[NannyOgg]

I notice that many of you that have made the leap seem to be back in this forum very quickly after arriving in NZ. We are debating selling our PC here and investing in a laptop and taking it as hand luggage so that we can keep in touch straight away rather than wait several months before job, permits, shippments, life gets sorted out.

What has anyone elde done?

Nanny x

[Smiler]

Hi Nanny

It may be a bit different for us as a) OH is a geek b) we do run our own business and c) if OH doesn't get an internet fix each day he gets withdrawal symptoms. :roll

We brought a lappie each in hand luggage, that meant we were up and running pratically straightaway, even if it was via the UK mobile in our 1st weeks accomodation. Then we got our rental and broadband and just carried straight on working with that.

The main pc's and associated crates of geek junk followed slowly in the container. :D

OH has a huge problem with security issues in internet cafes and with our business need's to be secure, so this was the way to go for us.

The only 'problem' is faffing about at security in the airports, particularly LA, but the benefit of having constant comms outweighed all of that for us.

Now we are here and if we want to pop off anywhere on holiday, one of them comes with us.

Oh and I'd recommend getting one of those cable combination locks that plug in the back of the lap top. Means you can secure it if there is no safe etc. ours was about 40 quid from pc world.

[StevieD]

Intend buying one before we go, taking it hand luggage, while the big beastie wends its way via the briny. Some ways I wish I could take the ship route - take me back to my seafaring days :)

But, considering buying one in Singapore - don't know if it works out any cheaper - anybody gone down that route??

Steve

[marcia]

We wanted to buy a new camcorder and thought we'd get one in Singapore. I did loads of research, had it down to two I liked best, but the numbers were different in Singapore, and to be honest we didn't think they were so much cheaper.

Have a look online to get some idea of prices in NZ, if they are not much different it may be wise to wait till you arrive, at least then you would have a guarantee you could take up if something went wrong, imagine trying to chase up PC world for your guarantee from NZ!!! :confused:

[willsken]

I think you have to be careful buying in Singapore as I wouldn't be suprised if things are different on say for example the keyboard. May be wrong :confused:

[StevieD]

Thanks for that. Just remember buying CD players in the Caribbean for silly prices on the ships or guitars and electronics in New York - maybe stick to getting one in NZ.

[jonSE]

Don't know what prices are in Singapore but with a laptop I'ld be concerned about warranty issues. Laptop prices in NZ at the moment are likely to be cheaper (given that you are buying with GBP converted into NZD) as they haven't yet caught up with the recent fall in the value of the NZ dollar. NZ keyboards are slightly different - IIRC the @ symbol is where the " symbol is and Ican't remember what is in shift 3 (£ on an English keyboard) So well worthwhile buying an English keyboard before you leave.

having said that you can pick up older but functional desktop PCs here pretty cheaply. A couple of hundred bucks for a 3 year old PC inc. 15" monitor.

We tried to get rid of a very old but not much used P100 with 15" monitor and 56k modem at $25NZD in our recent garage sales - demonstrated working. Absolutely 0 interest. We put it in the local paper in the recycling section - free advert if you are giving it away. It went in about an hour. We had to change our answering machine message to say it had gone as we were inundated with calls. I don't get it - at $25 no one was interested and $25 is only beer money. Yet free and huge interest. Stingy Kiwis?

[Singel]

We packed our one-year-old desktop* in our 2 large check-in luggages when we arrived here as tourists so that we could be up and running for job searching.
* the LCD monitor and the CPU

Last year, on our way back from Holland, we bought a Philips hi-fi set from the Singapore transit lounge and take it with us as hand luggage. So we do not pay Goods & Services Tax in Singapore and NZ. Philips give world-wide warranty for its electronic products.

2 weeks ago, I bought an ex-leased Compaq notebook for $399 (exclude GST) and it has a new hard-disk with 3 months warranty. My hubby installed the Linux operating system and here I am typing this message on my newly purchased notebook.

[StevieD]

Ivy u purchased in NZ?? That is a good price - is it an old one?

[Singel]

Steve, I bought the Compaq Evo N400c in NZ and this is how it looks like : http://pcworld.about.com/news/Sep182001id62269.htm
My hubby said that this model is about 5 years old. I use it for internet and word processing (e.g. updating my resumes) and this light weight notebook is perfect. When I spotted it in the local paper, I gave the company a call and I got it 2 days later (paid $5 courier fee).

Here are the specification of the notebook :
P3 700Mh 256M 20G CDROM FDD 12"
Processor : Intel Mobile Pentium III processor at 700MHz
Memory : 256Mb PC133 RAM (No slot for upgrade)
Hard Drive Capacity : 20Gb
Included Drives : 1.44Mb Floppy Drive
Included 56K Modem / NIC
USB : YES
Display : 12.1" TFT
OS: No operating system loaded

[StevieD]

Thanx Ivy :nice1 Not a bad spec for that price.