is it convenient to buy a laptop in japan?

betogp1

betogp1

後輩
Joined
27 Sep 2006
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
hello everybody
i've come here looking for your advice, please!
i'm not sure yet, but maybe i'll be going as an exchange student to tokyo for 1 year (august 08 to july 09).

I already have a laptop, one year old, in great conditions. It's a vaio N series with english windows vista. Anyway, i'm seriously considering to replace it by a new one with japanese windows and jp keyboard, but of course this also depends on how expensive the laptops are in japan.

So, that's my first question.... in comparison to the US, how is the cost of laptops in japan?

Is it really worthy to buy a japanese laptop? or should i use the one i have now? (if i buy it...i intend to keep it after the year in japan)

Now...i think the specs of a vaio N are quite decent for my country, but, won't they be a little outdated in japan?

and the last question.... if a buy a japanese laptop and bring it to the US, will it work here, or will i have to replace it again for a western laptop??

i'm sorry for all these questions, i hope you can point me in the right direction.

thanks!
 
Japanese computers are not generally any faster than american computers, the "crazy japanese technology" is really a kind of misconception about japan, they tend to adopt new technologies faster, but they don't have anything far beyond what we have here.

yours is still fairly new and will do just fine. I think buying a new laptop would be a waste of money in your situation.

If I were you I would set your laptop up for dual language, you can keep your same operating system but have it in Japanese or English. With vista it should be ready to do that right away, but maybe you would have to load some software or something.

Japanese keyboards don't tend to be too different from english keyboards, they do have some dual functionality, with hiragana under the letters, I never really figured out how to do all that because you can just type phonetically when you are in japanese mode, and you can select kanji and stuff as you go.

A Japanese laptop will work fine here (for the basics) provided you know enough Japanese to navigate all the menus for changing settings, but loading new software might be a problem. I don't really know about the difficulties that might arise with the Japanese version of windows as I have always been an apple person, and apple makes it easy to switch to Japanese language mode.
 
The warranty on a PC bought in Japan is not valid outside Japan. Think of that.

I brought a much older laptop with me to Japan, and things have worked out just fine. Since then, I have bought 2 in Japan (and I stayed here). Shopping can be tricky if you don't know enough Japanese to explain things to the staff. Some speak English, but not very well for the most part.
 
I would recommend ASUS (Taiwanese company) a lot more than Sony. You get a lot of bang for your buck. The US keyboard layout is good enough for me, I can type English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean with no problems at all.

If you use Windows Vista Ultimate, then you're able to download the Japanese MUI for free as well as any other language's MUI file.
 
thank you all for your guidance, you've cleared many doubts.
i think the best option would be to keep my current laptop and switch to a japanese version of windows while being there.
Anyway, i had thought it would be cool to have an authentic japanese computer with all the keyboard and everything, but if it's not really necessary then i think it'd be a waste of money.

ok, just one last question. I've heard japanese ISP's offer much higher internet speeds using optical fiber. Is my Vaio N ready to handle that? or will i need some new piece of hardware?
 
Japanese keyboards are a headache. For typing, they're almost identical to a normal QWERTY layout, but there are little things that are just frustrating to English keyboard users (like a half-sized spacebar, right next to a key that changes the input mode, and the punctuation keys are switched around). I have a Japanese friend that even paid Dell $100 extra just to get an English keyboard on his laptop.

Technology-wise, you're no better off buying a laptop in Japan than anywhere else, and the warranty becomes an issue as you aren't living in the country in which you bought it; unless if the company has an international policy, you might be out of luck if the computer dies on you. If you want a Japanese OS for the language practice, what I might suggest is to get a Japanese version of windows and ease yourself into it by using a dual-boot system. The computers at my old school did that and it seemed to work quite well.

ok, just one last question. I've heard japanese ISP's offer much higher internet speeds using optical fiber. Is my Vaio N ready to handle that? or will i need some new piece of hardware?
Click to expand...
Companies here in the US (not sure about Mexico) offer fiber optic internet connections as well, but yes, "hikari-fiber" internet connections seem to be much more common in Japan (broadband speeds in Japan are generally much faster than they are here, not that you'll notice that big a difference). The service comes with a "modem" that you can connect through with a normal LAN cable, so there's no new hardware you need to purchase.
 
try comparing shopping.yahoo.com (or any US shopping site) with kakaku.com or rakuten.co.jp and you'll probably see that the laptops with the same specs (screen size, memory, processor type, speed, dvdrw, hd space) are more expensive in j-pan.
 
I think that it is easier to buy laptops in the United States and then send myself, I bought a laptop while I was in Thailand at the time.
 
Does your current computer work? If yes, why are you wanting to ditch it? The reasons given above really are not that good. I invest in decent quality models and then keep them for a long time because they get the job done. My current work-horse is more than 5 years old, but still out performs a lot of new models (and it is going to be a pain to upgrade - I'm pretty tech oriented).
 
I wonder what the OP ended up doing after asking the question nine years ago. Probably already replaced whatever he bought then anyway.
 
Yes, probably - I didn't notice the age of the thread when I replied. However, my previous laptop was a 2005 model and I only stopped using it around 2011 (even at that stage it was still better/faster than most of the other machines in the office where I was working).
 
The warranty issue is an important one. Makes sense to buy it the country you will be spending most time in the foreseeable future.

A Mac warranty is pretty much international though so that may be worth considering for globe-trotters.
 
I do intend to purchase a notebook in japan, this model is not available elsewhere, it's rather expensive, but I will take the risk even without warranty, I can always return back to Japan if needed.

The note book is a Panasonic Letsnote RZ6.
 

Similar threads

senseiman
Best tourist attractions in Japan?
2 3
Replies
65
Views
95K
zoomingjapan
zoomingjapan
A
Using a US laptop in Japan?
Replies
5
Views
5K
Ewok85
Ewok85
A
  • Sticky
Travel Rail travel in Japan
2 3
Replies
60
Views
52K
Amir77
Amir77
Jukina
Dangerous animals and insects in Japan
Replies
7
Views
43K
Jukina
Jukina
M
Is a computer or laptop necessary if I travel to Japan?
Replies
3
Views
3K
Seiko
Seiko
Back
Top Bottom