Buying computers abroad

rts · Thu 22 Jul, 2004 20.43

Hey everyone. Currently in a bit of a love affair with the Apple Powerbook at the moment. Been thinking about getting one in the states next week, but have been told (apart from plugs of course) software and keyboard layout is different. Can anyone advise me about buying computers cheaper abroad, or is it worth paying the extra and buying it in the UK?

Anonymous · Thu 22 Jul, 2004 21.34

rts wrote:Hey everyone. Currently in a bit of a love affair with the Apple Powerbook at the moment. Been thinking about getting one in the states next week, but have been told (apart from plugs of course) software and keyboard layout is different. Can anyone advise me about buying computers cheaper abroad, or is it worth paying the extra and buying it in the UK?

My family recently bought a Laptop in Los Angeles ,and the plugs ar american slight(Buy a adpater) american software but other then that its the same as any computer.

Neil Jones · Thu 22 Jul, 2004 22.27

rts wrote:Hey everyone. Currently in a bit of a love affair with the Apple Powerbook at the moment. Been thinking about getting one in the states next week, but have been told (apart from plugs of course) software and keyboard layout is different. Can anyone advise me about buying computers cheaper abroad, or is it worth paying the extra and buying it in the UK?

QWERTY is the standard but there are differences with the american keyboard. The letters are usually the same but I know for a fact that the " (speech mark) and the @ key are switched but I can't find any other differences.

If in doubt, go to Start --> Settings --> Control Panel --> Regional and Language Options --> Languages --> Details and change it to US, then save it, go to notepad and type about a bit. Forget ye not to change it back.

Dvorak - http://www.pcguide.com/ref/kb/layout/alphaDvorak-c.html - very different layout to QWERTY. Supposed to be superior as well. Another variation is this: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/kb/layout/alphaSingle-c.html

Other interesting reading:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/kb/layout/std.htm

rts · Thu 22 Jul, 2004 22.45

As always thank you, Neil. Have not been able to have a go at fix my current PC either, but hoping to have a go tomorrow.

nwtv2003 · Thu 22 Jul, 2004 22.46

My cousins have a US Keyboard on their computer and from what I know the only difference is....

to get '@' you hold 'Shift' and '2'

and to get " you hold 'Shift' and '

I had a go, but its not easy when typing an email address.

rts · Thu 22 Jul, 2004 22.55

Are they the only changes with the keyboard? Can you still get the € symbol by holding Ctrl + Alt + 4 ?

And in regards to software, what differences are there exactly.

Neil Jones · Thu 22 Jul, 2004 23.54

rts wrote:Are they the only changes with the keyboard? Can you still get the € symbol by holding Ctrl + Alt + 4 ?

Just tried it by changing it in Windows - no € symbol.

However, you can still get it by holding down ALT and typing 0128. It's on the character map anyway.

Anyway, why are you worrying? If the only difference is the swapped location of the " and @ symbols, then you can tell Windows to use a UK keyboard and they'll work as you're used to, just that the " and @ will be labelled the wrong way round. I mean you're in the habit of SHIFT+2 for a quotation mark aren't you, considering its the only way to get it without fiddling in the character map...

rts · Fri 23 Jul, 2004 00.02

Would I be able to tell my Apple Powerbook to use a UK keyboard too?

Neil Jones · Fri 23 Jul, 2004 10.01

rts wrote:Would I be able to tell my Apple Powerbook to use a UK keyboard too?

I don't know is the honest answer to that. I don't see why not but I've never used one of those systems so I'm not qualified to say. I can only suggest a google. I would be surprised though if you weren't able to change it in the operating system.

cwathen · Fri 23 Jul, 2004 18.04

Are they the only changes with the keyboard? Can you still get the € symbol by holding Ctrl + Alt + 4 ?

And in regards to software, what differences are there exactly.

The other difference with a US keyboard is that there is no '£' sign - instead shift-3 produces a '#'. Indeed, this is why some dodgy document converters replace '£' with '#'.

On a desktop US keyboard, the enter key is also a different shape to that on a UK keyboard, but on a laptop the keys vary from model to model anyway.

Remember of course though that what's printed on the keys doesn't matter - if you change all your international settings to UK (and possibly download a font update for the Euro symbol) then the keys will work the same as on a UK keyboard, you just have to remember the handful of differences there are.

DJGM · Sun 25 Jul, 2004 17.15

One thing worth noting is that an Apple Mac keyboard has a slightly different layout to a PC keyboard . . .