[blueamy76]

My husband and I are getting ready to go over in about a week and a half to get our little boy! We have a big debate going on right now centered on our laptop. I was wondering if anyone who has travelled to China recently could share their experiences with computers/internet while they were over there. We are debating whether to bring the laptop at all. I understand the hotels have computers you can use. There are 2 things I'd like to do with my computer: e-mail family (including pics) and update my blog. Has anyone been able to access their blog using the hotel's braodband? Has anyone had any experience using the computer "lab" at the hotels? Are they very slow? We do not currently have a wireless broadband account and do not really want to spend the money to sign up for one. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated!!!

[rubyblue]

Rather then lug our laptop 1/2 way around the world, we opted to use the hotel pc's. Used PC's in the Hotel Business Center in Beijing, Jinan and Hong Kong - no problem. The charges were either free or very minimum.

We stayed at the Victory Hotel in Guangzhou. We had a PC right in the room, available 24/7 at no additional charge. I did have a problem uploading pictures from my camera but that was because of the scan card I had, I had difficulty with it when I got home also.

Good luck and have a safe trip.

Anthony

[PiperH]

We took our laptop and it really wasn't a problem carrying it around. I used it as my personal item you are allowed on flights (one carryon, one personal item each person). I carried all of our adoption paperwork in the case with the computer so it came in handy in that respect, too.

It was good to have the laptop with us. That way we didn't have to leave our hotel room and go to the hotel's business center, etc.

None of our hotels had computers in the room. Another reason we took our laptop is we are Mac people and didn't want to have to mess with working on a PC.

Kevin and Violet

[stllc116]

I was actually in China about a year ago for a study abroad, not an adoption trip. I was reluctant to bring a laptop, because I didn't want the hassle of traveling with it , but in the end I was glad I had it. We had a pretty big hotel with internet but I don't remember having computer's available. One plus for me is that I could also use the laptop to watch movies if I wanted a quiet evening in since there wasn't much in the the way of English television. Also, remember that all the internet is censored and monitored in China so I may be paranoid, but I avoided doing anything with personal info like online banking.

[cborsa7]

We had friends who adopted from China and took their laptop. They updated the blog daily so family and friends could follow along, it was great! When we adopted from Guatemala we did the same. Also, you can use skype.com to make phone calls home. I would check that out as well, it was really convenient and cheap.

Congrats & Have a safe trip!

[Arador]

Congrats!

We just got back 3 weeks ago (where has the time gone?). We invested in a Netbook (laptop but smaller and lighter made for things like email and web blogging and viewing). We stayed at the Victory the whole time and used the computer in the room and didnt use the netbook at all. We did use it Beijing and Hong Kong. However, I dont regret bringing it. It was small and a light size so it wasnt too much of a burden to carry along.

The Victory computer was fairly new had a card reader so our SD card from the camera was used to upload pics. The speed was good and it was free as part of the room (the White Swan does not have this feature - they charge for usage). I was able to access our blog (Wordpress) with the only issue being pictures would not attach, so I put them on Flickr which worked. I have read at other places across China, the speed may be closer to dialup instead of broadband but we didnt have problems.

Highly recommend Skype - however you should also bring a USB headset with microphone as surrounding noise can interfere with the computer microphone giving a choppy reception.

[blueamy76]

Thanks for all your help! It looks like we'll be bringing our laptop and connecting at the hotel. (Do they have wifi or some other connection, do you think?) Even if we cannot access our blog, I found out how to post (even with pictures) via e-mail (thanks Jess D!) and so we should be able to keep those posts up to date!

I have another question. This one is about converters & adaptors. I've heard that the hotel will supply converters. Our camera's battery charger says not to use a converter, but that a plug adaptor would be needed. Does anyone know, would the hotels be able to provide an adaptor, as well as converter? Also, does anyone know, I've heard that computers don't need converters, either. I this true? I tried calling a computer store, but they didn't seem to know for sure!

Thanks!!!

[PiperH]

The connections we had at our hotels (the Poly Plaza in Beijing, Bell Tower in Xi'an and White Swan in Guangzhou) were not dialup. They were high speed, but we had to pay for usage in Xi'an and Guangzhou.

Apple has a set of adapters, one of which is an adapter for China, so we bought that along with our laptop and it worked well.

We got converters at each hotel and used them to recharge camera and video camera batteries and had no issues.

[stllc116]

You should probably bring your own adapters to be safe. My hotel had converters, but I don't think they had adapters. You would have to ask. I would bring my own though just in case. Your laptop and some other electronics will only need an adapter. That black box in the middle of your laptop power cord is a converter which is why that one won't need it.

[blueamy76]

We bought a plug adapter yesterday. We're leaving it in the package in case we don't need it, we can return it. Am I correct in assuming that if the charger/powersupply says "100-240V" & "50-60Hz" that it will work on either system with no converter needed?