OT: monitor question

R
Posted By
rtdavide
Dec 26, 2006
Views
312
Replies
9
Status
Closed
Hello,
It’s been years since I have posted on this NG, but I couldn’t find the info I’m looking for elsewhere. at least not yet….

I am planning on moving from the US to Italy in the next few years, and as a freelance artist [one that uses photoshop on a daily basis] I NEED my computer.

It seems the computer itself should transfer fine, but I’m unsure about some of the peripherals.
Particularly the monitor and the wacom. Though my large scanner and printer would be a bummer to lose as well.
I have a viewsonic 21" lcd monitor and the specs say it has an "autoswitch" power for the 110/230 and 50/60hz, but I don’t know if that means all I will need is an adaptor or not. My guess is it will not be that simple.

Has anyone here worked on both continents? What is your advice on the peripherals?

Thank you,

dave

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

C
Capri
Dec 27, 2006
wrote:
Hello,
It’s been years since I have posted on this NG, but I couldn’t find the info I’m looking for elsewhere. at least not yet….

I am planning on moving from the US to Italy in the next few years, and as a freelance artist [one that uses photoshop on a daily basis] I NEED my computer.

It seems the computer itself should transfer fine, but I’m unsure about some of the peripherals.
Particularly the monitor and the wacom. Though my large scanner and printer would be a bummer to lose as well.
I have a viewsonic 21" lcd monitor and the specs say it has an "autoswitch" power for the 110/230 and 50/60hz, but I don’t know if that means all I will need is an adaptor or not. My guess is it will not be that simple.

Has anyone here worked on both continents? What is your advice on the peripherals?

Thank you,

dave
C
Capri
Dec 27, 2006
wrote:
Hello,
It’s been years since I have posted on this NG, but I couldn’t find the info I’m looking for elsewhere. at least not yet….

I am planning on moving from the US to Italy in the next few years, and as a freelance artist [one that uses photoshop on a daily basis] I NEED my computer.

It seems the computer itself should transfer fine, but I’m unsure about some of the peripherals.
Particularly the monitor and the wacom. Though my large scanner and printer would be a bummer to lose as well.
I have a viewsonic 21" lcd monitor and the specs say it has an "autoswitch" power for the 110/230 and 50/60hz, but I don’t know if that means all I will need is an adaptor or not. My guess is it will not be that simple.

Has anyone here worked on both continents? What is your advice on the peripherals?

Thank you,

dave

Interesting question Dave, I travel frequently between outr offices here in the US and offices in Europe, the company has the same pc’s in all of the offices (Dell) i have never noticed and special adaptors but then have never really looked all that hard either.

Perhaps and email to the makers of your monitor and other equipment would be more productive?
R
rtdavide
Dec 27, 2006
Capri wrote:
Perhaps and email to the makers of your monitor and other equipment would be more productive?

Yeah, that would be the safe thing to do.
I was just wondering if anyone had actually done this.

Offices may have even bought the same basic model, but with modifications for the european power supply.
Acer, for example, sells a 24" monitor but the exact same model number comes in slightly different versions for US, UK, and Italy. So it could be that the Dells would look exactly alike, yet still be slightly different.

My guess is that even if it were probably OK, the company would tell me the safe thing: buy another monitor for the european power supply just so they could avoid any liability. This move will already cost thousands, I’d like to NOT add more thousands to it having to buy all new peripherals.

thanks anyways,

dave
B
B
Dec 27, 2006
On 26 Dec 2006 21:41:50 -0800, wrote:

Capri wrote:
Perhaps and email to the makers of your monitor and other equipment would be more productive?

Yeah, that would be the safe thing to do.
I was just wondering if anyone had actually done this.

Offices may have even bought the same basic model, but with modifications for the european power supply.
Acer, for example, sells a 24" monitor but the exact same model number comes in slightly different versions for US, UK, and Italy. So it could be that the Dells would look exactly alike, yet still be slightly different.

My guess is that even if it were probably OK, the company would tell me the safe thing: buy another monitor for the european power supply just so they could avoid any liability. This move will already cost thousands, I’d like to NOT add more thousands to it having to buy all new peripherals.

thanks anyways,

dave

Believe me it is worth making damn sure that any kit brought over is rated for both the voltage and cycles. US 60hz Most of rest of world 50hz. Usually not a problem with electronics since they normally covert to dc then set up their own internal frequency but check that as well.

Had a friend buy a bargain (compared with UK prices) scanner. Got it home, changed the plug and tried it. Then asked me to have a look at it since it seemed not to be working.
Pointed out that the brown marks at one end of the glass were the remains of the PCB……

Had another case like that where the importer realised that the voltage was wrong and hooked up a transformer salvaged from somewhere else, however he hooked the heavy terminals to the kit.
That was spectacular, or so I’m told….. 440volts on a 110volt bit of kit.

Yet another friend came over to my first Ladies Festival ( British Masonic thing) – their first time out of state let alone out of the US.
They were warned. However half an hour before the start of the banquet she plugged her hair curlers into the hotel socket outlet. Resulted in that wing of the hotel being blacked out and the curlers having the biggest case of brewers droop of the night.

Another thing to check if you haven’t found out already is that the socket outlets in Europe and the US are different. Acquire adapters for the stuff which is interchangeable..

Keith J Chesworth

www.unseenlondon.co.uk
www.blackpooltram.co.uk
www.amerseyferry.co.uk – updated 11/06
N
nomail
Dec 27, 2006
wrote:

I have a viewsonic 21" lcd monitor and the specs say it has an "autoswitch" power for the 110/230 and 50/60hz, but I don’t know if that means all I will need is an adaptor or not. My guess is it will not be that simple.

Yes, it’s that simple. I live in Europe, but I travel to the US a lot and carry things like my laptop and camera battery chargers. All equipment with such an autoswitch can be used without any problems. The only thing you need is a different plug.


Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.com
R
Rob
Dec 27, 2006
BoilerBill wrote:

On 26 Dec 2006 21:41:50 -0800, wrote:

Capri wrote:

Perhaps and email to the makers of your monitor and other equipment would be more productive?

Yeah, that would be the safe thing to do.
I was just wondering if anyone had actually done this.

Offices may have even bought the same basic model, but with modifications for the european power supply.
Acer, for example, sells a 24" monitor but the exact same model number comes in slightly different versions for US, UK, and Italy. So it could be that the Dells would look exactly alike, yet still be slightly different.

My guess is that even if it were probably OK, the company would tell me the safe thing: buy another monitor for the european power supply just so they could avoid any liability. This move will already cost thousands, I’d like to NOT add more thousands to it having to buy all new peripherals.

thanks anyways,

dave

Believe me it is worth making damn sure that any kit brought over is rated for both the voltage and cycles. US 60hz Most of rest of world 50hz. Usually not a problem with electronics since they normally covert to dc then set up their own internal frequency but check that as well.

I found that using a 60Hz toaster in a 50Hz supply made stripes on the toast.

Had a friend buy a bargain (compared with UK prices) scanner. Got it home, changed the plug and tried it. Then asked me to have a look at it since it seemed not to be working.
Pointed out that the brown marks at one end of the glass were the remains of the PCB……

Had another case like that where the importer realised that the voltage was wrong and hooked up a transformer salvaged from somewhere else, however he hooked the heavy terminals to the kit.
That was spectacular, or so I’m told….. 440volts on a 110volt bit of kit.

Yet another friend came over to my first Ladies Festival ( British Masonic thing) – their first time out of state let alone out of the US.
They were warned. However half an hour before the start of the banquet she plugged her hair curlers into the hotel socket outlet. Resulted in that wing of the hotel being blacked out and the curlers having the biggest case of brewers droop of the night.

Most Hotels/motels now have a multi socket/voltage to use and this should not have happened.

Another thing to check if you haven’t found out already is that the socket outlets in Europe and the US are different. Acquire adapters for the stuff which is interchangeable..

Keith J Chesworth

There are quite a few things which are made for the US market that are ONLY 110 volts. Where as if you have a European or Asian distributed product they have multi voltages incorporated. One produce comes to mind are the Epson printers.
MR
Mike Russell
Dec 27, 2006
\"BoilerBill" wrote in message
On 26 Dec 2006 21:41:50 -0800, wrote:
….
Had another case like that where the importer realised that the voltage was wrong and hooked up a transformer salvaged from somewhere else, however he hooked the heavy terminals to the kit.
That was spectacular, or so I’m told….. 440volts on a 110volt bit of kit.

LOL – been there, done that. I hooked a 110 Nintendo to a 110-220v converter that was switched backwards. A more beautiful puff of smoke you never saw!


Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/
R
rtdavide
Dec 27, 2006
BoilerBill wrote:
Another thing to check if you haven’t found out already is that the socket outlets in Europe and the US are different. Acquire adapters for the stuff which is interchangeable..

Keith J Chesworth

Yeah, I have family in Italy, and have been there several times. I have always taken adaptors for the few things I’d brought, but I’ve never taken a computer before.
I checked on the website for the monitor, which is actually one I want to buy, not one I already own. But before I invest the bucks on this monitor, I want to make sure I can take it with me. I’ll be using it here for a year and half, then moving to Italy, so it needs to adapt to both places.
The AC power supply is listed as "100~240VAC, 50/60Hz" which is what my current monitor is, but the Acer does not call it ‘autoswitch’. Do the above numbers mean that it is autoswitch anyway?
I’m just not familiar enough with electronics to know…..

I have sent the question to Acer as well, but no response as of yet.

Thanks for the info, and the funny stories.

dave
RB
Rudy Benner
Dec 27, 2006
wrote in message
BoilerBill wrote:
Another thing to check if you haven’t found out already is that the socket outlets in Europe and the US are different. Acquire adapters for the stuff which is interchangeable..

Keith J Chesworth

Yeah, I have family in Italy, and have been there several times. I have always taken adaptors for the few things I’d brought, but I’ve never taken a computer before.
I checked on the website for the monitor, which is actually one I want to buy, not one I already own. But before I invest the bucks on this monitor, I want to make sure I can take it with me. I’ll be using it here for a year and half, then moving to Italy, so it needs to adapt to both places.
The AC power supply is listed as "100~240VAC, 50/60Hz" which is what my current monitor is, but the Acer does not call it ‘autoswitch’. Do the above numbers mean that it is autoswitch anyway?
I’m just not familiar enough with electronics to know…..
I have sent the question to Acer as well, but no response as of yet.
Thanks for the info, and the funny stories.

dave
http://www.walkabouttravelgear.com/wwelect.htm

Yes, that power supply will work fine, provided you have the right adapter, these are commonly available.

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

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