Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Boog]

Hi all,

I got a teaching position in Pusan Korea. I am wondering if I should get a laptop from Canada and bring it to Korea or get a laptop from Korea once I get there?

Thank you very much

Pete

[Underwaterbob]

It depends really, some things will be cheaper here, some things will be cheaper there. The won isn't so hot right now, so if you're planning on converting Canadian currency to Korean to purchase said laptop you might get yourself a great deal.

If you want a Mac, definitely pick it up there.

[Gollywog]

Judge for yourself:

http://global.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_category/category.asp?gdmc_cd=200000434&link_type=LIST&-----------All----------&sort_field=sell_price&page=1&price_unit=

Are they cheaper than Canada?

Can you figure out what you're buying?

Can you figure out how to use it if Windows is in Korean, and the drivers are in Korean?

Can you buy the laptop with Windows in English, the drivers in English, the instructions in English? How much extra?

How long is the warranty?

One good thing about a Korean laptop: it will do Hangul. But you can get an external keyboard for a laptop that will do Hangul.

Now look at these websites:

http://www.amazon.ca/Computers-PDAs-Electronics/s/qid=1238833498/ref=sr_nr_n_4?ie=UTF8&rs=667823011&bbn=677239011&rnid=677211011&rh=n%3A667823011%2Cn%3A677239011

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/dept.asp?logon=&langid=EN&catid=20352

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Notebook.aspx?name=PCs-Laptops

Any questions?

[Boog]

Yes I have a question. Is the $ value on the Gmarket site CAD$ or U.S.$?

From what I can tell I think it is U.S. $. I did the exchange for one of the Korean prices to both CAD$ and U.S.$ and it was about 10$ off the U.S.$.

edit answering some of your questions from the last post:

They seem to be about the same as the Canadian price.

Yes I was able to understand the technical specks on the Korean site. Though I bet if I go into a store when I am in Korea I would have a much harder time to understand.

I do not know if I can get a Korean PC/laptop in English format. However I do have a work around for that�. I have a XP OS disk so if worst comes to worst I can clobber the Korean stuff if I do not get it. I bet if I really wanted to be different I could load a unix based OS on it (I like the Ubuntu right now). Then I can continue to download the English drivers. Lots of work though.

Warranty is a good question. Also I should be interested in if I can get warranty coverage in Korea if I get a Canadian laptop.

Hangul, that totally slipped my mind.

I now have one more question� Are there laptops in Korea that are better and/or cooler than what can be found in Canada? If so what are they?

[bassexpander]

If you buy a new HP notebook computer with Vista in Korea, you can choose English or Korean on it from the first start-up. Desktops are a different matter.

You get Hangul on the keys if you buy in Korea. If you load English OS on it, you can download the IME character thingie for free and that'll be good enough for Hangul.

[crossmr]