Furioso

"The software is pirated". That's what I was wondering, it's looks like a legit Win 10 w/Office but I guess it's not. How do they do that?

It's funny, I did go across the street to a more corporate type computer store and they wanted double the price for a Dell with the same specs.

Well, a friend of mine went to a small computer store on Pattaya Klang, they build PC's to meet a customers needs. They said they could build him a pretty good setup; AMD Ryzen 5 4600g, 16GB RAM, A520M Motherboard, Dtech Power Supply(500W), Vikings Computer Case, 250GB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD, USB Wi-Fi adapter. They said they would load either Win 10 or Win 11, plus Office, Antivirus. He chose Win 10. It took them about a day to build, heck even I was impressed esp. as I was on the verge on trying to build one myself. Way better than my HP Mini that's for sure.

I agree, I went to Da Nang last month, it was 6 degrees cooler than Thailand . Some of the restaurants were very good but I had to pick and choose and hope for the best. The service was outstanding, way better than here imho. In some ways it seems to be 20 to 30 years behind the times but that's a good thing. The air is cleaner and it's way less crowded. It certainly is a great place to visit during the Thai hot season.

One advantage to Vietnam is they don't have very many fat/obese citizens.

Acers, yes they are certainly down the list of being some of the most unreliable laptops. I just tried fixing my friends older Acer, it's been repaired several times at Tukcom(because it keeps on breaking!) but I couldn't get it to boot into Automatic Repair. So, my friend took it back to Tukcom, they put in a new drive and then it would die within 5 minutes of booting up. Then Tukcom said the battery is toast, which I'm sure it is, but my friend said just keep the laptop he's done with Acer forever.

I don't know, it seems to me Mac's are a trap. Yes, the cheapest way into the Apple world is the Mac Mini M2 but you get very little with the base model. Plus, whatever model you buy you're stuck, you can't upgrade. So, just to get started with the Mac Mini is going to cost close to 30,000 baht you can buy 2 decent Mini PC's for that along with the ability to upgrade. Mac Mini Wifi is notoriously spotty/horrible as well. Mac's a Trap.

I'd say go for the ice MG5 before touching the ev MG4. A world of difference.

mobile banking is most convenient if there's a secure place to store your package in case you're not home upon delivery.

Of the Asia countries I've lived in, the friendliest are: 1. Japan 2. Vietnam 3. Philippines 4. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar 5. Thailand 6. China 7. South Korea 8. Kuwait

Good tips, thanks. I'm going to take a 6 month trip to several countries out of Thailand next year. Ideally I'd like a laptop but to me they are the biggest risk, so many of them break down at the wrong time. So, right now I've got the Honor 9 tablet, that can definitely work for my 6 month trip without too much to worry about. I've had a Chromebook before, it worked ok when my previous laptop busted but won't buy another one. As far as my home PC, I've got a HP Mini I bought used off of Lazada but I want to replace it with a new mini unless someone can give me good reasons to buy a new desktop. I've got one quick question. I'm on Win 10 and I really like it. Is Win 11 as good? I have seen a YT video on how to optimize the hell out of Win 11 so I think as long as I do that I won't miss Win 10.

no more sightseeing.

I've been kicked out of a few 7-11's this month.

I know cold is not kind to EV batteries but doesn't this Thai heat just kill batteries as well? Your thoughts?

This is what I need, a moderately powerful Desktop at home and then I'd just gamble on a 18,000 baht 14 inch i5/16GB Ram laptop. Do you mean build my own PC or buy a PC that someone else has built? I ask because I'd screw up if I built one on my own lol.

I appreciate everybody's input. Ultimately, I decided to buy the Honor Pad 9 for 10,900 baht. I did a deep dive on laptops and ended up believing what a popular tech youtuber said "Laptops are designed to be sold, not used". He reviews all the laptops, finds big faults in all of them even though by now they should be awesome devices. It's just such a crapshoot, I don't feel like gambling right now.

It's the WiFi version. I'm not sure if Banana sells the LTE version. There's supposedly an Honor 9 Pro version as well but I haven't seen either in any store.

I went to Banana today and got the Honor Pad 9 for 10,900. They threw in a stylus pen, power bank, smart speaker, and flip cover for free.

I went to Vietnam as well but already had pre-paid for my re-entry visa when I did my annual renewal.

My neighbor went to Vietnam earlier this month and the lady at the Don Mueang airport asked if had an extra passport photo. He did but he didn't know it at the time. She charged him 200 baht for not producing the passport photo.

I'm down to either the Honor Pad 9(11,000 baht), or Xiaomi Pad 6(10,000 baht). Both tablets are rated very high. The Honor is 12 inch, the Xiaomi is 11 inch that might be the deciding factor.

I think the mail in process is very easy but if you can always try Maneerat on Soi 13.

Thanks, it's either the Xiaomi 6 or the Honor Pad 9. Similar pricing.

Yes, I'm updating all my gear. My Acer laptop blew its MB awhile back and a cheap tablet would be nice to have. I also would like a much better desktop than my HP Mini.

Yes, they don't seem to be in the top seven reliable brands. I don't really trust any brand but if you're not in the top 7 you're out.