I have just been told buy my boss (****head) that he is letting me leave work tomorrow instead of end of July (still paying till end of July though!).
He wants my (company) laptop back and I thought he would let me buy it from him (cheap). BUT NO!! :doh:
SO - is it cheaper to buy a new one here in the U.K. before we leave (in August) or wait till we get to Australia and get one there?

Aus

Hi there
Can't answer the question about laptops although you might be able to get a good deal here
Dell Outlet

However just thought I would offer a word of support regarding idiot bosses. - They're only jealous cos they haven't got the guts to go for their own dreams and therefore make it difficult for anyone who has!!!!!! It's a national phenomena - di you not expect it ??????

Enjoy your enforced holiday Aus!

At least you'll be getting paid getting ready for your new life down under.

Don't know about the price of laptops sorry, but have also heard that Dell do some good deals. Will need to check out the warranty I suppose, and isn't there some diference between modems used in UK and Aus?

hi aus,
we have just bought a reconditioned dell laptop (latitude) for £100. excellent working condition, just seen them on that dell outlet site, starting from £600, so i think we had a good deal, if you wanted to do the same, i expect if you went into a pc store they will give you info on reconditioned ones!

laura

Try www.itwarehouse.com.au for prices. They are one of the bigger suppliers of all things computer here - and usually will do a deal for cash. I have their latest junk mail brochure in front of me and there's a lap top Toshiba on the front cover for $1799, which seems to be the cheapest one in the brochure.

I'd check out www.ebuyer.com - cheapest site I've found for IT bits.

Personally, if I were that close to coming out here I'd wait till I got here to buy one. Any warranty won't be valid once you've moved, you may have trouble with the modem and need to buy a new one, and apart from that you've actually got to lug it across the world with you!

Why don't you line up one of us out here to point/drive you to a few likely stores as soon as you get here and have one with full warranty that's gonna work over here? Also, the keyboard is slightly different in Oz, and if you're gonna have to get used to that for work etc it might help you to have the same at home.

Elaine

I suspect a laptop will be cheaper in the UK with a greater choice too. The warranty won't extend to Oz though and the power supply will always need an adaptor unless you can rewire the plug...not so good if you have a transformer on the end.

:dance:

Hi,

We bought our in the UK. The choice is better there and they seem cheaper (cant say about the reconditioned ones, have never bought one). Its a bit of a pain lugging it out here, but you will be able to get on line straight away, and we just bought a new power supply, no big deal. We didnt bother about the warranty, its one of those things. We decided we could probably get it repaired for cheaper than purchasing extra warrenty. Im glad we brought it with us. the kids played games on it, we wrote and emailed letters home, saved photos etc. A friend of ours built us a web site as a leaving pressie and all our friends and work colleagues could post messages to us and keep in touch that way.

xxxxx :rolleyes:

Thanks ALL. :love29:

I think I will get one before we go. I have spoken to someone about the warranty issue and they say that if I get a big brand name one the warranty won't be a problem - even in Australia!
And yes - there is more choice and they appear to be cheaper! :lol:

Austen :D

Don't forget if you're exporting the item within three months of purchase you can claim the VAT back.

I htink you'd need to check the small print of the warranty - even the big brands usually seem to limit you to the country of purchase. At least the ones we've got lying around the place do.... :rolleyes:

Elaine

I believe that to do this you have to buy it from a supplier who operates the scheme, you also have to have the item(s) and receipts with you as you leave the country to claim the VAT back then.

Howard, being a chartered accountant, looked into all this but it seemed like too much hassle for anything we were likely to purchase last minute - might be worth it for a laptop though!

Elaine

I take it you needed to buy another modem aswell as the power supply :what?: :what?:

Hi Delboy
If they had an internal modem they may have been lucky... we were told it was external modems that usually can't be rejigged to work here.

Elaine

As a few of you know, my laptop is being repaired as we speak. We bought it in New Zealand before we came over. All we had to do was show the guys our receipt and they are repairing it under warranty over here no problems. Not sure if it would apply to stuff from UK but i dont see why not.

Thanks Elaine.
I've just been having a bit of a surf and found this site http://www.cableuniverse.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=125
could you have a look and see if you think the top left adapter looks like it would convert the uk modem plug into a oz plug (if ya no wot ar meen) it looks like the uk phone plug but does it look like the oz plug?

or is it a bigger issue with the modem than just the plug :what?:

Delboy, our first reaction was to buy the Oz style cable for our external modem so it would plug into the phone sockets here. Trouble is they're wired differently so it was a sheer waste of a couple of dollars! :sigh:

I don't reckon that Austria adaptor is the same either.... I have heard of someone rewiring their uk fax to work here so it must be possible, but not within my realms that's for sure!

Apparently the internal modems can usually be altered software wise, though you would need to buy that extra cable to plug into the wall once you get out here. They're easy to come by, and cheap, so no probs there.

Right, ok thanks Elaine

Question to those who have shipped laptops - did you take them as cabin baggage or tucked away with the rest of your things in the hold?

Well Fred, when I go over for my holiday in October mine will be in my hand...

Apparently, as far as my hubbie's concerned anyway, it's connected to my body. :loopy:

I really don't know what he means! :medium smiley:

Hi Fred
We took ours in the hand luggage. I vaguely remember that we had to do it that way - may be worth checking with the airline.

Elaine

Thanks. Will do.