michi kipper

I would like to buy an air power adapter for my laptop for the flight home.

Are they easy enough to find and purchase in China? Does anyone know how much it would cost?

Any recommendation for noise reduction headphones available in China?

Thanks!

Peter N-H

Wouldn't it be better to buy this on the plane to be sure you have the one you need?

But China's a big place. For a specific recommendation of where to look it might be an idea to mention where you are.

Electronics made overseas are generally more expensive than they are at home (wherever home is). But small gadgets made in China for sale in China are generally cheaper. However, your gadget bought on-board ought to be duty free.

Again, if you want famous brands then these will be more expensive in China. I bought a duty free pair in-flight from Shanghai a few days ago for about C$70 on Air Canada. I'm not obsessive about electronics but had a quick look through the specs which looked half-decent. One hi-fi enthusiast has already sneered at them (without reading the spec or actually putting them on his head), but they seem to work quite well. They were by Logitech.

Peter N-H

michi kipper

Thanks Peter, I didn't realize you could buy the adapter on the plane. I didn't want to leave it up to last minute. I don't need the adapter or headphones for the trip over and I'm traveling for 6 weeks, I didn't want to cart them around.

I am flying out of Kunming-PEK to EWR... with time spent previously in Shanghai and Beijing. I suppose I was thinking China would be like Japan with access to good electronics. I'm not a slave to big brand names.

Thanks for the info--

mcjava

Are you looking for the AC/DC adapter? This has a plug that fits into a cigarette lighter or the Empower jacks on an airplane and goes to a box that has a standard 110V plug --- then you can just plug your normal AC adapter into that. You can find those as Radio Shack, or on board. The nice ones are quite expensive. You can find low powered ones at auto parts stores sometimes, for much less.

Trying to find a DC power adapter exactly for your laptop is probably harder and more expensive.

China has tons of electronics, but trying to find good quality isn't always easy. Tons and tons of cheap stuff that works OK for a couple days (I'm talling adapters, cell phone charges, etc). In Japan, you can pretty much bet that whatever you buy will last for a while.

Headphones: sorry, no real advice there. I bought a $35 Maxell noise reduction headset at Staples and it works fine for the cheap price, but after an hour or two, there is a dull noise that gets to me. They also make earbud ones that would be quite small to carry --- but this is something where you almost have to try it to even know if you like it.

moondog

(presumably) fake QC2s sell for around y300 in electronics markets. my first set only lasted 6 months. the second set is still going strong.

TravelManKen

That matches my experience, I wouldn't count on finding what you need in Beijing - it was a you know what finding a few things I needed over a period of 10 days.