Visiting China - cheap electronics?

MrSlade

I'm going to China over Easter with a friend. He keeps asking me if Ipods and other electronics are going to be cheap, and to be honest I have no idea. My gut feeling is that they would be cheaper, but I just wondered if anyone had any information or experiences of potentially cheap electronics?

Thanks in advance.

zico_2

Hi My hubby and I were in China in Dec 06. To be honest we did not look much at electronic gadgets, but there were lots of shops selling them and the Chinese seem to be in love with their gadgets and mobiles! My feeling was that you need to be very sure that you are getting the real thing, China is full of copies of almost anything!
On another note, be prepared to sleep on very hard beds! We only managed to get a decent nights sleep towards the end of our fortnight when we stayed in a 5* hotel for 3 nights!! The chinese used to use porcelain pillows and I think they must have used rock beds! They are an early rising nation and having slept (or tried to) in their beds I am not surprised!
Enjoy your stay, the culture is amazing, and the people are eager to please and keen to learn about western culture.

johnmoney05

If you go passing Hong Kong, I would recommand that you buy some electronics stuff there. Something like digicamera, digi video camera, MP3 player, laptop....
But if in mainland China, I don't think they have good bargain.

nearlyrich

Interesting thread, I am going to China and Hong Kong in May so I will be watching to see what bargains people have found.

littlereddevil

If you don't want them to last for ever the fakes can be very good quality especially ipods etc. You can buy them from £4 boxed with all the bits and pieces.

randomtask_2

Be careful, there is a huge counterfeit and imitation market in China. Well known brands like Sony often get copied.

littlereddevil

Most of them are fakes but ok if you are only paying fake prices

kparky1

I'm glad you started this thread, I was just about to do the same

I am going to Hong Kong next week. Can you buy laptops and PDA's ?
Has anyone got any tips for buying elctronics in Hong Kong?

Is Singapore cheaper.
Thanks;)

chibo82

PS3s r almost 200 pound cheaper in hk!

No_Future

China: be careful of fakes.

Hong Kong: sometimes cheaper, but know what you're buying and how much it'd usually cost. Note: the "tax free" electronics shops on Nathan Road are cheeky because there is no VAT in HK anyway! The best place to go for electronics is probably the centre in Mong Kok.

MrSlade

I just wanted to say thanks for all the replies, there's lots of useful information!