My HP is about to give up the ghost and I need to get a replacement. Anyone have any suggestions where to get a new English OS/keyboard Windows laptop in Tokyo? The last couple of times, I have ended up buying from Akky in Akihabara, who have a few, but there must be other places? I have also been to Tokyopc in Akihabara, but they don’t have much of a selection. For reasons best known to themselves, places like Bic Camera and Yodobashi don’t sell them (bastards).
The HP laptop won’t close (hinge problem), so if I could get it fixed, that would be another solution, but I’ve checked on the internet and it’s a complicated repair (even if it can be done at all). Knowing prices in Japan, it could cost half the cost of a new one.
Many thanks! I did take a look at Amazon first off, but there doesn’t seem
to be a way to buy duty-free there. But I’m not ruling it out if the prices
are cheaper than I can get in Akihabara.
Many thanks! I was actually under a bit of time pressure (if not, I might have ordered from abroad), so I bit the bullet and ordered a Dell model online. So far so good!
But the moral of the story should be that there is a potentially huge market here for someone to tap.
I see I’m too late, but I was going to note that Windows 10 allows you to install the English language pack for free even with a Japanese machine. Not quite the same as an English machine, but not so much you’d notice. (I only have one machine so configured, and it’s actually kind of cumbersome to use the Japanese there.)
Just went to Yodobashi for the same thing last weekend. They do have a couple of Windows laptop models that support English. Check Vaio and Lenovo: although the display models are in Japanese, you can get an English kb/os. It’s about +5000 yens for Vaio IIRC. But there’s not a lot of choice for a powerful, developer-grade, laptop.
The alternative would be an Apple laptop. I assume they sale English/US versions everywhere. But Windows comes at an extra price.
Cheers.
Don’t waste your time going to Akihaburo for a store that sells English laptops because you won’t find one. So order one of the limited models available on Amazon.jp.