I have two questions: 1) Are there any special settings I need to do with my MAC to use it in Europe? 2) My charger is 3-prong and all my adapters are 2-prong. Do I need a 3-prong adapter? Thank you
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
You can buy a kit that will give you the plug adapters that you need. Ask at the Apple store. Here's a link to the online store. http://store.apple.com/us/product/M8794G/B
Pam
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19273 posts
My two pin Europlug is narrow and fits over the blades of an American plug with the grounding pin beside it. My Acer Aspire One also has a grounded (three prong) plug, and I used it that way in Germany last fall.
If you are really worried, in this country they make adapters for older style, ungrounded 2 blade receptacles and extension cords to accommodated grounding plugs. They have a sheet metal lug with a hole in it. You can attach a wire with a screw and attach that to any grounded metal.
European receptacles are grounded, and they do make grounding plug adapters but the scheme varies from country to country, so you might need a lot of grounding plug adapters.
Posted by
San Francisco, California, USA
446 posts
"My two pin Europlug is narrow and fits over the blades of an American plug with the grounding pin beside it. "
That has worked fine for me, too. You don't really need to use the grounding plug.
I've taken my MacBook to both Germany and Spain. No problems. Apple's battery charger works perfectly on both American 110 and European 220 voltage.
Posted by
cambridge, ma
28 posts
You can either get the kit with the extra plugs or an adapter plug with the grounding pin. The macbook power adapter works on 220V so you only need a plug adapter for it. Heck, just use the little plug tip without the extension cable that it came with - that's 2 prong. You can also substitute a VCR or similar cable to fit into the space where the plug tip slides off.
As far as special settings, do you mean something like changing the keyboard map? I'd just use option-e to put in accents rather than change the keyboard layout.