US V. European MBP's

[kevzy]

Hi Everyone! This is my first time posting here....I have finally decided to make to change to a Mac

I'm looking at the 15" MBP and hope to buy as soon as they update, whenever that is.....

Anyway my question is this, I'm from Europe (Ireland) but have a friend living in the US for a short period of time. He has offered to buy the MBP for me (which will save me 300-400 euro). Also due to the nature of his job he can get it tax free which will save me even more. Will I run into any problems using the US MBP in Europe?

For example
- Will the DVD player only play region 1 DVD's? Can it be changed?
- Will I have issues with power supply? I know I can buy a cheap adapter but will the amount of current goin into the plug matter?
- Is the keyboard layout different?
- When my friend buys it will he have to register it in his name, address etc? I plan to buy Applecare from amazon or ebay. Will I have any problems if I need the MBP repaired?

If I have overlooked any potential issues I would be grateful I you could point them out to me as I really am a Mac noob.

Thanks in advance for the replies, help and time taken to read this.

kevzy.

 

[swiftaw]

- Will the DVD player only play region 1 DVD's? Can it be changed?

You can change the region 5 times before it is locked permanently.

- Will I have issues with power supply? I know I can buy a cheap adapter but will the amount of current goin into the plug matter?

You'll be fine, all MBP's are multi-voltage.

- Is the keyboard layout different?

Yes, there are a couple of keys in different places.

- When my friend buys it will he have to register it in his name, address etc? I plan to buy Applecare from amazon or ebay. Will I have any problems if I need the MBP repaired?

No, you don't register on purchase.

 

[MacHipster]

1. You can change the region code up to 5 times. It'll be set to region 1 initially.

2. I'd recommend getting the adapter kit that Apple sells.

3. Yes.

4. No.

 

[northy124]

Will the DVD player only play region 1 DVD's? Can it be changed? Yes they can be changed for upto 5 times before being made perm.

- Will I have issues with power supply? I know I can buy a cheap adapter but will the amount of current goin into the plug matter? No as it is Universal just need a US to UK/EU pin adapter

- Is the keyboard layout different? No it isn't (Well mine isn't)

- When my friend buys it will he have to register it in his name, address etc? I plan to buy Applecare from amazon or ebay. Will I have any problems if I need the MBP repaired? No he doesn't have to register it in his name it has 1 year world wide limited warranty but buy apple care in Ireland to be safe

 

[northernmunky]

I bought mine in Taiwan which uses a US keyboard layout and is missing the '£' key, but if you set the keyboard to British then the # key will act as the '£' sign. You just have to press Opt+# to get the hash.

 

[skubish]

I bought mine in Taiwan which uses a US keyboard layout and is missing the '£' key, but if you set the keyboard to British then the # key will act as the '£' sign. You just have to press Opt+# to get the hash.

yep no £ or € keys you have to use the option and shift keys to get them.

 

[kevzy]

Great. Thanks for all the info., I really appreciate it. So am I correct in thinking that really the only difference is that a few keys are in different positions?

I'd just like to clearify one point: When I get the US MBP the region will be set to region 1. I can then change the region up to 5 times. After that it becomes locked permenantly, but to what region? Does it become locked to the origional region (region1) or to the region it was changed to last?

Thanks agian,

kevzy.

 

[northy124]

Yes you have 5 time to change then locked to last region that you used

 

[kevzy]

Cool thanks.

 

[weckart]

Depending upon what Superdrive you have installed and what firmware revision, you may be able to reflash the firmware and set the drive to region-free. This will allow you to change the region an infiite number of times.

This is the link you need.

http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=43012

Bear in mind that the firmware updater app is not Leopard compatible, so you will either need to boot from an external hard drive running Tiger or be prepared to faff around with plist files to fool the updater into thinking you are running Tiger.

All this AYOR, of course, as it will probably invalidate your warranty.

 

[bigandy]

It invalidates your warranty.

^^ fixed that for you

 

[northy124]

All this AYOR, of course, as it will probably invalidate your warranty.

It does invalidate your warranty as if you have to send it back to Apple they find out they can refuse to repair.