stevenuk300

I'm going to Thailand in a few weeks, and was going to see what deals they had on Laptops. Has anyone bought a laptop from abroad, or know of any potential problems I could have. Obviously the power supply, but will an adapter be OK?

Miles

Almost all modern laptops have autosensing 110/240V PSUs. But, you'll probably get one with a US instead of UK keyboard. Watch out for the support contract, if it's country or region specific you may run into major hassle getting any faults repaired. Some of the big players, like Dell, do worldwide coverage, which is nice.

I'd recommend getting a brand name, such as HP, IBM, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, for ease of getting drivers, support, spare parts in when out of warranty, etc.

Miles

Oh, one more thing. Surf about and read up on the UK prices so you don't end up getting something that doesn't really save over the UK street price.

Father Jack Hackett

Watch out you don't get hit for import duty on it when you bring it back into the uk. Not sure what the rules are, so best to check.

S55 HOT

Ditch all the boxes & post the manuals - laptop is too small to know if you took one with you.

I had a mate who bought golf clubs in the US - he bought a cheap set from loot for <£50 and ditched them when he got there - but on the way back in his ticket showed that he'd taken a set out !

Diandave

Computer hardware in Thailand is not that much cheaper than the U.K. But software is Very cheap.

stevenuk300

Like Miles said, I'll check out all the prices before I go, and see if there is a deal to be had when I get out there. A few years ago when I went to Florida, I brought back a Kenward Mask head unit and CD Changer, Kenward 10" Sub, and MTX Thunder amp. Other than causing a stir going through the x-ray machine, I didn't have any problems bringing it all back.
Thanks for the info.

MarkO

There's no import duty levied on computers or computer peripherals, so no worries there. Still worth taking it out of the box and acting like you took it out there with you, though, 'cos then you can avoid paying the VAT too.