Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zhanknight]

[Wad]

My biggest concern about buying electronics overseas, and then shipping them to Korea, would be warranty. What if something breaks? Can you actually get international warranties? Or would you have to ship it back to point of sale? The one thing I've always liked about Yongsan Electronics Market, is that when you have something break they generally just replace the part the same day. I've never had to wait weeks for something to be fixed unlike Canada.

[Bruce W Sims]

Ok................... I have a DELL Inspirion (E1505)......

yeah, I hear you snickering back there....

Anyways, I don't have much anxiety about the difference in voltage and what-not. My questions are more about day-to-day usage.

1.) I'll be bringing most of my teaching resources on an external hard-drive with a USB multi-connection into my lap-top. I won't be able to schlep a printer. How do most folks get their printing needs met?



2.) I'm bringing a mini-cam with me for SKYPE; any caveats I need to know about?



3.) Are most buildings fixed for WI-FI?



4.) Any comments about using lap-tops in the boonies?



5.) Anybody have any thoughts on the efficacy of typical Western computer security software (IE Norton; McAfee) vis the sorts of bugs that one might find unique to Korean websites and resources?



6.) Are there packages for extended-stay foreigners that bundle various services such as cell-phone and computer?



7.) How is the integrity of the infastructure? Rolling Black-outs? Power surges? "Brown-outs"? Storm outages? Seasonal or geographic considerations?



8.) Anybody have any media (Ie. disk, programs, software, file extensions)recommendations or warnings?



Any input on any of these questions would be a big help.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[glassandshells]

i apologize if this question has been answered, and i haven't been able to find it/recognize it.

i have a toshiba laptop i bought in the u.s. a few years ago. the plug that goes from the brick to the wall says 25A 250v~. on the brick itself it says input: 100-240v~ 1.5A, output: 15v --- 5A.

will i need an adapter and what kind? thanks for the help!

[CPT]

Not sure if this should go in this thread, but...

I have been looking around for a new laptop, and finally settled on just ordering one from Dell (XPS 15, if it matters), as I did 4 years ago.

Well, things seem to be a bit different now, and I've found out that I can only get English Windows if I buy Windows 7 Ultimate, which I would rather not do (extra 104k, plus I imagine it would take up a bit more space/resources with stuff I'm not going to use).

I've got a decent sized budget, as I want a laptop that will perform very well for the foreseeable future, and be good enough after that.

So, I guess this is to ask for advice on what to do if I still want to go with Dell, or what I can get for about 1.5 mil if I go in another direction.

[pkang0202]

[CPT]

Yes, but if I'm not going to buy it at all, it's still 104k that I didn't want to spend.

I just want Home Premium in English, and Dell says I can't have it.

[88Sparky]

Here is another rule of them. If your electronic device doesn't say 100 to 240 V INPUT 50/60 Hz, then I would get a transformer that is a step up/step down transformer. I got a transformer for about $13 USD, but the shipping was about $55 USD. As long as your shipping and the value of the product doesn't exceed 150,000 Korean Won, then you'll be fine.

[nile19]

So, if I want to bring my US laptop to Korea... all I need is a plug adapter?

[ttompatz]

[Arteta]

How easy is it to buy a laptop with Roman letters and an English BIOS?
I don't care about Windows because i'll buy my own and sort the software myself. I can just re-format and wipe the Korean Windows.

[Deja]

You need neither of those.
Virtually all BIOSes have English (at least any major brand), but do ask to confirm a specific model has it!
I think all laptops here have Roman letters (Koreans need them more than we do!), did you mean US/UK-layout maybe?
If you are buying Windows 8, check if it can be used in English first. Mine had English interface selectable, I think at first start (I am not sure, because my boss started it first, to register it, so I did not see). This is not guaranteed though, it could be with some editions only.

(I always wipe those actually, too much bloatware)

[Arteta]

Thanks for the reply. This is good news. Yeah I mean a UK/US layout. I haven't tried Windows 8, but I don't like the look of it, so I'm happy to bring Windows 7 over on DVD. So long as the BIOS is English then I can boot off the DVD.

[Deja]

In larger shops you can ask for a US keyboard layout. I did notice some laptops aren't exactly keyboard layout-changing friendly. E.g. the entire top cover (keyboard top, not monitor top) needs to be changed
But BIOS wise I think you are safe, just do ask.

[davidng]