[zyrrahXD]

Hi. First of all I don't know if this is the right section for my topic.
I'm planning to buy a new laptop, the Acer one. The price of the laptop
is higher if I will buy it here in my country. I think the Acer doesn't
allow to buy one on the outside. I would like to buy it outside the country
so that the price is not that high. An idea came to my mind, what if I'll
buy it on the internet? But, I'm a bit worry.

Where to order online?
Is it safe?
Is it trusted?
Is the product brand new?
How about the warranty?
If in case the product was damaged after shipping, am I able to return it?

I just want to make sure that what I paid is worth.

Help me please...

[coastie65]

zyrrahXD, on 04 October 2011 - 02:39 AM, said:

Hi. First of all I don't know if this is the right section for my topic.
I'm planning to buy a new laptop, the Acer one. The price of the laptop
is higher if I will buy it here in my country. I think the Acer doesn't
allow to buy one on the outside. I would like to buy it outside the country
so that the price is not that high. An idea came to my mind, what if I'll
buy it on the internet? But, I'm a bit worry.

Where to order online?
Is it safe?
Is it trusted?
Is the product brand new?
How about the warranty?
If in case the product was damaged after shipping, am I able to return it?

I just want to make sure that what I paid is worth.

Help me please...

Hi Zyrrah, there are a lot of things to consider. One is the power. If you buy one outside of the country, the power standard will most likely be different. For instance, in europe, they use 220v and 50 cycles ( the U.S. is 120v 60 cycles ) and the plugs and sockets are configured differently. It has been a long time since I have been in the Philippines and I don't remember what the standards are there. It may or may not be the same as U.S. Standards, but not sure. Another thing, I have a friend in Germany that decided to get something at Amazon.com as it was cheaper than at Amazon.de. By the time the huge shipping cost, Import Fee, VAT, and the currency conversion fees were added in, the price was nearly doubled. Needless to say, it wasn't bought. I have had no problems wiith buying online and have bought 3 Computers & a 42" HDTV ( recently ) online over the years and I have found it to be safe. Yes, as a rule you can return them. You need to get in touch with the seller and request an RMA first. Unless it says "Refurbished" it should be brand new. Usually manufacturers have a specific configurations for different countries with it's own individual model number and only available within that country.

[LiveBrianD]

zyrrahXD, on 04 October 2011 - 02:39 AM, said:

Hi. First of all I don't know if this is the right section for my topic.
I'm planning to buy a new laptop, the Acer one. The price of the laptop
is higher if I will buy it here in my country. I think the Acer doesn't
allow to buy one on the outside. I would like to buy it outside the country
so that the price is not that high. An idea came to my mind, what if I'll
buy it on the internet? But, I'm a bit worry.

Where to order online?
Is it safe?
Is it trusted?
Is the product brand new?
How about the warranty?
If in case the product was damaged after shipping, am I able to return it?

I just want to make sure that what I paid is worth.

Help me please...

Laptop and phone power bricks ALWAYS accept 100-240V. If your socket is different from the US, well, chances are that the cord going into the power brick has a fairly standard jack and can easily be replaced with one that uses your plug type. Or get an adapter (US socket to phillipines) in a US store (online)

Amazon.com, newegg.com, tigerdirect.com are all good places to look. And the direct sites for many companies: hp.com, acer.com, asus.com, dell.com, lenovo.com, sony.com

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 04 October 2011 - 02:32 PM

[coastie65]

Amazon will ship overseas, not so for Newegg or TigerDirect.

[LiveBrianD]

coastie65, on 04 October 2011 - 02:47 PM, said:

Amazon will ship overseas, not so for Newegg or TigerDirect.

Dang...
Also, one thing to note. My dad tried to buy a kettle from amazon.co.uk or something because it's 240V (and thus works faster), but amazon wouldn't let him simply because we're in the US, where it's 120V, and that item is designed for 240V. (he was also going to purchase an outlet with it) Granted, dumb things like kettles and light bulbs only work on ONE voltage and computers work on a range (100-240V), but it's still something to be aware of. In the end, he had to buy a kettle (and a few outlets) when we happened to go to France. Good thing the TSA didn't say anything about that in the luggage (it was a plastic kettle though).

Oh, and in the Phillipines they use 240V, 60Hz. The US is 120V, 60Hz. The plug is different.

[zyrrahXD]

LiveBrianD, on 04 October 2011 - 02:54 PM, said:

coastie65, on 04 October 2011 - 02:47 PM, said:

Amazon will ship overseas, not so for Newegg or TigerDirect.

Dang...
Also, one thing to note. My dad tried to buy a kettle from amazon.co.uk or something because it's 240V (and thus works faster), but amazon wouldn't let him simply because we're in the US, where it's 120V, and that item is designed for 240V. (he was also going to purchase an outlet with it) Granted, dumb things like kettles and light bulbs only work on ONE voltage and computers work on a range (100-240V), but it's still something to be aware of. In the end, he had to buy a kettle (and a few outlets) when we happened to go to France. Good thing the TSA didn't say anything about that in the luggage (it was a plastic kettle though).

Oh, and in the Phillipines they use 240V, 60Hz. The US is 120V, 60Hz. The plug is different.

How do I know the power of the product that I'm going to buy?
Thanks for the replies...

[zyrrahXD]

coastie65, on 04 October 2011 - 06:06 AM, said:

zyrrahXD, on 04 October 2011 - 02:39 AM, said:

Hi. First of all I don't know if this is the right section for my topic.
I'm planning to buy a new laptop, the Acer one. The price of the laptop
is higher if I will buy it here in my country. I think the Acer doesn't
allow to buy one on the outside. I would like to buy it outside the country
so that the price is not that high. An idea came to my mind, what if I'll
buy it on the internet? But, I'm a bit worry.

Where to order online?
Is it safe?
Is it trusted?
Is the product brand new?
How about the warranty?
If in case the product was damaged after shipping, am I able to return it?

I just want to make sure that what I paid is worth.

Help me please...

Hi Zyrrah, there are a lot of things to consider. One is the power. If you buy one outside of the country, the power standard will most likely be different. For instance, in europe, they use 220v and 50 cycles ( the U.S. is 120v 60 cycles ) and the plugs and sockets are configured differently. It has been a long time since I have been in the Philippines and I don't remember what the standards are there. It may or may not be the same as U.S. Standards, but not sure. Another thing, I have a friend in Germany that decided to get something at Amazon.com as it was cheaper than at Amazon.de. By the time the huge shipping cost, Import Fee, VAT, and the currency conversion fees were added in, the price was nearly doubled. Needless to say, it wasn't bought. I have had no problems wiith buying online and have bought 3 Computers & a 42" HDTV ( recently ) online over the years and I have found it to be safe. Yes, as a rule you can return them. You need to get in touch with the seller and request an RMA first. Unless it says "Refurbished" it should be brand new. Usually manufacturers have a specific configurations for different countries with it's own individual model number and only available within that country.

Thanks for the replies..
So, what are the other things that I need to consider?

[coastie65]

LiveBrianD, on 04 October 2011 - 02:54 PM, said:

coastie65, on 04 October 2011 - 02:47 PM, said:

Amazon will ship overseas, not so for Newegg or TigerDirect.

Dang...
Also, one thing to note. My dad tried to buy a kettle from amazon.co.uk or something because it's 240V (and thus works faster), but amazon wouldn't let him simply because we're in the US, where it's 120V, and that item is designed for 240V. (he was also going to purchase an outlet with it) Granted, dumb things like kettles and light bulbs only work on ONE voltage and computers work on a range (100-240V), but it's still something to be aware of. In the end, he had to buy a kettle (and a few outlets) when we happened to go to France. Good thing the TSA didn't say anything about that in the luggage (it was a plastic kettle though).

Oh, and in the Phillipines they use 240V, 60Hz. The US is 120V, 60Hz. The plug is different.

Well, with a Desktop, it would probably be a simple matter of changing put the PSU to one for that country which you could probably get locally. Laptop, maybe the power brick. In retrospect, I believe it is 240v 50 Cycles in Europe.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 05 October 2011 - 06:40 AM

[LiveBrianD]

coastie65, on 05 October 2011 - 06:38 AM, said:

Well, with a Desktop, it would probably be a simple matter of changing put the PSU to one for that country which you could probably get locally. Laptop, maybe the power brick. In retrospect, I believe it is 240v 50 Cycles in Europe.

Not quite. If it's a switching PSU, you simply get an adapter (or a different cable, they ALL have the same standard connector on the psu, same as monitor, printer, etc). If not, there'll be a 120/240V switch that you have to flip. Either way, it'll work with the local voltage. With a laptop, you just need a differnet cable or adapter. It'll accept the local voltage. Otherwise, that USB charger I have would've blown up when I used an adapter to plug it into the 240V when I went to the UK. And it worked just fine.

Oh, and if you buy a product from amazon.com (us), it'll come with a power cord for the US. If bought in the Phillipines, it'll have a power cord for what you use locally.

[smax013]

zyrrahXD, on 04 October 2011 - 02:39 AM, said:

Hi. First of all I don't know if this is the right section for my topic.
I'm planning to buy a new laptop, the Acer one. The price of the laptop
is higher if I will buy it here in my country. I think the Acer doesn't
allow to buy one on the outside. I would like to buy it outside the country
so that the price is not that high. An idea came to my mind, what if I'll
buy it on the internet? But, I'm a bit worry.

Where to order online?
Is it safe?
Is it trusted?
Is the product brand new?
How about the warranty?
If in case the product was damaged after shipping, am I able to return it?

I just want to make sure that what I paid is worth.

Help me please...

For all but the warranty question, it will depend on where you order it from.

There are plenty of safe and trusted websites to order from. In most cases, sites will offer new and/or used, but a good site will clear indicate which is which and will actually ship you what they say. Generally, you should be able to return a product, but you will have to read the return policies for the site you are thinking about ordering from.

As to where, others have some what answered that.

The electrical issue generally is fairly easily dealt with, but it will still depend on the country you are in and where the product is designed to work. There could be some situations where it will be a pain in the rear.

To me, the biggest issue will be the warranty. Some companies only honor warranties for addresses from the country for which the product was sold in. For example, if you bought a laptop in the US, that laptop company could tell you that your are SOL if you take the laptop to Europe and have a problem...unless you can somehow have the laptop shipped to them for service from a US address (i.e. maybe you ship to a friend in the US who then ships to the company). The point is to be VERY careful about the warranty.