Will an asian bought laptop work in Europe?
All the pros and cons please.
By Asian, you mean Chinese/Taiwanese?
As they make >90% of the world’s laptops, it should work just fine.
Bluetooth and WiFi are globally standardised and the mains adaptor for it will support 220-240V AC unless it was intended for the US market.
As long as the keypad and OS language suit your preferred language, you’ll be golden.
Obviously, any warranty claims are going to be rather fraught.
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Computers aren’t especially location specific apart from keyboards. Usually it’s possible to install local language packs on operating systems designed for a different market and many laptops charge through a standard USB C port.
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Generally, yes. I have bought several over the years. The only minor quibble was that the recovery system (usually a hidden boot disk accessible via the BIOS) was only in Chinese, but it didn’t matter for my purposes (wiped and installed a Linux distribution on it). I made sure that the keyboard was at least Qwerty though, as I would have had trouble with a Chinese one).
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Thank you all for your valued knowledge and experience. Am I right in thinking that a Apple product warranty is a safer options?
Apple may not be cooperative about equipment bought in other territories to save money. I’ve had a less good experience with Apple in the UK, but others will probably tell you differently.
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If you get a MacBook you should be OK. From Apple’s website:
If the product is portable, meaning that it can operate independently without a power cord, you may obtain warranty service worldwide. However, service will be limited to the options available in the country where service is requested.
Source: Apple - One Year Limited Warranty - Worldwide
You might be able to take out AppleCare cover for an extended warranty - you’d have to check the specifics on that.
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My HK bought laptop, purchased while I was living in HK, came with me to UK when we moved in 2013 and worked fine. I did have to alter Apple membership to UK in order to use UK charge cards. Same again after moving to France. Moving membership countries did mean losing some Apple app memberships, even if unexpired.
Interestingly, despite having upgraded hardware twice since leaving HK and twice changed country membership, there are still odd bits lurking in the memory that make suggestions alluding to a HK location.
FWIW, I believe Apple synchronise prices globally and the price paid in Apple HK or Singapore is almost exactly as in Europe. For parallel importers I couldn’t comment but would recommend avoiding them in Asia and only buy direct from an Apple store.
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If you are interested in a MacBook, check out Apple UK’s website for refurbished models.
They are generally “as new” and the saving may well be similar to buying something in the Far East, while not having to worry about keyboard layouts etc.
I have bought three refurbished Macs and they have been 100% satisfactory in every way. It’s my default option when I need a new computer nowadays.
(Ditto camera equipment BTW - I usually buy manufacturer refurbished from Fujifilm, or used from MPB).
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This is what Apple say “Apple may restrict warranty service for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and HomePod to the country where Apple or its Authorized Distributors originally sold the device”. But in pratice I don’t think they would, in the EU at least.
I also had a positive experience with them when the SSD in a MacBook Pro I bought in the States failed just outside warranty. ai dropped it off at the Apple store in Nice expecting to have to pay, but a week later it was back repaired for free.
My daughter uses a McBook M1 I bought here for her in Australia and I use a MacBook M2 here that I bought there. I didn’t have an warranty worries.
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Continued thanks.
My only concern is once duty is added (I cannot find exact calculation ) at douanes could be a deal breaker ( I’m not brave enough to sail through the green channel 
)
@ChrisMann I should have considered this whilst in the UK 
[quote=“Lily, post:11, topic:49623”]
sail through them
[/quote]th them
It’s for personal use so I always sail through. An unboxed and used laptop, no matter how new looking, shouldn’t attract attention. So many people carry them in and out of countries everyday, and very few, if any, have proof of purchase with them.
After forty years of travelling around the World on business and pleasure I have never had any luggage searched, except by the fanatical Saudi savages on my fifty plus trips there looking for hidden Bibles in my hand luggage.
Sensible Douanes are after bigger fish than us with our little personal electronic items.
But you need to make your own mind up.
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You can buy refurbished Macs on the Apple France website if you are concerned about that.
But I also agree with Rear Admiral Scully - take it out of the original box and carry it in a laptop bag and nobody’s going to bat an eyelid even if they did happen to do a thorough customs check.
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Even in the box it should come under “personal effects” - just gets slightly harder to argue it’s not for resale (especially if you already set up the eBay listing 
)
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But, if it’s a fruity device it’s likely to be well over any duty-free allowance and, of course, it’s on the traveller to prove that it’s exempt (assuming that it is).
A colleague’s wife got stung for this arriving from London into Gare du Nord, with her new laptop in her bag, thinking she had got a bargain on her travels. Turned out not to be a bargain at all, once the Douanes had finished with her.
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Yes, brand new and bought on the trip would certainly pique customs’ interest.
Technically she could have applied to have the French VAT refunded but it’s a faff so I expect she just wound up paying twice.
Another “Brexit benefit” 
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Other way round, I think. She could have requested the UK VAT back, if the UK hadn’t stopped VAT refunds for tourists.
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Definitely a double whammy then.
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It will depend on how it’s powered.
If it’s powered by a transformer that plugs into the mains, what is the input range? Many nowadays work from 100 volts to 250 volts, so will work on both 110/120 and 230/240 volts.
If the transformer isn’t suitable for your mains voltage, either get a replacement, suitable for your mains voltage, or get a cigarette lighter powered one, and a mains to cigarette lighter adapter.
If it’s powered by micro USB, like my tablet/laptop, then it’ll run on any mains voltage, simply by using a USB power supply, rated for your local mains supply.
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I think it’s been a long time since laptops had non-universal power supplies.
Certainly the three MacBooks that I’ve bought since 2009 have had 120-240V power (or USB style as you rightly mentioned).
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