Use of PC's from UK

[JeanS]

We will be spending around 5 months in France this year & will need a PC/laptop to keep in contact with family/ for Banking etc.

Can I use a PC bought in the UK - was thinking of just un-plugging the one we've got & using it in France.

I know I'll have to arrange for a broadband set-up & thought I'd use France Telecom since we have a landline with them.

Any suggestions??    

We're in 36

 

 

 

[Martin963]

Well we've moved two over the years,  and move a laptop regularly back and forth.

No real problem,  the odd programme (such as ADSL set up) installs in French but it doesn't seem to be an obstacle.

I expect the experts will tell you the odd thing that can crop up but I've never really noticed anything....

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

We have a laptop from Australia, another laptop from the UK, two French laptops and a German desktop, all running different versions of XP and Vista and all work perfectly over here.

We are with FT for our broadband as well.

We're in 36 too.

[nectarine]

yes a UK laptop will work just fine and if you don't want to pay the broadband costs then you can pick up a Wanadoo/Orange disk for internet access on a pay-as-you-go basis, for occasional use. We did that for years until we moved over fulltime and got an FT broadband connection.

[JeanS]

Thanks for your response - do you have to buy any different leads to plug into French sockets??

 

 

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Mains voltages are the same. The leads can be adapted, although I prefer to fit French plugs wherever possible except for the ones where the transformer is actually part of the plug, obviously. Phone connections for modems can be adapted, but it's probably easier to buy a French cable. Ethernet, USB and Firewire are universal.

All my machines were bought in Britain and all work happily here.

[Scooby]

The one advantage of a UK pc is the qwerty keyboard - though you could just bring over a UK keyboard.  We have a french pc (with french keyboard) and I find it frustrating slow to type.  In theory it should be easier if you are typing a lot of french emails / correspondence as the accented keys are more readily available but as I am used to the ALT key shortcuts on the qwerty keyboard (for the amount of french I type) I find it more of a frustration than a benefit.

[JohnM]

[quote user="nectarine"]yes a UK laptop will work just fine and if you don't want to pay the broadband costs then you can pick up a Wanadoo/Orange disk for internet access on a pay-as-you-go basis, for occasional use. We did that for years until we moved over fulltime and got an FT broadband connection.[/quote]

If you can, it's better not to use the installation CD, it will make changes / put stuff on your PC that you don't really need.

[tenniswitch]

[quote user="JohnM"]

[quote user="nectarine"]yes a UK laptop will work just fine and if you don't want to pay the broadband costs then you can pick up a Wanadoo/Orange disk for internet access on a pay-as-you-go basis, for occasional use. We did that for years until we moved over fulltime and got an FT broadband connection.[/quote]

If you can, it's better not to use the installation CD, it will make changes / put stuff on your PC that you don't really need.

[/quote]

And very likely fight with your existing software. 

I cannot strongly enough second JohnM's  excellent advice.

[AnOther]

I agree in principal with the previous 2 posts.

For the most part ISP installation CD's are completely uneccessary and supplied purely for ease of setup by the non technically minded although whether they always actually succeed in that endeavour is an other question [blink] [blink]

That said if is a machine which will be residing in France and not one which is to be toted back and forth then any upset to existing UK settings will be of little or no consequence.