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Q: I need to buy a laptop urgently. Is it possible to convert windows 8.1 to English from Chinese?
I need to buy a laptop urgently. Is it possible to convert windows 8.1 to English from Chinese, without any trace of Chinese language remaining?
What about the motherboard and other drivers? Do I need to worry about it?
One option is to look for a machine without any operating system and buy the windows pack.
But, it is hard to find one without any operating system.
9 years 6 weeks ago in Web & Technology - China
there are some old versions of windows in english you can download from torrents, and then upgrade to windows 10 later this year.
there are some old versions of windows in english you can download from torrents, and then upgrade to windows 10 later this year.
I am faced with the same issue. I really want to buy a MS Surface Pro 3, but I have read several places that even when you install the English Language pack many of the menu items, particularly start-up, remain in Chinese.
The simplest solution (at least for those of us in Guangdong) is to head over to Fortress in Mongkok. If I understand correctly most any device there can be had with Native English installation. I know this is true with Apple products. I purchased iPad2 and MBP from the Apple Store on Central, no problem. But then again, I bought a MB Air @ Suning in SZ, no language problem either. Seems Apple really gets the concept of 'International'.
ironman510:
I just bought the Surface Pro 3 i5 last week, you wont regret it. I'm loving it, yeah buy at the fortress and it'll cost in HK8,300, its higher because I got a keyboard with it HK488, get it, because it cost Y988 in China, I love the keyboard, careful with the pen, the black tip breaks off easily, had to replace it.
diverdude1:
yeah, the reviews I have read seem to average like a 90% or better score. seems people are loving it! 
weird that the pen could break so easily though...
I like Fortress. Always had a good experience there.
ironman510:
Dont waste time in Mongkok, to far... Go to the Futian Border (Futian Kou-An) and after walking away from the HK immigration desk you'll do that uturn and than keep left and you'll find the buses and taxis, jump on B1 going to Yuenlang, HK, only 10 minutes from Shenzhen, they've got all the shops like MongKok. HK13.65 by bus and HK85 by taxi
ironman510:
I dropped the pen once, and that did it in, 200 for a new one on JD.com
diverdude1:
@ironman- a colleague also advised me about Yuenlang. It is high on my list to visit. just stuck in Shandong at the present :(
You need to get Windows installed in English to be able to use it in English!
Depending where you buy it from it can be fully installed in English. In Guangzhou, if you buy a new laptop at the computer market in Gangding you can get this done though best to take a Chinese speaker with you. I know ScotsAlan has done this before.
I know use a Dell laptop workstation that my boss paid for. It was ordered direct from Dell & I had to wait 3 days extra for delivery so they could reinstall it all in English.
ScotsAlan:
Yup. And thee people in the shop said it was a legal copy of windows in English..but it was a copy that needed activation. I went to the microsoft site to pay for a license. not available in China apparently. I asked a friend in the UK to buy me a legal copy and it was brought over. Done a full install and all ok. It even has Chinese language pack. Of course, the day before my legal copy arrivedy wifes teenage cousin managed to activate my illeegal copy. The illegal copy that was supplied by the shop. Too many software compaanies complain about software piracy in China then dont provide an outlet to biy a legal copy. I have to get all my software brought in. Cant but it here...even online.
Hotwater:
And the worst thing now in that situation is that MS are going to offer free upgrades to Windows 10 for everyone, illegal or not!
Englteachted:
Not Windows 8.1, you can change the language. I did it myself.
BHGAL:
china could not afford to upgrade all their government computers to legal stuff... so microsoft quit support for XP and now a deal is in the works for windows 10.... imagine all them government offices...thousands and thousands of them, going from shitty old unsupported XP to an up to date version of an O/S that nobody has been able to make better.
1 minute after I said this... my VPN went down and I had to scramlbe to get back online.Hotwater:
Good to know Windows haven't hard wired the language into the install now. I'm still using windows 7 which needs to be installed in the language you want to use.
my personal uneducated opinion is..... you have to leave the country to get an English version O/S .... Hong Kong at the very least. I would not trust anything else. I question the download availability of windows. Sure it is there and if you weren't in China, you could get it. No way I could, where I am. connection speed, or VPN reliability for an hour or 2 or 3.
The potential for extreme frustration says to me.... go to Hong Kong.
This has been on my mind for the past couple weeks too. I have even online priced laptops at Fortress, in Hong Kong. Not impressed and hope to wait 'til I go home (Canada) ... add another $1200 to going to get a laptop, but I am due for a visit someday. Glad I am not in your urgent situation. Hope this thing of mine lasts to a new Windows release.
I just bought a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, here in China.... I was convinced by others that it would be OK, English will be predominant. It is not and it is frustrating, constantly giving me s*it in Chinese that would not be happening if I bought the thing in Hong Kong!!!
Never buy electronics in mainland China is what I have come to believe.
GOOD LUCK!! in your URGENT situation.
PS I am not bad with computers, a little slow with the quick changing stuff, but there was a day, just a few years ago, I thought I new a little.
my laptop is 5 years old, 3.5 in China and loaded with Chinese stuff, that I have no idea what it is. (i.e. did the bank put it here, or taobao, do I need it?) I recently cleaned the fan and bought a cooler fan, cause it was already seizing with the warmer weather.
let us know what works for you. the potentially frustrating route, but got lucky, or got frustrated, or left the country.
BHGAL:
I want to add a ??? .... is Taiwan or Seoul or Tokyo another option, (besides Hong Kong) to getting English O/S and other Englsih stuff?
most everybody here, even the government, here in China, runs illegal versions of windows xp ..
without any trace, no. But it can be done, ask a friend to help you find the language / region section. But you won't notice the Chinese.
ScotsAlan:
I have windows 8.1. Yes, you can change the language input, but not the base language.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-the-display-language
Mine is only home addition, but I had a look and I can't change mine from English to Chinese, only add language packs.
i bought a legal copy of microsoft windows 7 in new zealand and activated it in china, the number for activation is 4008301832, need someone with chinese to tell you which button to push for english, after that the english speaking operator will go through the activation, the operator i had was very bad english, so i passed the phone to my chinese wife, but it was done finally,
like everything in china, it was not simple and quick, because that would be bad for keeping everybody working on stupid things, about 30 minutes to do something that should take 10 minutes.
BHGAL:
bullshit
got an issue with an English version of Microsoft windows installation..just call microsoftI thought Amazon.com (in America) sold and shipped computers to China. And, shipping was paid for. I know there is an Amazon.cn now.
Ahoy there Good Noel!
I thought you were blocked months ago...what gives? They let you it back?
You'll be able to download an English Pack in Control Panel and click on language but remember to make that your default language buying moving it to the top and that'll work fine after you restart, the apps that are in Chinese are just default apps, you can reinstall those will an English version, like office pro, don't worry.. This is the correct Method, I've been doing that ever since Windows 8 came out..
I've had English Windows 7 installed on 2 computers I bought from the digital market here. No problems whatsoever.
