Replacement Laptop Keyboards with Chinese Characters or Chinese Laptop Outlets in US?

[hyperlinked]

I'm shopping for a PC laptop for someone who needs to have her Windows and laptop in Chinese. I know that I can get Windows Ultimate and upgrade the language pack so that the OS runs in Chinese, but then there's the matter of the keyboard. I suppose the easiest way to rectify that would be to buy a replacement keyboard with Chinese characters on it.

Of course, if I could find a US outlet for laptops for non-English users, that might be even better, but if that's not a possibility, I can live with having to hack a US model into a Chinese model. Anyone know where I can start my search?

[ricercar]

Check out Central Computer in SF and Santa Clara. They're run by a Chinese family, and occasionally they have unique Chinese HW and SW on the show floor. I bet they could order a Chinese anything for you, fast.

[Rajagra]

ebay is awash with foreign language laptop keyboards (from China mostly!) that cost next to nothing including postage. I wish I could find a way to filter them out of my searches, lol.

Alternatively, the laptop manufacturer should be able to supply one.

[hyperlinked]

Raj, I'm trying to find one for a laptop though. I picked through eBay and there's plenty of regular keyboard options in Chinese, but not for laptops. Are there any particular sellers that you've encountered that have them?

[kishy]

I dunno what kind of laptop you're dealing with, but I know with Dell...well, go search "dell laptop keyboard" and see what you get.

Acer also had a few last I looked, Toshiba only a couple really expensive ones (keyboards in general, IDK about Chinese layout)

But yes, the manufacturer should be able to provide you with that part...probably at immense cost though...or at least the part number so you can search for it from other sources.

[kishy]

I just stumbled upon probably the same one on ebay. Photo isn't accurate to description.

Here

My laptop is in the list...don't you dare make me want more LAPTOP keyboards too!

[hyperlinked]

I just stumbled upon probably the same one on ebay. Photo isn't accurate to description.

Yep, that's the same one Ripster found with the "sprinkling" of Chinese keys. I don't know what's up with that. Is it supposed to be kinda like a blank keyboard for Chinese users who can't remember which key is the shift key and only want lettering when they have to type in the Roman alphabet?

Anyway, I did find a few leads on replacement Dell keyboards with Chinese lettering:
Dell Inspiron 4000 4100 4150 Keyboard K039 Eng/Chinese
Dell Inspiron 1501 Series Chinese layout KeyBoard XF021

Then there are these key stickers that are a last resort option:
CHINESE KEYBOARD STICKERS TRANSPARENT YELLOW LETTERS PC

[hyperlinked]

Ok, I found the listings for Chinese laptop keyboards. You just have to search for "Chinese keyboards" and sort through the pile yourself. Inserting the word "laptop" into your search string anywhere messes up your search results.

[Henry]

Yep, that's the same one Ripster found with the "sprinkling" of Chinese keys. I don't know what's up with that. Is it supposed to be kinda like a blank keyboard for Chinese users who can't remember which key is the shift key and only want lettering when they have to type in the Roman alphabet?

Hi, as far as I know, mainland China uses only pinyin as IME. That's why they use plain old qwerty US. They don't need to input anything but roman characters.

Keyboards with the hanzi radicals used by other IMEs are for places where pinyin isn't used as the main IME, such as Taiwan and HK.

[hyperlinked]

Hmmm... ok the plot thickens! I was astounded to have such a hard time finding Pinyin or Hanzi keyboards when China is the biggest 'Net using population in the world.

The person I'm getting the laptop for is actually from Taiwan and needs to replace an old laptop that takes 17 hours to boot up in WinXP.