buying a laptop

[Hutchiesinfrance]

Help needed please - our PC is finally giving up on us and we are hoping to upgrade to a laptop.  Can anyone recommend where we can get a laptop with a QWERTY keyboard in France, or if there are any companies in the UK that export?

Thanks

[Harley]

Hi there,

Hubby is a computer engineer working in Normandy.  He has previously recommended Novatech who usually have some good offers.

www.novatech.co.uk

Might be worth a look

 

[Kittycat]

Hi

I can personally recommend www.topachat.com 

I use them for all my pc needs & they are very competitively priced. Might be worth a look, as I know they sell QWERTY keyboards.

good luck

[Kevinmc]

A couple of options

Dell will sell you a laptop with the keyboard configuration of your choice

or

if you are travelling to and from the UK at anytime, Dixons at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone or at any BAA airport sell at what they call duty free prices. In fact, due to the volumes the sell, they choose to absorb the VAT content and do offer good value.

[Babnik]

I'd first ask the question do you really need a laptop? Unless you need the mobility, its going to cost you more than the equivilent spec desktop. If money is no object, then by all means go ahead, otherwise I'd seriously think about it. (I have no connection to any desktop manufacturer, and am not trying to discourage the sale of laptops..i'm writing this on a laptop!)

Steve

[Babnik]

I'd first ask the question do you really need a laptop? Unless you need the mobility, its going to cost you more than the equivilent spec desktop. If money is no object, then by all means go ahead, otherwise I'd seriously think about it. (I have no connection to any desktop manufacturer, and am not trying to discourage the sale of laptops..i'm writing this on a laptop!)

Steve

[Goblin]

[quote]Help needed please - our PC is finally giving up on us and we are hoping to upgrade to a laptop. Can anyone recommend where we can get a laptop with a QWERTY keyboard in France, or if there are any c...[/quote]

Like you, I am also looking for a laptop -for my son (living in England but spending Christmas with me in France).

I have explored all the possibilities (I think!) in France but cannot find anywhere which supplies UK laptops.  I wondered about one of the answers you received about the possbility of travelling via Eurotunnel and buying at Dover (Ashford) Europort.

Does anyone know whether such a purchase would be liable for tax when imported to France?  Also whether the idea itself is viable?  It would mean a 7 hour journey for me to Calais bit I am quite willing to undertake that if I can get a suitable machine.

Perhaps that is the only way?

 

[Paul_Gyn]

[quote]Like you, I am also looking for a laptop -for my son (living in England but spending Christmas with me in France). I have explored all the possibilities (I think!) in France but cannot find anywhere ...[/quote]

"....buying at Dover (Ashford) Europort.

Does anyone know whether such a purchase would be liable for tax when imported to France?...."

 

As far as I'm aware there is no such thing as 'duty free' when passing from one EU country to another (we're talking land and sea routes here so to all intents and purposes it's all intra-EU travel, really). As Kevin said, what Dixon's et al call 'duty free' is just them talking a bit off the top, therefore in reality the goods must surely be duty-paid in an EC country, and as such you should be free to take them hither and yon with no additional charge due. You cannot sell the goods with impunity, but since you own title to them, you are pefectly free to gift them to anyone you choose.

paul

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You could try Ebay (uk of course) - need to check out histories carefully but many will ship to France - even HP have an Ebay shop for refurbished etc kit.

 

 

[Liz]

[quote]Help needed please - our PC is finally giving up on us and we are hoping to upgrade to a laptop. Can anyone recommend where we can get a laptop with a QWERTY keyboard in France, or if there are any c...[/quote]

If any users of the lap top are trained typists beware. The spacing of the keys, although in QWERTY order, is not the same as a standard keyboard and pesonally I find them difficult to use.

Liz (29)

[Clarkkent]

[quote]If any users of the lap top are trained typists beware. The spacing of the keys, although in QWERTY order, is not the same as a standard keyboard and pesonally I find them difficult to use.Liz (29)[/quote]

For only a few pounds you can buy an additional standard keyboard and connect via a USB port. If you have a AZERTY laptop you could connect a QWERTY keyboard.

[Jc]

You should be able to re-programme an AZ**** keyboard to work as a QW****;in other words when you hit A it will print Q.

[Paul_Gyn]

[quote]You should be able to re-programme an AZ**** keyboard to work as a QW****;in other words when you hit A it will print Q.[/quote]

Yes you can.. but wo betide you if you're not a proper touch typist! It's Hell, I tell you.,. HELL !!

 

 

what we really need is a laptop with a keyboard which has blank keys - i.e. not with letters/numbers stencilled on them, but lit from within by leds. Then they could be made to display the key code for whichever kbd setting was chosen.

p 

[Jc]

But a good keyboard will have removeable keys!

[Simon]

For a few quid you can buy a qwerty keyboard and plug that in.

 

S

[Paul_Gyn]

[quote]For a few quid you can buy a qwerty keyboard and plug that in. S[/quote]

 

"...For a few quid you can buy a qwerty keyboard and plug that in..."

 

Yes but it rather defeats the point of a laptop, doesn't it?

p

 

[Richard-R]

Buy a Laptop. I love mine. I can work with it in my home office, use tit to read the newpapers over breakfast ( wireless network). Go online when i'm on the road. Play DVD movies on planes/ back of car's. Never need to worry about power cuts. The list goes on and on.

PowerBook G4 17". The Apple of my eye.

[Hutchiesinfrance]

thank you all for your advice.  i am waiting to hear from Novatech as to whether they would export to France, i will keep you posted.  we thought hard about whether a desktop would be a possibility, as this would be an easier solution, but we are limited on space, so a laptop would be ideal.  if we cannot find a company who would export, a trip back to the 'big island' in the new year looks like the only possibility.  thanks again

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Of course having chosen to live in France, where they(we?) use a lot of accented characters the use of a qwerty keyboard means having to use the numeric keyboard (or Windows character map) to insert accented characters (eg alt-0233 for é). Now if you have a laptop keyboard that makes life a lot more complicated....

[Dick Smith]

Richard - I now know a couple of academic road warriors who swear by their 12" G4s - as I do my 15" TiBook. Getting a bit long in the tooth now, I may replace it with an iBook and an iMac, wireless connection to my G5. I use Bluetooth at the moment, which is OK but quite short range.

[hoverfrog]

I love my 17" powerbook, and find e acute no problem (alt+e) also ç and î, - but what is the equivalent keystroke for e grave???

[Dick Smith]

alt + tilde (can't get this software to do one, it's the key above and to the half-right of alt) and then e. Sèè?

[Paul_Gyn]

[quote]alt + tilde (can't get this software to do one, it's the key above and to the half-right of alt) and then e. Sèè?[/quote]

Dick - did you write that in word and then cut-&-paste it into the reply page?

'cos I can't find any accents on the forum page. In my version of word (2002) my acute is ctrl+' (key to the left of enter) and my grave is ctrl+ ` which on my keyboard is the top left key, to the left of 1!

paul

[hoverfrog]

[quote]alt + tilde (can't get this software to do one, it's the key above and to the half-right of alt) and then e. Sèè?[/quote]

wow! I'm no longer limited to words without gràve accents

Many thanks indeed

èèå`´èèè`´`´´è.....

[Dick Smith]

No, I did it on the keyboard, but the Mac kèyboárd is çlightly different from the Micrôs**t ones.

If you need to remind yourself you can put the Keyboard Viewer on your menu bar:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click International.

Click Input Menu, then select the checkbox next to Keyboard Viewer.

Choose Show Keyboard Viewer from the input menu on the right side of the menu bar (the one that looks like a flag or alphabetical character).

The Keyboard Viewer shows the characters for your keyboard (or if you've selected a different keyboard layout or input method in the input menu, for the selected keyboard layout). For example, if U.S. is chosen in the input menu, you see the characters that appear on a U.S. keyboard in the Keyboard Viewer. For more information about keyboard layouts and the input menu, click "Tell me more."

To see the different accent marks that you can type highlighted in the Keyboard Viewer, press Option, Shift, or the Option and Shift keys.

The accent mark keys appear with white outlines. Depending on your keyboard, you may not need to press any of the modifier keys to see the accent keys.

Open the document where you want to type.

Press the modifier key you pressed in step 4 (Shift, Option, Option-Shift, or none) and press the key on your keyboard that is in the same place as the accent you see in the Keyboard Viewer. Then release the modifier key and press the key for the character you want to accent.

The accent key modifies the key you type next. For example, on a U.S. keyboard, to make the é appear, press Option and E (the accent key), then press E (the key on which you want that accent to appear).