Laptops in Beijing

kmot90

alright,
Im heading over to Beijing in a few weeks and i want to pick up a laptop and ipod and stuff, is it safe buying laptop? where would be the best place to get one if anyone here is familiar with Beijing. How much would i be looking to pay?
cheers!

smcelhinney

Howya

To be honest, Hong Kong is your cheapest option. I lived in China for a few months, but only spent a week in Beijing. If its anything like Shanghai, then in the commercial centres, there's computer stores on every corner. Floors upon floors of laptops. Be careful though, following considerations:

* Most are imitations. Chinese pride themselves on reverse-engineering powerful laptops and computers, imitating them, and selling them on. I remember even walking into a Nike Shop in Nanjing St in Shanghai, buying a bag and finding out later it was a knock off! So look for authenticity stickers.
* They will offer you Engrish Windows. This is normally fake. Would suggest you buy your own off newegg or something like that.
* Bargain bargain bargain. Whatever price they say first, you can normally haggle them down to less than a half of that. It always helps to have the money in your hand, and count it, then say no. I know this kinda sounds like exploitation, but trust me, the Chinese economy is BUILT on haggling and bartering. I picked up a 60Gb iPod video for 250Eur.
* Be forceful when you say no, they will really REALLY hassle you. Just say "Bu yao", pronounced "Bu yow", which means "I dont want"..
* See if you can get a manufacturer warranty, not a shop warranty, as thats not really any use to you

Hope it goes well for you, and enjoy Beijing. If you're looking for somewhere nice and inexpensive to stay, stay in the Presidential Plaza on Fuchengmenwai Lu, close enough to the city, right beside the metro for easy access to Tian An Men and the other sights. They also run day trips to the Great Wall, with a funny little tour guide called Jackie..

Best of luck.
Stephen

kmot90

Cheers for getting back to me, im off tomorrow

Maccattack

wouldnt the keys be in chinese??

kmot90

ah id say il be able to pick up a normal one somewhere, nice viao i hope. Any other travel tips?