I'm living in France for a year and my new MacBook was stolen. I'm going to buy an air to replace it but not sure whether I should buy online from the US and wait until someone is visiting to bring it or buy online from apple.com.fr.
Which keyboard is the QWERTY keyboard? Are there other differences I should consider? (Chargers, voltage, other language differences?)
Thanks!
Hi,
If you're staying in France and you buy it in France, you should have no worries about chargers/voltage/prong adapters.
Tom is the resident keyboard expert, so I'm sure he can confirm/refute this, but I believe the British keyboard has a few different keys than the US keyboard (I suspect that is why he recommended his first or second offering), so if you're used to a US keyboard, that's what I'd get.
Apple stores don't sell outside their own country, so you can't get one directly from the US Apple store.
In the French Apple store, there are a couple of normal qwerty keyboards: US, English International, and British. You probably want the first or second. You can see what they look like at
How to identify keyboard localizations - Apple Support
A Mac notebook's power supply operates between 110 and 240 volts, so virtually anywhere in the world.
The only difference is that you may need a different "duck head," the part with the prongs sticking out of the power adapter, or the end of the extension cord from the power adapter (if yours has the extension - I know the new MacBook Pros do not have an extension cord, but not positive about the MBAs). If France has a different "prong" setup than the US, they're readily available from Apple, either as part of the World Travel Adapter Kit (https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD837AM/A/apple-world-travel-adapter-kit), or possibly separately, or as part of a new power adapter.
Thanks for the tips! I won't be staying in France long term - will eventually be going back to the states. Could I just buy or use a mac charger in the states and it would work the same as the one that comes with the mac in France? I am very clueless on these things!
Jesslcrawf wrote:
wasn't sure what the difference was?
The link I mentioned has pictures of them. US is what is used in the US. English international is what is used in Europe. It has an extra key next to the Z and the return key has a different shape.
Thanks Tom! I wasn't sure which English keyboard I would select - I saw English international and US and wasn't sure what the difference was?
Buying a new computer while in France
