Nikkijah

I see your from Harlow, only about 20 mins away from me. As I'm off to LOS soon, why not give me all your money now and I'll put it in my Nationwide account and you can come see out there as and when you need some cash

Great idea, I'll see you down the skipper around 7pm tonight

thanks for your replies, I've looked on my k-cyber banking account and found this:

The last time I withdrew cash from the ATM I got a transfer rate of about B62 to the £ but judging by the transfer rates I will get a much better deal if I deposit £'s straight into my Kasikorn account, unless there are some other charges along the way...

I take a few hundred in pound notes to keep in reserve and use an ATM. I opened up a Nationwide flex account just for using when in Thailand which I put enough in for my trip and can always transfer some more if need be. You seem to get a good rate for your pound with Nationwide.

I can't open a Nationwide account, anyhow

I'm just thinking that when I'm near one of the various change kiosks around town I see great rates like B69 to the £ but I only get about B62 to the £ when I take it out at the ATM plus £1.50 fixed charge PLUS 1.25% of the total amount withdrawn

I'm taking some cash into Thailand, not a great deal but enough to make me wonder whether it's worth me taking it in cash or just taking it out of the ATM each time I need it?

Any ideas?

I ordered mine by catalog in a computer shop on Koh Samui

there were about 10 different configurations from 25 to 45 thousand baht approximately

so you can choose from the models

the card reader is actually a small unit on the front panel with 4 slots for different card types of which there is such a long list

I don't think the supplier will give a discount for canceling mouse, kb or modem (modem is btw very basic - no voice functions) - i suppose worth a thousend baht altogether

however there is an option to choose a monitor - smaller or bigger, widescreen or not

but the default 19" is quite sexy, our office girl loves it ))

Thanks for that anthos, I'll keep looking

i would say order a really well speccd dell online. It will perform out of the box, it wont have hardware compatibility issues, it will ship with genuine xp and it will be warrantied. no fuss no muss. my days of buying Panthip <deleted> are well over. But then i would never buy a dektop for home again.

but for 20k you will end up with a cobbled together panthip special.

Have you got details of Dell Thailand online? I can only find Dell Premier and I can't log into it

This is all I get: link

This is bullsh1t, I've trawled through tv and found another thread suggesting using Malaysia's Dell site for orders but I am only able to buy a complete system, I've already found the LCD I want and I've already found the keyboard I want, I've also already got a very nice mouse so how can I get ONLY a bleedin' tower???

Somebody guide me please

I ordered mine by catalog in a computer shop on Koh Samui

there were about 10 different configurations from 25 to 45 thousand baht approximately

so you can choose from the models

the card reader is actually a small unit on the front panel with 4 slots for different card types of which there is such a long list

I don't think the supplier will give a discount for canceling mouse, kb or modem (modem is btw very basic - no voice functions) - i suppose worth a thousend baht altogether

however there is an option to choose a monitor - smaller or bigger, widescreen or not

but the default 19" is quite sexy, our office girl loves it ))

Thanks for that anthos, I'll keep looking

i would say order a really well speccd dell online. It will perform out of the box, it wont have hardware compatibility issues, it will ship with genuine xp and it will be warrantied. no fuss no muss. my days of buying Panthip <deleted> are well over. But then i would never buy a dektop for home again.

but for 20k you will end up with a cobbled together panthip special.

Have you got details of Dell Thailand online? I can only find Dell Premier and I can't log into it

This is all I get: link

I ordered mine by catalog in a computer shop on Koh Samui

there were about 10 different configurations from 25 to 45 thousand baht approximately

so you can choose from the models

the card reader is actually a small unit on the front panel with 4 slots for different card types of which there is such a long list

I don't think the supplier will give a discount for canceling mouse, kb or modem (modem is btw very basic - no voice functions) - i suppose worth a thousend baht altogether

however there is an option to choose a monitor - smaller or bigger, widescreen or not

but the default 19" is quite sexy, our office girl loves it ))

Thanks for that anthos, I'll keep looking

i would say order a really well speccd dell online. It will perform out of the box, it wont have hardware compatibility issues, it will ship with genuine xp and it will be warrantied. no fuss no muss. my days of buying Panthip <deleted> are well over. But then i would never buy a dektop for home again.

but for 20k you will end up with a cobbled together panthip special.

Have you got details of Dell Thailand online? I can only find Dell Premier and I can't log into it

Go to tools/options/advanced and have your cache size set to max 10mb.

it was set at 50

now it's using 52,168 k

should it be that high?

Try running Firetune over it to tweak your settings and speed it up then see if there's improvement.

I've just used the FireTune tool and now FF is using 55MB but the usage figure usually rises until I shut down

I am running IE7 at the moment with 4 windows open and it is also showing 150MB usage

Closing one window only dropped that to 147Mb.

I cannot use FF at the moment, the company proxy does not permit,

but running the basic programme with only one blank page showing uses 27Mb.

Back home and have FF running with 3 windows, 50Mb

Interesting, I'm using FF with only 2 tabs and it is using 94MB!!!! Why is it using so much???

I ordered mine by catalog in a computer shop on Koh Samui

there were about 10 different configurations from 25 to 45 thousand baht approximately

so you can choose from the models

the card reader is actually a small unit on the front panel with 4 slots for different card types of which there is such a long list

I don't think the supplier will give a discount for canceling mouse, kb or modem (modem is btw very basic - no voice functions) - i suppose worth a thousend baht altogether

however there is an option to choose a monitor - smaller or bigger, widescreen or not

but the default 19" is quite sexy, our office girl loves it ))

Thanks for that anthos, I'll keep looking

Anyone got any thoughts about these very cool looking Acer Aspire computers? Top of the range is 30,000.

http://www.acer.co.th/product/aspire/L310/index.htm

I know that looking cool isn't really a criterion for deciding on a computer, but mine is dying too, and I have limited space on my desk.

Cheers,

G

I've been told that the small units, while they look great, suffer the same problem as laptops, that it is hard to upgrade them given the lack of space in the unit.

I suppose they don't have much air-flow going through them so components may heat up in the tropical temps...

I setup that same Pavilion model for an accountant friend of mine recently. Performs well for Office tasks and he can play older games like Sims 2 etc. The black 19" LCD monitor is fairly stylish for HP & looks good in a home office.

I'd want to go for 2GB Ram for any Vista computer though.

I take it that this Pavilion is upgradeable enough to just add an extra 1024 RAM and for a cheap price right?

thanks for the link, seems like I'll need to spend 10K baht more though...

Why? this pc in the link comes out at just under B30,000

the display is included in the price thought the specs in the page miss it

That looks like a lot of PC for my money, do you think I can pick and choose between components as I don't really need some of the bits inside:

ITU V.92 K56 flex modem

Most of the card readers

Keyboard

Mouse

And if it is offering an external drive I won't be needing one of them either, will taking these components out be possible?

Nikkijah

So what would you do if this happened to you.......my self i would just walk away and start a new life.

Easier said than done I think, can you imagine the pain and the fury!?

Good on him for paying her back but not a totally wise move burning down her house I bet the police aren't far behind him

http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/inte...entservices.asp

Have you looked at this???????? although im a Nationwide banker and will remain so because of there brilliant service here in Thailand, Halifax swift charge is 17.50 quid, NW is 20 quid,

Exactly, isn't it ridiculous!

Bob's just given you the best advice you'll get on here. Go and open a Nationwide Flexaccount. They're no more difficult to open than any other current account. The ATM card that you'll get with the account will allow you (or your partner) to withdraw money from any ATM in Thailand with no fees or costs at all.

Thanks but I have asked in all the banks in my town if I can open an account just last month and they told me that unless I am on the electoral register or have a large sum of money to deposit I am UNABLE to open an account.

EDIT/ I also need to show my employers name and address and my income details and I am unable to produce these

Good advice if it applies to people who either already have an existing Nationwide account or are able to open one.

I was asking questions on how to transfer from my HALIFAX account to my partners Kasikorn bank but it seems that the charges are too high.

Thanks for your replies.

When you login to kbank cyberbanking (or whatever they call it) it should be pretty obviuos from there how to do a transfer - if your partner has an accoutn with kbank in the same district there will then be no charge.

Another, much cheaper alternative is to open a nationwide flex account and send your partner the atm card - then when you want to give money you just trasnfer however much to your nationwide account and tell them to go to the atm and how much to withdraw. Then when they have withdrawn move the money out. Oh make sure you get an acount that doesnt have an overdraft facility, then when they try to take out 50000 baht after yo said 5000, they'll get told that the transaction cant be done, not you being told your liable to some hideous, illegal unauthorised overdraft fee !

HTH

PS if you have kbank savings you can also get a webcard (online credit card) and can then get a thai paypal account witjh full priviledges and can transfer money using paypal - but this will be at the offshore rate.

All the above has been discussed a lot before on TV...

Yes it has all been discussed before Khun Bob, but I think you misunderstood/misread my questions...

I have a Halifax account in the UK, I want to transfer money from that into my partners Kasikorn bank account, which I also mentioned is a savings account.

The account also has K-cyber banking but that also doesn't help me.

Thanks for lesson on how to control my partner like a baby though

Bank accounts are very difficult to open in the UK now unless you deposit a large amount into it when opening it, this subject has been widely covered somewhere else also...

I you think you may need to do these transfers on an irregular basis,

then next time you are in Thailand, open a savings account with online banking facilities.

That way you can leave some funds in the account and make transfers (from UK) to

another Thai account for a fee of only 30 baht per transfer.

Not all Thai banks have good online banking, I suggest Kasikorn Bank, forget

Siam Commercial for online banking.

Naka.

Cheers Naka, I have a savings account with online banking with Kasikorn, so how do I do a transfer for only B30? Do you mean by transferring larger amounts?

I think CDNVIC gave you good advice early in the thread which you

perhaps missed.

He suggested getting a brand name system rather than a home brew job

if you are not all that familiar with the technology.

The reasons being that it is easier to avoid being ripped of with a brand name

since you just compare prices of the same model at various shops.

Also there is less chance of incompatibility between components

than with a home brew.

Naka.

That is good advice but I'm a bit bothered about getting a bundle of things I don't really need, the previous laptop I had built by a company in Portsmouth and they built me a beast for good money, I'm going to take a pc savvy friend to MBK to check out what I can get for my money, hopefully he'll lead me in the right direction

Right, I'm arriving back in Thailand at the beginning of June and I want to get this new PC of mine, I've found the monitor I'm after, it's a 20.1" Viewsonic LCD, any thoughts on this?

I'm not sure I want to get such a high spec machine but I do want the capacity to upgrade in the future, I want to use the internet, photoshop, watch videos and have a fairly fast system but I don't want to spend more than about B20,000, is this possible? I would also like to get a nice looking and quiet tower

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Nikkijah

I bank with the Halifax and used to use them to send money over. All I needed was bank name, bank address, her name, her account.

But now I just go to the post office and use "MoneyGram" its a much easier method(I find) to send money over. Its pretty instant and there are loads of places where she can collect from. Contact the postoffice or web site for more details. It also worked out cheaper than Halifax.

How much did you pay with the Halifax chang? I was quoted 17 quid! I jsut checked out the moneygram website and the fees are as scandalous as Western Unions! 18 quid to send 200! Western Union is only 14 quid for the same amount, I wouldn't recommend moneygram to anybody...

I've just spoken with my bank and they say I will have to pay a minimum of £17 and the transfer can only be done using some kind of telegram(??)

Western Union it is then(again)

Yes, it's KASITHBK, but you should be very careful to get the exact transfer instructions from Kasikorn, including their "correspondent bank" details for sending pounds. Otherwise your bank in the UK will convert your pouunds to baht at the offshore rate and send baht to Kasikorn. You should tell Kasikorn that you want to send pounds to them.

Good advice sonicdragon, thanks.

All I need to do now is make my partner understand these simple instructions

Thanks again, Nikkijah