Hi everyone,
I hope this is not a stupid question … but … would it be cheaper for me to buy a laptop here (in the States) and bring it with me to Taiwan, or to wait and buy a laptop in Taiwan??? Thanks for any advice.
MorganRain
Read through the technology threads. Yhis has been discussed before. The general conclusion was to buy Acer here and Dell in the U.S.
Independent of which brand to buy or where, if you want English Windows (a legal copy, I mean) you would be hard-pressed to accomplish it in Taiwan without a lot of legwork. With English XP handling Chinese so beautifully these days (well, relatively speaking, but I’ve had no major problems with traditional and simplified even coexisting in the same document) you might want to buy in the US to get English Windows.
If you anticipate service calls in Taiwan, though, you might want Chinese windows, because lots of service folks don’t work too well on English systems. (But it’s definitely easier to get English Windows worked on in Taiwan than it is to get Chinese Windows worked on in the US, at least in the sticks where my folks live.) 
Morgan Rain:
No questions are stupid on here. 
I would sugg. that you buy them here if you are looking for TW brands, ie, Acer. But most laptops (notebook as they called them here) are cheaper here. Or you can can get them at local computer shows, usually they have good deals on them
~miakaW~
I wrote this in another thread but will repeat it here. My powerbook was $NT3000 cheaper here than the online store in the U.S. That was after I had haggled down prices of the airport card, 3year apple care etc. The good thing about buying here is the extra included software you get (final cut pro costs $US999 in the States)
Hmmm, good to know. Do you think that holds true for PCs as well, or is it a Mac thing? Or do you just have great guanxi?? 
Thanks guys! I will do my research and see what I come up with. 
MR
As portables generally include worldwide warranties as opposed to the country-specific ones desktops are tied to, that’s probably not going to be an issue for you as long as you go name brand.
Regarding price, I got my new 900MHz 12.1-inch iBook w/ combo drive for about the same as I would have in the US, but wiggled some extra RAM. That’s about par for the course (if you buy online), so I guess the deal in Taiwan vs US terms is a wash…
Was at an apple store recently (Dunhua eslite) and saw that if you buy a laptop now they give you an ipod for almost 1/2 off. Pretty good deal. I didn’t notice if it is only valid for certain models - didn’t want to tempt myself…