Re: [tlug] Laptops in Tokyo.......which companies give you the most bang for your bucks!!

[Jonathan Q <jq@example.com>]

On Tuesday 06 May 2003 14:18, Phillip Hilton wrote:

> not a clue who gives the best deals in Tokyo. I have had a look around most
> of the big places in Aikihabra and did not think value that they were very
> competetivly priced.

He catches on fast, doesn't he? :-)  You probably found that at the various
shops you visited, the same models were all priced within a few thousand
yen of each other, maybe even a few hundred yen of each other.  But of
course, there's no price-fixing among Japanese retail stores.  No, sir.  None
at all.  Not a bit.

> What I am looking for is a good box with an english bios, a dual language
> keyboard and all the trimmings. I really want to try out wireless networks
> as I am aware that many wifi nets for the internet cafes are unencrypted

Tokyo has very few internet cafes (hard to make money on one when just
about everybody who wants access has a PC at home), and the ones I've
seen all used wired networks, but the trend of places such as Starbucks
and McDonald's giving you wireless access while you're there is probably
coming to Japan.  Anyway, ISPs are not terribly expensive in Japan and
DSL access is widespread and reliable.

> starting out here.....AND EVERYTHING IS FREAKIN' EXPENSIVE.

Discover 100-yen shops, you'll like them.  Also, if you just look around,
things aren't that expensive.  I paid about the same price for my apartment as
I would have in the States.  Granted, it was a lot smaller, but the monthly
cost was about the same.  Groceries are generally more costly, but bargain
hunting is certainly possible.  Thanks to the good train system and the
tradition of employer-paid train passes, I spent far less on transportation than
I would have back home in California.

Some things are pretty pricy, of course.  Entertainment, for instance.
Restaurants.  Fruit.

For reasonable Italian food at a good price, check out Caesaria.
Branches everywhere.

Back to the subject of notebooks:  If I were going to go notebook shopping
right now today, my shortlist would begin and end with Thinkpad models, and
would most likely have nothing else in between.   They're well-featured, 
tremendously reliable, and run Linux well.

I'm not sure what you mean by dual-language keyboard, but with one exception
(Toshiba PC Direct, but I don't like Toshiba notebooks at all) buying a notebook
in Japan means buying one with a Japanese keyboard.  I've never seen any
(other than the Toshiba reference above) available with an English kbd.
BIOS is normally in English only, although some may now offer it in Japanese
and English, switchable.  Any manuals it comes with will be in Japanese, I
suppose with (again), the Toshiba reference above.

If i were looking at things other than Thinkpad, my other strong choice
would be a Mac iBook or PoweBook.  They are nice, well-done machines,
and OS X is quite good.  You could install Linux and dual-boot, or just use
only OS X.

You can also find a good range of used notebooks at places such as
Sofmap.  Sofmap in Shinjuku has a general shop with new and used gear,
and also a Mac specialty shop with a decent range of used iBooks and
Powerbooks.

Jonathan Q
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