Re: [tlug] Laptops in Tokyo...

[Jim Breen <jwb@example.com>]

>> Discover 100-yen shops, you'll like them.  

Naruhodo.

>> 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,=20
>> tremendously reliable, and run Linux well.

Hear, hear.

>> 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 not=
>> ebook
>> 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.

Oy. If you go to the "tax-free" shops, e.g. the Laox on in Akihabara,
you can have all the English keyboards you want. The prices on Toshibas
were/are identical with the Toshiba PC Direct ones.

>> 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.

Again, the manuals are in whatever language they've got. I got an
English manual set there for my (now stolen) Toshiba, but I could have
French or German, ISTR.

Getting a Japanese keyboard if you are going to use it mainly in English
is a Bad Thing (TM). The space bar is too small, the henkan keys
either side get in the way,  and the special characters you can't live
without in Unix are in wierd places.

>> 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.

Toshibas are fine, IMNSHO. The main thing with Linux and notebooks is
not to get the very latest, because you are sure to strike a video or
audio chipset that has no drivers yet. I'd aim for last year's Thinkpad,
preferably when it is discounted and being run out. You don't need as
many GHz, because Linux is not a processor hog like you-know-what.

>> 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.

Hard to get English keyboards with used notebooks.

Jim

-- 
Jim Breen  (j.breen@example.com  http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/)
Computer Science & Software Engineering,                Tel: +61 3 9905 3298
Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia                  Fax: +61 3 9905 5146
(Monash Provider No. 00008C)                ジム・ブリーン@モナシュ大学