First time posting! My daughter is a university student in Madrid and her laptop has broken. It has been diagnosed as the fan, but the place she went to wants to charge E140s. Seems high. So she needs to find another place to get the laptop repaired or buy a new one with American os, but would love a spanish keyboard. She is fluent in Spanish, just young and has never shopped for something like this before. She lives in the universary area and does not have much time to go all over town. Thanks in advance!

(addition) She needs amercan operating system to be be compatable for the school and when she comes back home but would like a Spanish keyboard. She will be in school there for another 1 1/2 years.

Hi jacmom! Welcome to our ALL SPAIN Message Board!

140€ does sound a bit high at that for just a fan replacement. But you know, they charge you to simply accept it and then charge you for their time too. The fan itself probably costs only 20€ but laptops are funky things to work on, not to mention more fragile inside than PCs.

There are PC CITY shops around Madrid, that's where I mainly do my computer shopping, usually the one at Príncipe Pío. Go to http://www.pccity.es/contenidos.jsp?pagina=tiendas for stores near her but I'd guess the ARGÜELLES location (listed as "PC City Gaztambide " on their website) is closest. She can get there onfoot as I'm guessing she doesn't have a car.

IF she had a car, on the outskirts of the city there are also Media Markt consumer electronics stores. Web: http://www.mediamarkt.es/ . These places are MUCH more challenging to visit without a car.

Both stores service computers. I'd like to mention that many times the Mom-and-Pop computer stores surprisingly have the best prices and the best service - at least that's been my experience. I used one place near my home but they moved across town. Luckily, lately I haven't needed any computer service.

Some of the "light weight" (and by that I mean less-than-powerful) laptops can cost as little as 400€ and go up from there. It took me awhile but now I'm used to the Spanish keyboard - which is the same as any other keyboard except from of the punctuation marks and special characters are in different places, not to mention figuring out HOW to make an accented character and take a lot of getting used to when writing in Spanish.

Best of luck! Let us know if we can help more. We all love to shop vicariously through others for computer stuff.

P.S. I don't think there's much hope to buy an off-the-shelf laptop (or PC) with an American operating system in Madrid/Spain. For that, she would have to buy online - and even that'd be difficult, I'd guess. But why can't she use the Spanish language OS in the USA? The programs are the same - although in Spanish - and saved documents use the same extensions.

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks so much for all the info. I have emailed her about ALL SPAIN message board(she can use the university computers, just not always convenient).

Now I have been told that she doesn't have to worry about the operating system, so that is good.

I'll have to let you know what happens. I think you have been a big help. jacmom

No problem, jacmom! We're here to serve. Hope you get to visit her at some point here in Madrid.

Saludos, MadridMan

you can go to mediamarkt in shopping center "Plenilunio" in the bus EMT nº 77 from " ciudad lineal, metro ciudad lineal"to Plenilunio, and then see the movie "Avatar" in 3D...a wonderful day!!

Ok, So we have found a decent deal stateside on a slimline Toshiba and are mailing it to her. I have told her to join ALL SPAIN,as her next item is traveling with a friend to Galicia for Semana Santa. Thanks for all the assistance!jacmom

You're mailing it to her or it's being mailed to her from the factory? Hope it's in its original packaging for mailing and not bought from an retail shop and then mailed as the latter (usually) does not have enough insulation for mailing. Best of luck and glad you found something. Hope it arrives okay. You'll have to tell us how much the postage was to mail it to her. BE SURE to insure it!

Saludos, MadridMan

If anyone does have to ship a laptop anywhere, Fed Ex has a great box just made for laptops - it costs $10.00 but it really made the laptop secure in the package.

We shipped the battery thru DHL for $88.00 and the laptop and dvd player thru regular mail @ $52.00 including insurance.

So yes it was expensive, but it worked out ok.

There was one problem with Customs, they decided to hold on to it for awhile. She completed a requested form and all information showed it was 'in transit' when it really was not. She ended up going to the Customs office at the airport,showed her ID and they gave her the computer within 20 minutes.

I think she might not have had this Customs problem if it had been sent DHL or some other service. That service would have cost almost $300 though! So mailing a laptop could be a problem if you are not in Madrid.

Apparently, she had visited one of the computer stores, but did not find what she was looking for there. It was recently explained to me that she had told her father this, but (haha) neither hold told me. That is why we ended up bying in the states and mailing.