Using laptops abroad

Bipolar Kittens · 18 May 2008 at 16:14

Hi all,

I'm soon to be moving to South Africa to live and work for 2 years. Before i go i'm planning to buy a laptop to take with me, but before i do i was just wandering if anyone here has any experience with using laptops abroad? Obviously it'll be plugged in through a travel plug adapter, will it run ok?

AbsenceJam · 18 May 2008 at 16:18

Most laptop power bricks will support 110-240v so all you need to worry about is the plug at the other end. Just have a read of its label.

TheVoice · 18 May 2008 at 19:28

You'll be fine, SA uses virtually the same voltage as the UK. Only difference is that over there, they have two plug types; a 3-pin one like ours (but round pins and no fuse in the plug), and the two-pin European/shaver style plug. You'll usually only ever find 3-pin sockets in a house though; you'll have to use crappy 2-pin to 3-pin adapters for 2-pin items. Used to hate having to use those things, some of them were really dodgy.

If you're there for two years, it may well just be worth you chopping the plug off and putting a proper SA 3-pin one on there. I did that to a lot of my stuff when I went over there.

Bipolar Kittens · 18 May 2008 at 21:05

Thanks chaps