.

ANother option going second hand is to get a machine with no OS and then buy English windows yourself and install it. You could probably find a good machine with no OS and only a year old for a very reasonable price. There are plenty around in Nagoya so I guess Kobe would be the same. If not that Osaka will definitely have places you could buy this kind of stuff at.

ellienihon · Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Posts: 34 Location: San Diego, CA

How about getting a Mac? I have heard that an iBook can do Japanese or English.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

With all due respect to ellienihon, I'd be wary of rumours like computers being able to do Japanese or English or buying computers by what someone has heard.

Whether it is Mac or Windows your basic operating system has to be in either Japanese or English doesn't it? WinXP does come in multiple language versions selectable on the same machine but individuals cannot buy these versions, only corporations and they are hideously expensive. Perhaps in the near future, someone at Microsoft will stick their head out of a window into the real world and realise bilingual or mulitlingual machines should be standard.

Anyway, iBooks don't have floppy disks - hello Question

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Macs are fairly rare here too. It is hard enough to get any type of support on an English OS, nevermind a Mac. The "computer experts" at my uni came to fix an old computer for me and they didn't know any more than I did. Rolling Eyes

Very sad.

Sherri · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:16 am Post subject:

I have a Mac ibook and a Mac desktop and LOVE both of them. I have a wireless airport system--great! System OSX has both a Japanese and and English OS. They are built in to the computer (I am not an expert--so don't ask me how). I can use both English and Japanese while using the English OS. It is also easy to find English support for Macs here. There is a Japan-based Mac helpline with English-speaking engineers so I have not had any language problems. Once my ibook broke down, they came to my house and picked it up, 1 day later they brought it back and it didn't cost me a penny because it was under warrantee. If you buy your computer in your home country it may not be covered here.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Sherri · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:47 am Post subject:

I have version 10.1.5 of OSX. It is about a year old. Yes (I think) to all your questions. It depends on whether I am using the English OS or the Japanese. So when I am using the English, error messages and the like are in English, when using the Japanese they are in Japanese. If I want to change from one system to another, then I select an icon and restart--though I seldom do this (it seems to do other languages too, but I have never tried them). I like to have everything in English. But the keyboard is a Japanese keyboard so some things are mixed up compared to a standard English keyboard. Still I can type in English or Japanese using MS word for Macs, on Outlook and I can select either the Japanese explorer or the English explorer.

As for floppy disks--I can't think of the last time I used one. I have an attachment in case I want to...but it is getting very dusty.

ellienihon · Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Posts: 34 Location: San Diego, CA

Wow, Sherri! That sounds even better than I had heard. If you don't mind, how hard was it to find, and how much did your iBook cost?

Sherri · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 12:05 am Post subject:

I live in Tokyo, so it was easy to find. If you are living in any big city here, I don't think you will have any problems. I got mine at LAOX, but any discount electronic chain will sell them. I can't remember how much it cost, but I did my homework and checked the prices in the States and found that they were comparable. One problem is finding software in English. It is so expensive here both for MAcs and PCs. I recommend getting MS word for Macs because it seems that everyone is using this program. The computer will open attachments in MS word even if you don't have it by converting it to another program (I can't remember what it is called because I hate it) but you lose a lot of the formatting and of course it is hard to send things that other people can open. At least with a Mac you don't have to put .doc (or whatever) after everything!

If you can, try to bring software with you or get a friend to send it over for you. They won't ship to addresses outside the US. The other day I wanted to buy some software for an educational program for my daughter. It costs less than $20 in the US, here it costs over 5,000 yen!

grace · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 38 Location: Canada

I would like to thank everyone for their sound advice! I really appreciate it! Living in Kochi City, on the island of Shikoku, finding anything in English is non-existent. I'm going to go with one of my students for the translation. I hope that everything goes well. Good - bye for now. Grace Smile

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Hey fellow Shikokuite,
I'm not too far from you in Takamatsu. I bought a laptop from a company in Japan. It was advertised in the Daily Yomiuri and they specialize in English OS computers and English keyboards. Scan the papers and you should find it, sorry I can't remember the name. Shipping is also free, but the computers were not cheap.