Hello, I'm going to Japan soon and want to buy a MacBook there because they're so much cheaper than in my country. The only thing I worry about is the charger. Can I just use a Japanese to Europe (I live in The Netherlands) plug thingy? Also when I'm visiting Japan I will bring my current MacBook and my phone, can I buy some sort of adapter in Japan so I can charge them? Can I use one like this? http://www.flevo-shop.nl/Webwinkel-...dium=cpc-marktplaats&utm_campaign=marktplaats Thank you
Depending on your MacBook, that adapter is unlikely to be powerful enough. I believe even MacBook Airs are 45W, which is still cutting it fine. The power supply should be 100-240V, so all you need to do is buy a cheap plug adapter: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-10-50x-...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item2ed699aa08 How do you normally charge your phone in the Netherlands? You could charge it from your laptop's USB port or if you use the Apple wall charger, then again it's also rated for 100-240V, so you'd be able to use the same adapter.
Looking at my own adapter, it's rated 100~240V 50-60Hz, so the adapter itself is not an issue. It takes a standard two-pin cable for the wall connection (like http://www.parts-express.com/parts-...rsal-ac-power-cord-6-ft-figure-eight--110-102), which can you get basically anywhere. It should be all you need. The connection will be ungrounded though. If you want to be safe, you can get the travel kit from Apple: http://store.apple.com/nl/product/MB974ZM/B/apple-world-travel-adapter-kit It contains plugs for the adapter for pretty much every commonly used socket the world.
The adapter is no issue. As Laptops are used for traveling by many, Apple made it very easy to switch to different power plugs: Just swap the little part on the PSU and you're good to go. I would be more worried about the keyboard. Japanese Macbooks of course have Japanese keyboards, and other than the keys being full of JPN characters which can be ignored, you'll also face different locations for all the special characters (!@#$^&*...) and other differences. Not sure what the Dutch layout looks like, but the Japanese one is different from both English and German (although it's close to English). It also has additional buttons for JPN characters.
Can confirm. Switched mode PSUs are awesome, they "just work" anywhere, as long as you can deal with the physical shape of the plug - which is a complete non-issue with the larger Apple ones. True. But if one doesn't mind the physical keycaps not matching the symbols/characters that appear when pressing them (i.e. if you can type without hunting for (looking at) the keys), it shouldn't be a big problem to switch the kbd to whatever layout you prefer, in software. Not too sure about those extra keys, but I guess worst case they stop doing anything, best case you'll get a few extra macro keys.
Well, if you look closely at the picture above you'll notice plenty of subtle differences in key placement. Different to an English QWERTY keyboard is for example the location of Caps Lock, Control, fn. Space bar, Return, Delete, Capslock, Tab have different sizes. The ~ key has been replaced with a large key for the number 1. Of course you can get used to anything, not a problem. Just if you want to use the keyboard with Dutch and not Japanese language settings, it may get confusing because the keys used by the Dutch language won't be labelled correctly or, worse, don't even physically exist on the Japanese layout. You then need to reallocate manually and learn the new format by heart. All possible and still not a problem with some effort, but I thought it's important to point out these complications which are much bigger than if you buy a non-Asian Macbook.
Dutch keyboards are very rare, most people here use a US keyboard. If you order from the Japanese Apple website there is an option to select a US keyboard but I wouldn't know if you have that choice when buying it in a store.
You can't buy one w/ a US Keyboard in the shop off the shelf. You'll have to order it special. Not sure how long they take. That could be problem.
Thank you very much for all the replies. I went to the apple store in Osaka and asked them about it. They ordered a Macbook with US keyboard for me which took around 8 days to arrive. It's indeed really easy to change the adapter. You switch the top piece!
i bought my Macbook Pro from an Apple Store in Tokyo back in October and they asked me if I wanted one if I wanted one with a US keyboard straight away, no ordering involved, although filling out the duty free forms was a bit of a hassle.Adaptor-wise, I bought a UK plug adaptor when I got home and have been using the JP PSU with no issues
They have to turn those forms in at the end of the year. And in Japan, for just about anything, they use like 4x as many forms as any normal cuntry.
