PC electricity question: buying a PC in Japan for the UK?

[erbiumfiber]

Sorry for the boring question but here it is. My daughter and her American PC are headed for the UK next year for university (Cambridge, King's College yay for her!) where the electricity is scary different from the US and Japan (the plugs scare me...). I'm guessing she could use a transformer of some kind (wow, I am ignorant) but I have heard bad things about them and horror stories of power supplies being fried.

So, should I buy a PC in Japan that's meant for use in the UK (do they sell for that market?), wait for her to get to the UK to buy a PC (seems like an expensive option), or use some sort of transformer and have her limp along with her American PC?

I think it would be cheaper to buy a PC in Japan than the UK although I think it's cheaper to buy a PC in the US than in Japan (like most electronics).

Or am I so ignorant that the U.S. one will work fine in the UK with merely a plug adaptor (I'd have to see her AC adaptor for the answer to that one).

Thanks in advance.

Any other tips on things she should buy in the U.S. or Japan as being substantially cheaper than the UK would be appreciated (other than clothes, we all know from the clothes thread that the US seems to be the cheapest place for clothes...).

[_yeah]

If you're talking about a laptop, pretty much all laptops are usable worldwide electricity-wise without the need for voltage conversion. Check the AC adapter - it should say something like "input: 100V-240V 50~60HZ AC". In which case you'll just need to buy an adapter (or, alternatively, a power cord that fits into the power adapter) to fit the power sockets over there.

Stay far, far away from any laptop that does not support world voltage.

If you're talking about a desktop, a lot of desktop computers have little switches next to the power connector on the power supply to switch between 100-120V power to 220-240V power - but double-check to make sure.

[erbiumfiber]

Wow, I am really ignorant. I didn't realize that laptops' AC adaptors took 220 as well. When we bought our various laptops we made sure they could take the difference between U.S. and Japan but didn't realize it covered the UK/Europe as well.

I just looked at the AC adaptor on my Piece of Crap(TM) Dell and I see what you're referring to. I'm guessing her PC, which is a lot better than mine, says the same thing.

I have just saved $1500. I feel great!

And now this thread can be deleted since you have given the definitive answer and I see how really stupid this question was...:box:

Thanks a lot for the help.

[4letterwords]

Ah, I bet your daughters at least a little disappointed she doesn't get a new PC.

[Scott]

A little, I'll bet.

My Dell D520, which I bought in the US, works fine in Japan. I actually did a quick check around the house before I left -- most of the electrical appliances that had separate power supplies would have worked fine in Japan, and probably some of the others would have too. The ones that wouldn't have worked in Japan wouldn't have worked because of the frequency, since Japan's on two, depending on region...



I actually have another question to add here -- I have a friend who's from Australia, brought in his LCD with him. Anyone know a good place online or in Tokyo to get a transformer so he can use it properly? Save a chunk of change. We're going in in about three hours, so I should have asked last night, but we're planning to look around Akihabara a bit. Not knowing the Japanese we need to know, it'll probably be hard...

[silentplummet]

modern desktop PSUs can variably accommodate anything from about 100-240 VAC @ 50-60 Hz. Do some research at xbitlabs.com before you buy a PSU.

[Scott]

LCD, not computer. That's a monitor.

[EIJI]

Your friend need this,
http://store.yahoo.co.jp/d-netchoice/cad1b0b5b47.html

Google アップトランス　or　昇圧トランス

[Scott]

Thanks a ton, Eiji... you're a life saver. Now we know what to ask for when we go back to Akihabara next week!

[Crowley]

(the plugs scare me...).

You strange man.

Any other tips on things she should buy in the U.S. or Japan as being substantially cheaper than the UK would be appreciated (other than clothes, we all know from the clothes thread that the US seems to be the cheapest place for clothes...).

You can get most things cheap in the UK if you shop in the right places (none of which, I hasten to add, exist in Cambridge, one of the most expensive places in the UK due to being full of posh people). In terms of shopping, england really is just a poor copy of america, only Walmart is called Asda.

[erbiumfiber]

You strange man..

Chick. I'm a chick. Chicks can be techno-geeks as well (computers not being my area of expertise...)


You can get most things cheap in the UK if you shop in the right places (none of which, I hasten to add, exist in Cambridge, one of the most expensive places in the UK due to being full of posh people). In terms of shopping, england really is just a poor copy of america, only Walmart is called Asda.

Yeah, I'd noticed Cambridge was a tad expensive. :box: Her dream, not mine. But then if you were living in a country governed by George Bush, you'd want to get the hell out as well (I live in Japan, she goes to boarding school in the States).

Fortunately, this is my only child. The point of her admission is to subsidize the university through extremely high fees. Still, beats London where the schools have no housing and private housing far exceeds the room and board fees at King's College. King's College admits the highest percent (something like 75%) of kids from state-sector schools, which is a big reason why she wanted to go to that college. Even with the high fees, it will still be cheaper than her current boarding school.

Still, when we visited the UK (twice for me, four times for her including a month-long stay in Cambridge, when she fell in love...) we thought even the basics (food in a supermarket) were worse than Tokyo.

I checked the price of electronics when I was last there (January, visiting Durham, Edinburgh, St. Andrew's and Royal Holloway) and was pretty shocked.

But your plugs are still giant and scary to me...

Edit: No double entendre in that last statement...

[JT0104]

UK taxing = insanely stupid prices. all the crap i heard before going to Japan that it would be Excessively expensive, I definately found it much cheaper than the UK in a vast number of aspects. I'm not even talking about London either. London is just well...London.

[Crowley]

Apologies for the assumption. Your nick is non-gender specific, and I was obeying the first rule of the Internet.

Yes, electronics are expensive. Meat, tobacco, and petrol (gasoline) are all expensive. If you shop at a supermarket like Tesco or Asda, you can find most food relatively inexpensively. If you shop at Sainsbury's, Waitrose, or Marks and Spencer's, you'll be paying double what you should.

Clothes can be expensive or cheap, just like any other country. Restaurants,the same (although in cambridge, obviously tend to be more expensive). I don't have anything against the university by the way, she must be very smart to get in, you must be very proud of her! My brother went to Oxford, and I know how smart he is.

[erbiumfiber]

Ah. I was shopping in Sainsbury's in Edinburgh, I guess that explains the cost. :duh: I had also heard Edinburgh was expensive and it did not disappoint. Marks and Spencer is like shopping at a depato basement in Japan. You just go there for the luxury items, not the basics (except, as you point out, for the posh...).

Also your train service. Expensive!!! She'll get the rail pass for young people (or whatever) but still... Planes actually seem cheaper.

I guess Japan just isn't the most expensive place in the world...

[Crowley]

hehe, it just takes time to adjust. I survive on an extraordinarily tight budget. You just need to be sensible and learn where to shop and what to buy.

She should have a great time!