Job Discussion Forums

carleenmarie · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 12 Location: Philadelphia

I'm going to need to have a laptop while I'm overseas, and was planning on buying one here before I leave. Then I heard that laptops are infinitely cheaper in Asia. Can anybody give me some insight here?

SEndrigo · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 437

Yeah good question there, I was thinking of asking the same thing myself.

I'm looking to get a laptop too, and I'm not sure whether I should just wait and get one in Taipei or buy one here in Los Angeles.

Does anyone know if it's cheaper to buy a used Apple laptop in Taiwan or in the US?

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

It's kind of a myth that prices are infinitely cheaper over here. One Taiwanese friend I have who worked in the US actually commented to me how much cheaper electronics appeared to be in the US vs Taiwan. Bottom line is prices for these kinds of items are pretty international now and differences in price for the same item are not going to be dramatic from location to the next.

If I were you, I'd just buy a laptop there where you can enjoy service in English and be able to easily locate software in English as well.

773 · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 213

Definitely buy one in the States to take over with you. The prices in the US and Taiwan are virtually identical, and buying one in the States will save you a whole lot of hassle. You will be able to communicate with salespeople at home to ensure you are getting what you want. In Taiwan, there will be a language barrier.

Aside from that, even "reputable" places where one can buy computers in Taiwan do things like give you illegally copied software and even when they install everything in English, the operating system is still inherently Chinese and there are some things that can't be translated into English. I am no techie, but my husband is, and his biggest regret was buying a laptop in Taiwan. He bought an IBM directly from the company there...it never ran right, he was not give a reboot disk (or whatever you call it) because "we don't do that in Taiwan"... Shocked

The quality of the laptop was questionable as well. When it eventually crashed, he had no disk to reboot it. It was a nightmare for him.

I also wonder sometimes if computers made in Taiwan for export aren't simply better quality than the same computers made to sell in Taiwan. Definitely buy one in the US, and get an international warranty for it.

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

MomCat · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 297

craigzy · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 87 Location: taichung

generally, dvd players in laptops and pc's will play discs from any region.

BigWally · Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:45 am Post subject:

i have a buddy who is a self proclaimed "computer geek" (he's got 3 Mac's and a PC, plus a hacked XBox & Wii)....so i trust him when it comes to computer knowledge, and from what he's told me, buying a computer here, is going to be nearly as expensive as buying at home...unless you're looking for something along the lines of Acer or Asus, which are more local and somewhat cheaper than say HP, Dell or Macs.......

if you have a chance to go to the electronics market in Hong Kong however, you may be looking at quite a different story...

carleenmarie · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 12 Location: Philadelphia

I was envisioning myself in some Taiwanese Best Buy, and to be honest, the thought kind of terrified me. So, thanks in part to all your helpful feedback, stateside it is!

773 · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 213

pest2 · Joined: 28 Oct 2006 Posts: 170

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

BigWally · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:39 am Post subject: