negreanu

Yeh my last couple of MBP's had dam_n hot chargers. Nothing eveer went wrong with them tho so put it down to normal. Did they not decrease the size of them in the 2009 models while increasing the output if I remember correctly.

Which may explain their heat output.

My average meal, including drink, usually runs under 50 baht.

Bloody hel_l. I think your still in the "OS 8" Days

Maybe they are grey-market or copies ? I dont think apple is going to cover a warranty or support it being sold outside its distribution channels

Support is fine called AppleCare on 2 occasions about the iPad. Full telephone support offered. I also asked him about the warranty he said it is worldwide but only serviceable in countries where the iPad is for sale through Apple. I told him I bought it but I moved to Thailand he said that to get the hardware serviced I would need to send it to USA fedex or dhl at my expense and they would return it at their expense. (Serial number is valid....dam_n those chinese copiers are good)

This is only until it is available for sale officially in Asia.

Of course they are grey-imports they are not for sale officially anywhere in the world apart from the USA for at least another 6 weeks probably more until they are officially available in Thailand.

If I am typing this on my MBK COPY iPad then F**ck me their copy is a perfect copy of the original. I shall be buying more copy ipads from MBK too go along with my Identical copy iPhones I have bought there and not to mention the copy playstation 3 game consoles I have bought there......

Anyway gotta get back to my cheap non legit grey import copy MBK iPad. Totally brilliant device. I can't imagine how good the non copy version is

Just because something is sold in MBK doesn't automatically mean it's a copy. That's tourist thinking.....

I am paying close to 20k shipping the 16GB from the USA, more if customs add taxes and VAT - so this isn't too bad a price.

Colleague did the same shipping it in from the US to BKK on fedex ended up paying 6800THB on customs import duty and vat when it was delivered. Ouch.

Might get away with it tho if you have sent it visa USPS Priority or International mail or indeed declared the ""Correct" value on the customs declaration.

So many people on here talk about the iPhones and iPads being fake at MBK. Total nonsense there are fake iPhones available but if you can't tell the difference within 2ms then you don't deserve to own a iphone in the first place. You can purchase SAFELY at MBK any iPhone or iPad and it will not be fake unless you ask for a fake one. They will not produce a fake iphone or fake ipad (which don't exist) unless you ask specifically for the fake one.

Price yesterday was offered 16GB 23500thb 32GB 26500thb and 64GB 32000thb

Also reference Mail forwarders and the apple store as of beginning of the month the online apple store has blocked shipping to known mail forwarder companies. Bugger however Best Buy and Amazon still works.

Wow, I'm just starting to ramble. Long story short, I can't reconcile spending money right now considering how I use my laptop. My professional life is also taking a turn where in some ways, it could be argued I'm in less need of a more "capable" machine. Will see in 3 years, that's nearly a lifetime with technology.

The i5 and i7's processors and 330 Graphics would certainly future proof you for a 2-3 years roughly.

However as beign discussed above stick a SSD and double the ram on your 13" MBP - believe me it will be like you have just bought a completely new machine. You do not appreciate the performance increase from a SSD in mac os x until you have actually used it. Really is the best bang for your buck in my opinion over all performance increasing components such as Higher RPM Hd, Ram, CPU Upgrade.

Invest in a Drobo for your next external storage devices.

Will be going with Gen2 intel 160gb ssd and the WD 1TB 12.5mm drive for storage.

Just got a friend to pick me up a 16GB in MBK; 23.5k. He got a 32GB for 28.5k. I collect it tomorrow, can't wait!

Enjoy it man. It really is a game changer as you will see tomorrow. Don't forget to top up on your US Itunes gift cards for all the excellent apps. (Also get's the chicks in starbucks - 3 conversations about it today from Jap and high-so thai types - however they only wanted to touch the ipad despite by best efforts)

Hypothetically speaking:

If someone was to bring back two or three ipads from the Europe, would they be easy or difficult to sell in Thailand?

Well since you won't be able to get hold of any in europe until end of May - Probably not as the market will be saturated by then and the mark up at MBK reduced significantly.

However if you were to bring some in from the US today - you could probably make a few $$$$$ on thaivisa classifieds by undercutting MBK.

Will be interesting to see what brand SSDs Apple is going to put in the new MBPs. Judging by the sizes it's not Intel which is a bit of a letdown.

Believe it's samsung drives. With no Trim support.

I still think at this time it's probably best to stick with Gen2 Intel drives OR haven't read enough reports on them yet the OWC offering. Which ON PAPER looks to out perform the Intel Gen2 and with some intriguing features. But then again it's US$800 for 200GB

Ref the dream machine above. Will be going similar but the SSD and RAM and 1TB Western digital still come from OWC - So I think with that my dream machine is better than your dream machine

MBK open. 16GB 24500 32GB 27000 64gb 33000.

Stocks starting to get a bit low on the 16gb apparently yesterday.

oh and

3. Disable Wide Channels 40mhz on the router has been reported as solving some users problems.

Yeh Apple just dropped the price of ram 2 days ago to around US$450 for 8GB - so the above comment regarding half the price does not stand however it did until 2 days ago.

Price for 8GB at OWC is US$376.00. So still cheaper but the time you add postage if you use Shipito is probably another $25.00 so saving of only US$50 now. Apple finally realised that consumers are not going to stand for their rip off prices anymore.

Regarding upgrades with the SSD and HD combo. Never used time machine for that. I always just take the SSD and HD out the old macbook pro and put it in the new macbook pro and nothing changes. That's the beauty of mac os x no need to worry about drivers etc. etc. in fact I have done the same with a iMac SSD from Macbook Pro into a iMac.

Other way to do it is use a external usb case to use Superduper! to make exact clone of the SSD and the current HD.

iPad Antenna is behind the plastic Apple logo on the back in the centre. Strange place to put it in my opinion as chances are when you have it on a desk or on your knees or lying in bed then that is the exact part that will be covered.

Still getting slight "cycling" of the wifi signal strength from 1bar-3bar any distance greater than about 30ft. Will have a play with Router channel choice this afternoon - have the following two possible solutions that some users have had success with:

1. Change Router to G or B only (Don't want to do this as lose the speed of N)

2. Change the Router channel - most iPad users seem to agree they get better results from using channel 11.

Me too just woke up grabbed the iPad and read the latest headlines in bed. Oh and btw I just printed a 20page document on my laser printer via wifi from the iPad last night.

Secondly, I just accessed my Drobo NAS from iPad which has (8tb storage as opposed to your required 320gb) and thirdly I needed to use one of my iMacs so connected remotely via the iPad via VNC RDP and was using the iMac as if I was sat in front of it via the iPad.

And I guess finally just uploaded a whole lot of files to my unlimited online storage which can be expanded beyond 320gb and accessed directly from the wifi anywhere there is wifi or Cellular 3G or Edge connection which is pretty much everywhere in the world.

I am not saying the ipad is perfect far from it, however it is an incredible piece of technology that will just get better and better as the developers get used to it and it's capabilities. Once you have used it and by that I don't just mean played with it for 10mins in the store, I mean used it for a few hour installed the apps that are beneficial for you. You begin to truly understand how big a game changer this will become.

Going to Hong Kong this week for BUSINESS and as an experiment for myself I am not taking a laptop or net book simply the iPad and my jail broken iPhone.....just to prove to myself that there is nothing more I need on a trip, should be interesting.

Excellent, finally a worthy replacement to safari.

Uses server side compression before sending you the data. Not good for SSL online banking etc and graphic quality. But otherwise a excellent browser.

No USB? No printer port? Is that true? If, OMFG Apple let me down AGAIN

em..Some people just don't get what the iPad device is targeted at. It's a mobile device who wants to be carrying round a printer and all sorts of usb gadgets when you go out or indeed relaxing on the sofa or in bed.

Printer Port?? You serious? you want USB ports and what a Parallel printer port (People still use these) on a less than 1inch thick machine.

using Pandora a lot really amazing software (But VPN required again recommend StrongVPN)

Newsrack for RSS feeds is really good and better and cheaper than Netnewswire Pro.

Gaming playing a lot of Words with Friends HD. Really good game with notification of players move etc. so game can last for days in the background if necessary.

Yeh. Will be picking up a 2.66ghz i7 15" model in the next 2-3 weeks. Will get 8GB ram from OWC half the price of Apple ram and just as good.

Drive bay will put in a 1tb western digital and take out the optical drive and replace it with a Intel 160GB SSD for OS and Apps.

Ref the new model. CPU is around 20% faster over the same speed core2duo. Graphics card is showing around 25% improvement on the 9600GT on the previous model.

Biggest improvement for me is the option to select the higher res screen on the 15" model. Always thought Apple has always been two conservative on the 13" and 15" models when it came to resolution.

Overall happy with the new model only disappointment was hoping for IPS screen same as the new iMacs and iPad....maybe next year.

I am not so worried about the screen getting scratched more so the back of it when I place it on a desk etc.

In fact all the apple stores in the US anyway have removed the screen protectors for their devices as they are now saying they are unnecessary and the screens are pretty scratch resistant.

Getting about 3.0mbits - 4.0mbits in central BKK and ping to singapore around 250-300ms. Happy.

For the user with the questionable Battery life. I can also replicate that poor life with max brightness music playing wifi on browsing/email and occasional html5 video.

As stated earlier by another poster i do not think you have a defective unit. It's down to your screen brightness selection. Remember this is a IPS panel they consume a lot of power more than a TFT panel (2 transistors per pixel instead of 1).

However in return you get a awesome screen with better colours/viewing angles and clarity. I do not think you should need to run at full brightness even if you knock it down to 60-75% you will dramatically improve your battery life.

ABC Player and Netflix - Almost the killer apps on the ipad. Although VPN required such as strongVPN. Although I see if you have a diamond giganews account you get a free VPN service with that now. Good deal actually if you use .NZB files and want the best usenet provider and a really fast decent VPN for one monthly fee.

I must have a nice wifi network because I havent noticed a weak wifi signal, but I did read about it.

As far as I can tell its defo a range thing within about 30-50ft of the router it's fine. I would imagine a firmware upgrade will sort it out.

Now the hard bit: Choosing a case. Don't like Apples offering - prefer a slip case kind of cover although a stand would be nice. hmmm.

Hey nikster,

I have been looking at the True website, and it looks to me their 3G is only available via Wi-Fi ?

Could you point to some more info on this service, or should I call *9000?

Thanks

Truemove website. 3G True is available for around 600thb a month post pay