Buying a new laptop in Pattaya

[geoffbarnes11]

Hi, I am in Pattaya for a couple of months and my laptop has just died, it is old and not worth repairing. If I buy a new one here are there any significant differences in terms of keyboard layout, or any other things I need to look out for? Any advice would be appreciated.

[geoffbarnes11]

I forgot to add I am from the UK

[KhunBENQ]

Usually keyboards have a US/Thai bilingual print.

US slightly different from UK layout (no Pound or Euro Symbol e.g.).

The bilingual print on the caps is irritating to many.

Will look similar to this:

Edited November 29, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[KhunBENQ]

Another major point is the operating system.

Best look for a device without OS and do the installation on your own (if that suits you).

 

Some come with a preinstalled Windows OS in Thai language which (for W10) can be changed to English. Serious shops supply it properly licensed.

Typical "booths" supply shady hacked OS. Not recommended.

 

 

[geoffbarnes11]

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

Another major point is the operating system.

Best look for a device without OS and do the installation on your own (if that suits you).

 

Some come with a preinstalled Windows OS in Thai language which (for W10) can be changed to English. Serious shops supply it properly licensed.

Typical "booths" supply shady hacked OS. Not recommended.

 

 

Thanks for your advice, is it possible to buy a laptop with a UK keyboard and UK compatible OS?

[KneeDeep]

6 hours ago, geoffbarnes11 said:

Thanks for your advice, is it possible to buy a laptop with a UK keyboard and UK compatible OS?

 

No. They will be a US keyboard with Thai script.

 

What is the brand name and model number of your current laptop?

If you can keep it going for another couple of months, it is better and cheaper to obtain one in the UK.

[manarak]

another solution is to glue keyboard key stickers on top. some are of good quality and good looking.

[KneeDeep]

6 minutes ago, manarak said:

another solution is to glue keyboard key stickers on top. some are of good quality and good looking.

 

No need, as it will likely have a US/Thai script keyboard. So all of the UK English characters will already be there, apart from £ . I know, as I'm using a laptop bought in Thailand.

 

[KneeDeep]

To be fair, laptops start at a low price in Thailand. But you need to look ahead when purchasing.

How easy it it to upgrade the RAM and the HDD to SSD?

If difficult, leave it on the shelf. Don't bother to buy a laptop without a solid state drive or at least don't buy one that you cannot fit one too easily. That at least will ensure snappy performance from even a relatively low powered CPU. 

Instead of fitting even a 120/128GB SSD, they try to pull you in with massive but slow storage drives. Then you end up with sluggish performance and not much you can do about it unless you are willing to disassemble the device.

So always check for easy access to RAM and storage before purchase.

 

[SheungWan]

There is a lot of choice for you to have a look at in Tukcom. The bi-lingual keyboard is not such a big deal. I have one and its OK. One just doesn't see the Thai script after a while. The only thing to bear in mind re OS is that if the laptop does not come with Windows, then you need to add on 3-4000 baht for an 'original' version of Windows. Personally I can live with the 500 baht version. As for brands, you will find the usual ones with Acer and Lenovo tending to be the cheapest available. 

[KneeDeep]

One can see a selection here; https://www.invadeit.co.th/category/notebooks-laptops/sort/price/asc/

 

Seems ACER and ASUS are the cheapest there. But why buy the cheapest? Better to by a second user. solidly made business device for similar cash.

 

Then you can have 10 Pro and not nasty Home and SSD instead of HDD.

[geoffbarnes11]

Thank you for your responses, in response to KneeDeeps question, the laptop is a Toshiba Satellite T130 shortly after I arrived here it crashed I tookit to TukCom where they charged me 2300bht to repair, since then when I try to turn it on I have to press the start button several times and increasingly hard to get it to start, when it does start it works fine, I took it back to the repir place and they want to charge me again to repair it, which I am reluctant to do. I have found that when I put it into 'hibernate' mode and open the lid it starts automatically without problem. Is that a solution I can stick with until I am back in the UK at the end of January. When I intend buying a new one anyway.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[SheungWan]

Try asking for a nominal trade-in figure for the Toshiba and take it with you to TukCom. Most places will offer you something.

[Briggsy]

Don't overly stress about the keyboard. It is very straightforward to switch between the two. I do it all the time. If you can't find stuff, keep this link handy.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards

 

The Operating System issue may be trickier though as it may be expensive to change.

 

The small booths will default supply fake Operating Systems. eg. Tuk Com

 

The shops will only supply genuine Operating Systems eg. Wattana on Pattaya Klang

[Vacuum]

You could save a couple of K by opting out the oh so popular grafic card. Unless you're into video/photo editing, you don't need it.

Edited November 30, 2018 by Vacuum

[petermik]

10 hours ago, geoffbarnes11 said:

Thank you for your responses, in response to KneeDeeps question, the laptop is a Toshiba Satellite T130 shortly after I arrived here it crashed I tookit to TukCom where they charged me 2300bht to repair, since then when I try to turn it on I have to press the start button several times and increasingly hard to get it to start, when it does start it works fine, I took it back to the repir place and they want to charge me again to repair it, which I am reluctant to do. I have found that when I put it into 'hibernate' mode and open the lid it starts automatically without problem. Is that a solution I can stick with until I am back in the UK at the end of January. When I intend buying a new one anyway.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Soldier on with it and buy one off Ebay when you get home....I got a great buy off ex-demolaptops on Ebay (Lenovo ideapad 15.6") and a pal brought it over here for me nearly 2 years ago cost (winning bid price) £186...absolute bargain

 

[KneeDeep]

10 hours ago, geoffbarnes11 said:

Thank you for your responses, in response to KneeDeeps question, the laptop is a Toshiba Satellite T130 shortly after I arrived here it crashed I tookit to TukCom where they charged me 2300bht to repair, since then when I try to turn it on I have to press the start button several times and increasingly hard to get it to start, when it does start it works fine, I took it back to the repir place and they want to charge me again to repair it, which I am reluctant to do. I have found that when I put it into 'hibernate' mode and open the lid it starts automatically without problem. Is that a solution I can stick with until I am back in the UK at the end of January. When I intend buying a new one anyway.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I had one of those, briefly.

Unfortunately, many of the Technicians there are barely competent.

I've never seen a clean job come from there. Always comes back with some new part broken.

Perhaps you should have asked here before you took it there.

Then we could possibly have diagnosed what was wrong in the first instance. Before you took it to the butchers.

 

So yes, just put it to sleep or hibernate.

 

These were a super bargain when they still had A Grade devices; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7240-Ultrabook-i5-CPU-4GB-RAM-128GB-SSD-12-Touchscreen-/232902237137

 

But unfortunately they only have B Grade left in stock. A bargain at £150.

 

But the spec is excellent for the price. The perfect laptop for travel as it also has a place for a SIM card, so you can utilise mobile Internet if WiFi is down.

 

This is the basic spec;

 

• Intel Core i5-4200U CPU 3M Cache, up to 2.6GHz
• 4GB DDR3 RAM • 128GB SSD Hard Disk
• 12" Full HD Touchscreen with Webcam
• Sim card slot for data roaming
• UK Keyboard
• UK AC Adapter Supplied
• Brand new battery fitted

 

 

 

 

Pics here; https://www.blackmoreit.com/be-dell-latitude-e7240--i5-cpu--4gb-ram--128gb-ssd--12-touchscreen-laptop.html

 

Of course you should request(nicely) one without bubbles on the screen. But by the time you get home to order they may just have the poorest of examples.

It there someone in the UK who can inspect it for you if you order now?

 

 

 

 

 

[KneeDeep]

My advice is, if you have some basic competence, is to buy it without the OS. You can download Windows 10 from Microsoft for free. Install it and it will activate. They don't tell you that ????

Since it was likely supplied with Windows 7 or 8, it will have the free upgrade path in any case.

 

RAM you can also buy cheaply from the likes of CEX. £8 for a 4GB module.

 

So save money on the OS and RAM and spend it on the Extended Warranty.

 

[Peterw42]

19 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

My advice is, if you have some basic competence, is to buy it without the OS. You can download Windows 10 from Microsoft for free. Install it and it will activate. They don't tell you that ????

Since it was likely supplied with Windows 7 or 8, it will have the free upgrade path in any case.

 

RAM you can also buy cheaply from the likes of CEX. £8 for a 4GB module.

 

So save money on the OS and RAM and spend it on the Extended Warranty.

 

You can download and install windows for free but it will not activate for free. That would make it a free operating system. New PCs dont ship with win 7 or 8 in thailand, they usually ship with linix if you dont want windows.

[KneeDeep]

3 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

You can download and install windows for free but it will not activate for free. That would make it a free operating system. New PCs dont ship with win 7 or 8 in thailand, they usually ship with linix if you dont want windows.

 

How annoying that you try contradict me, without having any knowledge on the subject.

I am referring specifically to the device in post #17.

 

This made it clear;

 

Quote

Since it was likely supplied with Windows 7 or 8, it will have the free upgrade path in any case.

 

[Peterw42]

19 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

 

How annoying that you try contradict me, without having any knowledge on the subject.

I am referring specifically to the device in post #17.

 

This made it clear;

 

 

The Laptop in post 17 ships with 2 operating system choices, win10 or none. Why advise the OP he can get free windows 10 when he cant ?

 

Operating System Options

• None (Included): Laptop is supplied with a completely blank hard drive, and will supply no install disks or drivers.
• Windows 10 Home (£18): Genuine Windows 10 Home loaded with all required updates and drivers.
• Windows 10 Pro (£33): Genuine Windows 10 Pro loaded with all required updates and drivers.

[KneeDeep]

24 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

The Laptop in post 17 ships with 2 operating system choices, win10 or none. Why advise the OP he can get free windows 10 when he cant ?

 

Operating System Options

• None (Included): Laptop is supplied with a completely blank hard drive, and will supply no install disks or drivers.
• Windows 10 Home (£18): Genuine Windows 10 Home loaded with all required updates and drivers.
• Windows 10 Pro (£33): Genuine Windows 10 Pro loaded with all required updates and drivers.

I advise him thus because he can. 

Why embarrass yourself by continuing to post nonsense?

Does everything need to be written down for you to understand it?

There is no need to purchase a licence for the device as Windows 10 will auto-activate....because I am saying it will.

In the worst case scenario, which will not be necessary, one could simply install the original OS which would auto-activate and then simply run the free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.

 

 

[Peterw42]

2 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

I advise him thus because he can. 

Why embarrass yourself by continuing to post nonsense?

Does everything need to be written down for you to understand it?

There is no need to purchase a licence for the device as Windows 10 will auto-activate....because I am saying it will.

In the worst case scenario, which will not be necessary, one could simply install the original OS which would auto-activate and then simply run the free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.

 

 

And when it says enter your "product key", where pray tell is the product key coming from ?????

Windows does not "auto activate" it requires a Key !!!!!  Then it activates.

 

Install any version of windows, 7, 8, 10, it will ask for the product key , if not entered, it will not activate 

 

Your scenario would mean nobody ever has to buy windows ever, just install it and it will activate automatically.

 

A windows license key is required to activate windows, it does not activate automatically.

 

Window 10 may upgrade and activate if it can see an old operating system and product key but a blank hardrive is blank and does not have an existing operating system or product key.

 

Usually a condition of on-selling any previously volume licensed computer is the complete removal of the volume license or key information. Volume licenses dont usually have any upgrade path.

[KneeDeep]

34 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

And when it says enter your "product key", where pray tell is the product key coming from ?????

Windows does not "auto activate" it requires a Key !!!!!  Then it activates.

 

Install any version of windows, 7, 8, 10, it will ask for the product key , if not entered, it will not activate 

 

Your scenario would mean nobody ever has to buy windows ever, just install it and it will activate automatically.

 

A windows license key is required to activate windows, it does not activate automatically.

 

Window 10 may upgrade and activate if it can see an old operating system and product key but a blank hardrive is blank and does not have an existing operating system or product key.

 

Usually a condition of on-selling any previously volume licensed computer is the complete removal of the volume license or key information. Volume licenses dont usually have any upgrade path.

 

Wow.....you really have no idea of how activation works. Please stop polluting the thread with your, frankly, silly posts. 

Windows 10 will auto-activate with the laptop in post # 17. Of that there is no doubt. Simply choose to skip when asked to enter a Product Key, finish the installation and once connected to the Internet it will auto-activate.

 

The fact that you do not understand why or how speaks only to the paucity of your purported knowledge.

 

All the OP needs to know it that the device already has a genuine licence. So all they need to do is to download directly from Microsoft for free and to install for themselves.

 

Worst case scenario has already been explained to you.

 

You've written what you think. You are completely wide of the mark. Notwithstanding I would prefer you to no longer clog the thread with your erroneous nonsense.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by KneeDeep

[KneeDeep]

Allow me to alleviate your confusion; https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/refurbished-dell-latitude-e7240-ultrabook-180-blackmoreit-ebay-3032109

 

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