Where to buy new ASUS laptops online in the UK?

I think I want a Asus G53JW!

 

Have you tried ebay?

 

I don't trust e-bay. Sellers have fake, refurbished or other stuff

 

Aren't there any index/search engine sites for online stores available? Like to go to this website , type in what you are looking for and it comes up with a list of stores that have product in stock/on order?
Have you tried looking on asus.com for authorized resellers?

 

I'm in a similar position to yourself and have done a little searching, I found the JW on Amazon.co.uk
ASUS G73JW 17.3" 1080p Full HD Notebook, Intel Core i7-740QM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB GDDR5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Blu-ray Combo Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buying in the Uk you have to be prepared to pay a very high price, probably better to buy in US and ship, even with the high VAT. Buying from the US also allows you to buy a customised G73. You'll have to work the numbers and make that call.

Do you know there is a G73'SW' -it has the new Sandy Bridge Intel Chips which are supposedly much much better, and the price is similar to JW.

Good luck in your search!

 

Better yet, buy from mainland Europe if you find what you want, shipping and taxes from the States could run up to a lot. I bought my N43 from Portugal, it took 5 working days and cost just €36 on top of the given price to ship it to the UK. The shop I got it from has a couple of G73 models and a G53 available for €1530 (~£1280).

But like NiKtheALiEN mentioned, Intel has launched their new line of processors and Asus' G*3 and N*3 series are said to be getting a refresh in the very near future. You may consider holding off until the new models become available.

 

Hey FelixC,

Because its within the EU, you didn't get charged any importing duty or VAT buy the courier did you? As Asus are not selling the N43 here I will be buying it abroad, I can get it via Poland but they won't post overseas.

 

Nope, it was pretty much a straight Euro-to-GBP conversion of their listed price, plus shipping costs only. They even had a UK bank account for me to make the payment to.

Edit: One thing though, are the new Sandy Bridge models still on the shelf what with all the hubbub about the flawed SATA controller? I was under the impression they all got pulled from retail until Intel supplies manufacturers with new motherboards to replace the defective ones.

 

Is there anything to bear in mind when buying from Europe (specifically Germany?)

The plug conversion is the only thing I can think of. Is a Europlug the same as that found in shavers and toothbrushes in the UK? If so, I already have the adaptor.

 

The only things to pay attention to in my case were the documentation and keyboard being in a different language. Manuals are no issue, you can download them in your own language, but consider the keyboard format - either be prepared to use the foreign layout as-is or use an English driver on it despite the mismatch with the physical layout, or make sure that you can easily swap out the keyboard on the model you're interested in.

As for the plug, it is indeed of no concern, adapters are cheap and easy to get. You're most likely going to need a Schuko adapter like this one.

 

Thanks!

About the keyboard - is setting English language in the OS not enough then? The laptop I want to buy (U36JC) will not be available until Q2 in the UK as far as I know. I will have to use the default keyboard for a while, so I will buy from somewhere which has the same layout for the alphabet keys (Scandinavia).

Regarding the plug, would something like this do the job?
Euro to UK Adapter Plug | Accessories | Power | LINDY UK
Do European laptops come with the standard Europlug or their own country specific plug?

When the laptop is released in the UK, I suppose there will be no problem with replacing the cable with one like:
ASUS Shop - ASUS Notebook 40W AC Adapter Compatible with U20A, UL20A, UL30A, UL80A
(Obviously for the relevant laptop )

 

No worries. Regarding the keyboard, you can set the input driver to pretty much any language you want and use it as such. It's not that big a deal if you touchtype and provided the physical layouts are somewhat similar, just takes little getting used to. For years now I've been using UK keyboards with US drivers and I have absolutely no problems with it. For instance, the UK layout uses SHIFT+' to make @ while the US one uses SHIFT+2, but since I learned to touchtype US a long time ago I never have to worry about that, my fingers go automatically to what I'm used to. At worst I have to try a couple of SHIFT combos if I need a symbol I use only every once in a blue moon, but that's rare enough that I haven't found it to be much of a bother.

But that's just me, if you think it might bother you to have a different physical layout than the input driver that you're using I'd suggest you look into it and the possibility of swapping out the keyboard, I'm not quite sure how easy that might be. For what it's worth, I did swap the Portuguese keyboard on my N43 for a US one as I didn't feel like adapting to that one too.

On the plug issue, no the Europlug you linked is not the sort of connector you'd get on the laptop power lead, that's not grounded. You should get the Type E/F Hybrid (CEE 7/7) which fits into the Schuko adapter I linked off Amazon. Alternatively, you don't need to wait for the laptop to be released in the UK with its powerbrick and all, you can just buy a power lead that fits into the brick right away. Just check whether it has two or three prongs on the connector, and get the appropriate one (should be three, I believe).

 

The physical layout is not a problem at all (as long as it has the larger enter key, which I think is common in all of Europe). My only worry was that the Z and Y keys on a German keyboard are switched, but as long as I can switch those back in the software side all is well

I actually have 2 of the 3 prong leads from a previous Asus laptop already, so that simplifies everything a lot. It also means I can take the laptop to Europe without buying anything extra!

For €800 this seems to be rather a sweet deal.

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

I am also desperate to get my hands on a U36jc in the UK (and have been for a good few months now!). I'm toying with the idea of buying from this American website-> ASUS U36Jc-A1 13.3" Notebook Computer (Black) U36JC-A1 B&H as they are the only one I've found who take care of all the UK customs business which arises when importing. I am however also thinking of maybe buying from a German website ( » Buy ASUS U36JC-RX109V NOTEBOOK 13,3 SW for sale | Compare& Reviews) because that would avoid the problem with customs. However, as you mentioned, there may be a keyboard issue...do you think you could just physically switch the Z and Y keys (and mess around with the keyboard software) effectively making it have an English QWERTY keyboard?
Anyway those are my thoughts!

 

No problem, good luck with the purchase!

I suppose, but I don't think I'd try it unless I could get the chassis open to replace the keyboard altogether anyhow. Further, what's the point in the end? If the physical layout of the keys is similar and you run a standard UK or US QWERTY driver it will act as such, just that the markings on the keys will be different. And if you swap the Z and Y around you'll still have all the other symbols and SHIFT+ combos look different from what they actually do. I wouldn't bother.

 

Buying from the USA will result in paying more in total: I think it will come out to around £800 or more. Also, warranty services will require shipping to the US which will cost time and money (although from this forum it appears that the Asus UK RMA service is next to useless anyway.)

In Germany it is only just coming into stock (Amazon.de says 10th February) and is only 800 Euros. The processor is also the 480m rather than the 460m, but the hard drive is only 320GB 5400RPM as opposed to the US' 500GB 7200RPM model. Maybe you will want to get an SSD later, in which case the worse HDD would not matter so much.

If you are worried about the Y and Z, search for the U36JC RX200V that is sold in Scandinavia. 480m CPU, 500GB 5400RPM HDD, a little more expensive than the German one from what I've seen. My only concerns are that the punctuation keys will be difficult to find since they have their 'Æ' and such on those keys, and that I can't find it in stock until late Feb / Early March.

So many choices...

 

Wait, what? I knew that Asus laptops came with a global warranty, and my retailer from Portugal confirmed that when I asked. Am I missing something?

 

I've actually just ordered it from the USA, and you're right it came to £780 altogether including p&p and customs. I'll comment in a week or so to let you all know about my experience when it arrives. Also yeah I was under the impression ASUS warranty was 2 year global...had better be or I've bought under false pretences!

 

Does global warranty mean you can get it repaired wherever they have a centre? I had thought it meant they covered damage incurred everywhere (ie. you could send it to their US warranty facility from anywhere). Ignore that then.

Did you buy from bhphotovideo? Do they tell you the final price including VAT and customs straight away? I thought they were added once the product enters the UK.

I'm also tempted to order from the US - the layout on German keyboard is subtly different but almost every punctuation key is in a different place, which would surely be confusing. Plus the i5-460M CPU benchmarks are almost the same as the 480M (and might take less power?) and the slower hard disk used in the EU is likely more of a bottleneck anyway.

 

Yeah I ordered from bhphotovideo, they include p&p, customs and tax in the final price and also (this is what made me choose them) they take care of all the customs for you so there will won't be any shipping delay while my laptop sits in some UK customs office.

 

Yeah, I'd sure assume so. Local vs. Global warranty refers to which service centre you can send it to, otherwise they don't care where it's coming from as long as its authorised for repairs with them.

If you can fit it into your budget don't worry about the RPM on the HDD and consider sidetracking the whole issue by putting an SSD in there. Either to install yourself if you feel confident about it, or if you buy from the US you could look at a retailer like Xotic PC who offer you customisation options.

 

The thing is, I would probably wait for some time before buying an SSD as they're not quite at the size I would like (at least 256GB) yet for a reasonable price. Hence I would probably replace the HDD after about a year, so I put some weight on its performance. Is a 7200RPM drive actually (7200/5400)x faster in real world use?

 

Avoid all European markets and buy American. You will save an astonishing amount of money from doing so. I recommend GenTechPC, however there are three other resellers on these boards that offers international shipping to the UK.

Several UK members have calculated the total to be much cheaper even after shipping fees.

 

For this laptop, though, it does appear to be around $100 cheaper to buy from Europe (after taxes).

 

Don't worry guys, I brought both my Asus W3J and F3J (for the wife) from the USA back mid 2006 & early 2007.

Mine has never had a problem, but my wifes F3J SPDIF port locked on to optical output and because its attached to the motherboard, that needed to be replaced.

But they do have a GLOBAL warantee, and I know one of the Asus resellers in London and he said just drop it in, he packaged it up and sent it off to the Asus UK service centre, no problem at all (just make sure you have your receipt as proof of purchase). but if you check their website Asus have at least one service centre in most developed countries.

That's the great thing about buying Asus, you can buy it anywhere and just service it in your own country, the only reason you would have to send it back to the reseller in another country is if you got the reseller to upgrade a component that voids the warantee, like CPU replacement. then if you do do this the Asus warantee will get taken over by the reseller.

You can replace HDD and RAM without vioding warantee I just waited till mine run out before I upgraded the CPU myself.

 

Hello forum! As I said in my previous post I had ordered the U36JC off an American website (bhphotovideo) for delivery in the UK. Well that was Thursday night last week when I ordered it and it arrived on Monday morning at 11am!! I was absolutely stunned it was so quick (probably the same if not quicker had I ordered off a UK site) and that was with standard postage! As promised B&H took care of all customs which was superb. As for the laptop itself, I couldnt be happier. As i type on it now its definitely faster and easier with the chicklet than on my old HP. I personally think the screen is great and the laptop is lightening quick. However the best thing (In my humble opinion) is the laptop size/weight and battery. As a student I carry it everywhere and cannot stress enough how much better it is than the 2.5+kg old laptop I had, and im easily getting 8.5 Hours use with average surfing etc, and about 3.5 when im really testing it (my old HP could maybe achieve 3.5hrs at max with light use and around one hour with heavy! All in all im very happy with my decision to purchase from the USA and cannot recommend B&H enough. Any questions fire away!

 

Thought I should mention that I received the laptop Friday, having ordered on Tuesday (dispatched Wednesday), so I can thoroughly recommend buying from Germany.

I am also most pleased with my purchase!

 

Do you mind telling us how much you paid for customs even just percentage? how did you get around that, normally stuff from the states can incur quite large importing duties.

 

Hey, yeah sure I paid just over $200 (can't remember exactly sorry) in taxes. This was the only downside with my experience tbh, but it had to be done I guess, and coupled with already lower US prices and very reasonable p&p I wasn't too worried. What was great about the website I bought off (bhphotovideo.com) was that they took care of all the customs etc so it was very hassle-free and extremely quick delivery was garunteed any more questions please ask!

Awesome! I love the laptop! How are you finding the QWERTZ keyboard layout?

 

The QWERTZ isn't a problem (although for some reason it always makes me hesitate when I press CTRL+z). The punctuation arrangement is slightly confusing although it's forcing me to touch type things like brackets, so it's probably for the best anyway

I'm very surprised at how cool the laptop runs given some reviews. It stays at 30C under normal use, which is cooler than my previous laptop. It does heat up quickly during intense processing, but it's not problematic.

Can your laptop play fullscreen flash videos? Mine just shows a black screen unless I disable hardware acceleration in flash options (it still plays HD perfectly like this, even with the CPU limited to 30%, I'm not really sure how!) I'm thinking it's maybe a problem with the Optimus driver?

 

YES! I do have that problem, I thought maybe it was just my browser or wifi but clearly not. It's very annoying indeed, Asus should really have checked it out before shipping started. If you do find a problem solution please do write back!

 

It seems it is a problem with the Optimus driver, see here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...54271-asus-u36jc-a1-review-3.html#post7166292

Apparently updating flash should do it. I'm using Chrome though, which has flash built in. I haven't tried updating Chrome yet.

 

See Google Chrome Beta 10 is out, many improvements you should check it out!

Google Chrome 10 beta - Faster JavaScript, GPU acceleration, and more! | ZDNet

 

Ah, thanks! I'll try it out.

 

Yeah Ive found I don't have the problem with Internet Explorer, only Chrome...shame I love Chrome and DETEST I.E.

I'll update chrome and fingers crossed that'll fix it!