WaveHunter

Hi @Salerno, Sorry I didn;t mention you as one who has helped me so much. I do in fact have a virtual machine set up on my mac. I use VMWare Fusion to run Windows 10. How would that be any different though from just using my Mac? The virtual machine is still running from within my Mac?

I totally agree! When I lived in Chiang Mai back before Covid, there were so many "location-independent" entrepreneurs (I hate the term "digital nomad" LOL) and they all hung out at coworking spaces, the best of which was called Punspace. I met a lot of FBA merchants there and it was really rare that one would not take the time to help someone out if they were stuck with a problem. I learned a lot from many of them, and I think I was able to help a lot of them in return. Chiang Mai attracted "digital Nomads" from all around the world when I first moved there from the States, and it was like a real close-knit community back then. It wasn't all about business either. He hung out together, we played together. It was like it was back in my college days. Everyone was highly competitive, but at the same time, highly supportive of each other. That was one of the things that I really missed when I moved to Pattaya. There are no co-working spaces like that down here, and I think I may be moving back there for that reason, among others...but in the meantime, it would be nice to have something like that online.

All you folks sure like to give me a lot to think about LOL! It's all appreciated though. So, if both @KhunHeineken and @gamb00ler can agree, please let me know if my understanding is correct: When I connect to my sister's router, I will be using MY computer in Thailand (not my sister's) to connect to websites, and I will be using her IP address to do that, correct? Now if that is true, then doesn't that mean that my computer in Thailand can indeed be interrogated by the server I'm trying to connect to, and it will be able to determine my geographic location is Thailand, not the US by cookies, and by this "browser fingerprinting? If this is so, then there is no difference from me trying to connect directly from Thailand. I'm no better off. I still have a problem. This puts me back to the idea of connecting to my sister's computer through TeamVIewer or AnyDesk and using BOTH her computer and her IP connection. After thinking about this option, I realized I will only be doing it maybe once a week, so I abandoned the idea of buying a computer of my own to set up at her house. I would only be using her computer during the daytime here in Thailand which is when she'd most likely be asleep, so it would be no inconvenience to her, and I guess all she would have to do is leave the computer on overnight on the nights I want to use it...right??? If I've misunderstood this problem with the Dongle approach, please let me know, but I read up on fingerprinting a little and I don't see anyway to really protect against it.

Hey @sometimewoodworker, That was a really informative video. I thought I had seen every video on the M2 chip on YouTube but somehow I missed this one! I found it super informative since it's one of the few videos I've seen that really focused on Adobe Lightroom which I use much more than Photoshop lately. I'm going to watch it later tonight in-depth but my takeaway is that the Mini configured with 16 gigs RAM and 512 SSD should be just fine. Though this video was made 6 months ago, he mentioned that Lightroom (at that time) had not yet been optimized for the M2 chip, so I'm going to look into that, but even so, it sounds like I should be fine. Thanks for posting the video!

Business is business. You don't get very far trying to work in a vacuum.. You can keep certain things proprietary and still have give and take with your competition. One hand washes the other, ya know?

Sorry, I thought that was where I posted to...my mistake.

Who's talking about giving away secrets? Someone who is an entrepreneur doesn't need to work secretly in isolation. In fact, I'd say it's a rare thing to get anywhere in business without interacting with others.

Irrelevant, from a legal standpoint, and from a business standpoint. You can be on a tourists visa or a long stay visa and still conduct your own business back in your home country with your laptop. You're not violating any local immigration regulations, and no, you do not need a work permit because you are not "working in Thailand", as in taking away any jobs from Thai Nationals.

I agree with your line of reasoning about trying to be future-proof, but the truth is that in two years, even the mini-pro will be obsolete. Bottom line for me is that until this year I was working just fine with my old 2013 MacBook Pro with 16gB RAM, and only had to upgrade now because the latest versions of Photoshop require more graphics power than my MBP can provide. Even the basic mac mini with only 8gb RAM would probably work ok. Remember that the M chips utilize RAM in a much more efficient way than the intels did. I think the basic Mac Mini with 16gB RAM and a 512 SSD should be more than enough, and take me through at least a few years, and by then, no matter if I had the most advanced Mac available right now, it would also probably be obsolete. I mean, buying a computer, or smartphone these days is not really an investment anymore; they're just commodities that you use for a few years and then discard unfortunately. I've got three old iPhone's sitting in my desk drawer right now that can't run present day iOS anymore, and my current one is soon due to join them ????

First of all, this particular company does not use a VPN at all, and they make a point of that on their website that this is what differentiates them. Secondly, I don't see how that would even be possible for a site that I am connecting to in this way to possibly see anything on my computer here in Thailand such as my computer's clock or browser details. All they can see is the computer connecting to them which would be my sister's in the USA. Tell me if I'm wrong,

You provided a lot of sound advice back when I started this thread. VPN's are virtually useless since they are very easily detected. Yes, a dedicated computer back home that you connect to through something like TeamVIewer or AnyDesk is workable since your connection from Thailand to your home country computer is NOT detectable. Unfortunately it's expensive to set up, and a requires a person at the other end to work with you to maintain it. The best solution I've found so far was proposed by @KhunHeineken, and involves a simple dongle set up that plugs into your router and the one of a family member or friend back in your home country, that made by AlwaysHome (https://www.homingsystems.com/). I haven't pulled the trigger yet but I've studied their website and it really sounds workable, cost-effective and simple to set up, compared with buying and set up a home country computer, a cloud computer, or any other solution I've learned about. Bottom line...VPN's are a waste of time and money. I used NordVPN for a month and it was useless. I got just as many ID verification challenges and lock-outs with it, as without it. The only thing it was good for was getting tv stations and websites that are blocked from Thailand, and for that it worked well...but it didn;t solve my problem of connecting to sensitive US websites that will not tolerate VPN.

There was a thread (pre-covid) about this on the forum that was pretty popular a few years ago, and I want to start it up again. As a "digital nomad", there are a lot of challenges to managing an FBA business from outside of your home country. Just being able to connect to Seller Central with a Thailand IP address can get pretty challenging with all the new security measures for example. There are a number of other issues that can be difficult to deal with; some that are financial, some that are logistical, and some that are legal. In my experience, the ones I encountered were all able to be solved...with the help of other like-minded people sharing information, ideas, and advice. When I first moved to Thailand in 2017 there were many other like minded digital nomad types living in Chiang Mai. Many of them were Amazon merchants, and we were all a pretty close-knit community sharing information, strategies, and helping each other solve problems. In the wake of COVID...not so much anymore. I just think it would be nice to have that sort of community again. Whether you're a seasoned seller, or just someone contemplating it for the first time, I think we could all benefit from an online community like this. If you're interested, let's chat about it here. Perhaps we could set up a private thread or something like a facebook group, so that only like-minded and serious people could participate.

As of this morning this is what I see from Apple-Thailand: I can live with that ???? It would be nice to get a refund on VAT but no big deal if I don't since it's really only 7% My real dilemma right now is deciding between the Mini Pro and the basic Mini configured with 16gB of RAM and a 512gB SSD. The difference is cost is: 45,000 THB for the pro, and 34,900 for the custom configured Mini. It's enough of a difference to really decide whether I need the Pro or not. I know I need 16gb RAM and 512gB SSD, but I'm not so sure if I really need the added cores and 4 (instead of 2) Thunderbolt 4 ports on the Pro model I mean, most of my work is in Photoshop (no video work at all). Typically I have Photoshop, Lightroom, and some other apps like Mail and Chrome open with 7-10 tabs open on it. I'm pretty sure the Basic Mac can handle that. I only really need one thunderbolt port for its' high speed (to connect to an external SSD). All of my other peripherals will run fine on regular USB ports, and the enhanced HDMI isn't necessary since my monitor can work fine on a regular HDMI port. If anyone can think of a reason I might be overlooking as far as the more expensive pro version mini goes, I'd like to hear about it.

In my opinion Apple is worth the extra money. I've had my old 2013 MacBook Pro for almost 10 years. I leave it on 24/7, and it still works perfectly. When you pay extra for an Apple product, you're paying for quality and innovation that other computer brands usually can't match. Money well spent IMO. Sure, they're famous for ripping you off on configuration upgrades like RAM and storage. I mean, to increase storage from the basic 256gB SSD to 512gB, all they do is add an extra 256gB chip in an empty socket that's already on the motherboard, and they charge you $200 USD for that! That's $1.28 per gB. Given that the chip Apple is installing probably only costs them $5, and they charge you $200 is obscene!

I guess that's possible, even likely it will ship right off the assembly line in China, but Apple is claiming very short delivery times of 1 -5 days, so I don't care where it's coming from really. I talked with Apple in Singapore today and they affirmed the short delivery time, and also affirmed that if I wait a couple of weeks I should be able to pick one up at the Apple store in Bangkok, and that way I can get a refund on VAT when I leave Thailand in September. It's only a savings of $90 but still, money is money.

I'm so glad you posted your advice. I checked out the site and it sounds as good as you claimed. BIG THANKS!

Actually, they are not physically in Thailand yet. That's still a couple of weeks away according to the Apple rep I spoke with on the phone at Central in Bangkok. He said that if you order today, it is actually coming from Singapore, but delivery is just a matter of days (with no shipping cost to you other than VAT)

Thanks for the correction. OMG, I see now! That sounds so cool!!! After all the things I've explored to solve this issue, this actually sounds too good to be true. There must be a catch, but if there isn't one, it sounds near perfect. So, hardware-wise, all that's necessary is to have a router with a USB plug, right? There must be some sort of software you need to run to set it up right? But once set up, her computer would never need to be running, right?

@KhunHeineken, I don't recall you describing this solution before; only the one about getting a mini computer. My last reply to you with all the questions about this dongle thing were moot since I thought it plufged into her computer, not her router, as @Salerno corrected me on. If this really works as you say, I will be THRILLED after so many weeks of explring dead ends and costly options. I will look into it this evening for sure!

What you say sounds intriguing:) So, let me see if I understand this. My sister would buy it and then ship one of the dongles to me. She would plug her dongle into one of her computer's USB port, and I would do the same on my computer. My sister's dongle would connect to her wifi, and mine would connect to my wi-fi, and that would enable me to access the internet by ging through her computer? Would she be able to use her computer if I was also using it? I'm guessing she has to have her computer on and an app from homing system running for me em to connect to, right? What happens if her computer goes into sleep mode? I mean, most of the times I would be using it are when my sister would be asleep due to the 12 hour time difference between here and the US, so I could ask her to leave her computer on when she goes to sleep on nights I want to use it, but I could ask her to wake the computer for me at 3am or something, ya know?

Apple Mini now in stock in the Magic KIngdom through Apple Stores. Delivered to your door in a few days. ????

I don't like having to do it but all of this security nonsense is crippling my business. I mean, it wasn't so bad until lately, but now it just over the top. So, it's either I do this, or fly back home and end my stay in the Magic Kingdom...and the latter idea is sounding better every day!

Applecare is pretty relaxed about that sort of stuff actually, and what's more, I've had a 2013 MBP and use it every day for Photoshop and have not had a single issue that required repair except for a battery replacement in year 7. I guess you could always get a lemon, but this Mini will be my 4th Apple computer and I have never had an issue that required repair with any of them, so if I must buy from the US, I'm pretty comfortable with that.

Yeah, good point. Apple really knows the slick game of marketing. They make the base model sound revolutionary at only 599 but its' performance is pretty bad unless all you want to do is browse the net, check emails, etc. If you work with Photoshop at all, even casually, it would be a real disappointment. The 512gB SSD and 16gB of RAM are a must.

As to value, I think it really depends on how you plan to use it. For me, I have always used my MacBook Pro more or less as a desktop device, so I already have all the peripherals. The M2 Pro chip meets my needs perfectly. Actually the regular M2 Chip probably would work in most cases, and would only cost $799, but for the extra $300 I not only get a much more powerful machine but 4 thunderbolt ports instead of two, enhanced graphics speed, and a better fan. So, A mac Mini with the M2 Pro Chip, 512gB SSD, and 16gB of RAM is $1299 USD. A similarly equipped MacBook Pro would be $2000 USD. Regarding available, I will probably just order from the States if I'd have to wait months for it to become available in Thailand. If you buy in Thailand, Apple adds VAT, so really the cost is the same if I import it, except for shipping which is a small price to pay if it means I get it now instead of months from now.