3 Year Old Sony Viao Laptop

[hotgeekus]

want to upgrade my ram from the 512 to 1 gig or more. Any suggestions of places that are not going to screw me and give me something I don't need.

I am not really sure what I need, so I assume I can just take the laptop and get it. Any idea what it should cost, more or less.

I assume I will have to go to Pantip, any suggestions or places? Just hate the whole 'shopping mall' aura of Pantip...

[penguin]

Not every place in Pantip is out to rip you off but if you already know what you need then it's even less likely.

First step is to know the memory you have installed currently so you can get something compatible. You can probably find it by Googling your model number but there are plenty of online memory tools on most of the well known memory makers websites e.g. Kingston, Crucial etc. You can also download CPU-id to show you what you have and how much spare space is left. A 3yo Sony might be using using PC2700 (DDR333) or PC3200 (DDR400) which is DDR RAM rather than DDR2, the current version. If you have PC2700 you can buy PC3200 but it will run only as fast as PC2700.

Once you know what you have go to JIB for an idea of the price you should be paying. At Panthip check out shops like Hardware House and JIB, they'll have all the prices on display out front, Kingston Value RAM is the brand easiest to find. Both companies have branches at most of the IT malls in Bangkok and in other big cities in Thailand.

[DragonQuest]

make sure you shop around, at least 5 different shops, price varies, dont want you to get jacked on the price lol

[nikster]

better still, check the price online first - go to dealram.com, enter your data, and dismiss the first few lowest price hits (they may be bad quality).

the convert USD -> THB and you have a gold standard to measure by. Thai prices will be 10% more expensive for some reason. But if they want to charge you double fair USD price you know they rip you off...

Getting the price in USD is so you have an idea of the fair market price of the product - the most crucial information in any negotiation situation.

also don't go to pantip, go to future plaza or some other IT mall. pantip has too many places out to rip you off whereas the others non-tourist-frequented ones generally don't. Outside of pantip, the worst I have seen is slightly inflated prices, but nothing like the outright rip-offs at pantip. Sure there's good shops at Pantip, but why risk it?

[Guest Reimar]

Tkae the Laptop with you as well and check the memory you may want to buy before. Not all memories work on an Sony!

[penguin]

Places like Hardware House and JIB charge the same price whether you go to Panthip Plaza, Seacon Square, Seri Centre, Fortune IT, Zeer, Future IT or IT Plaza. A company like JIB might have 5 shops in Panthip but you will find they all have the same prices displayed and you can check on the net before you go.

Nikster, can't really see how the fair market price in USD from a US site is relevant when there are plenty of Thai online sites with local prices. I'd love to see the reaction when you try telling a Thai shop owner their pricing is more than 10% dearer than newegg or zipzoomfly.

[A_Traveller]

Though I've not used them myself, have heard good things about Memorytoday.com

Regards

Address:-

Fortune Town IT-Mall.,

3rd Floor, Room 3R22, Ratchadapisek Rd.,

Dindaeng,

Bangkok 10120

Tel: 02-874-4531

Fax: 02-642-1428

Site {includes search by model including Sony}

http://www.memorytoday.com

[Guest Reimar]

Though I've not used them myself, have heard good things about Memorytoday.com

Regards

Address:-

Fortune Town IT-Mall.,

3rd Floor, Room 3R22, Ratchadapisek Rd.,

Dindaeng,

Bangkok 10120

Tel: 02-874-4531

Fax: 02-642-1428

Site {includes search by model including Sony}

http://www.memorytoday.com

As of today:

The price for 1 GB Kingston DDR 2, PC5300 CL5 at the shop "Memorytoday" Baht 4,500.00 while in 2 other shops I asked for the price are Baht 2,990.00! Thats as little as Baht 1,510.00 difference or more than 30% more cheap!

May better look at other shops!!

[A_Traveller]

Though I've not used them myself, have heard good things about Memorytoday.com

Regards

Address:-

Fortune Town IT-Mall.,

3rd Floor, Room 3R22, Ratchadapisek Rd.,

Dindaeng,

Bangkok 10120

Tel: 02-874-4531

Fax: 02-642-1428

Site {includes search by model including Sony}

http://www.memorytoday.com

As of today:

The price for 1 GB Kingston DDR 2, PC5300 CL5 at the shop "Memorytoday" Baht 4,500.00 while in 2 other shops I asked for the price are Baht 2,990.00! Thats as little as Baht 1,510.00 difference or more than 30% more cheap!

May better look at other shops!!

I made and make no claims as to their pricing, {and have no link or interest to them} but at least I gave the OP an option. Might be useful to the OP if you posted your other shop info for review as well.

Regards

[penguin]

Though I've not used them myself, have heard good things about Memorytoday.com

Site {includes search by model including Sony}

http://www.memorytoday.com

As of today:

The price for 1 GB Kingston DDR 2, PC5300 CL5 at the shop "Memorytoday" Baht 4,500.00 while in 2 other shops I asked for the price are Baht 2,990.00! Thats as little as Baht 1,510.00 difference or more than 30% more cheap!

May better look at other shops!!

Reimar.....may better look again.....

[Firefoxx]

When I upgrade my laptop ram I usually buy from HWH, since they're about the only place that carry anything other than Kingston ($$$) for notebook ram. I get the Apacer brand, and it's worked well, and cost around 30% less than Kingston (which is already darn cheap at HWH). Some of the HWH places will even say that the Apacer is not recommended, but I've had no problems. To be sure, bring your notebook along and test it out at the shop. An example is the price of a Kingston PC2700 512mb so-dimm module is around 2,500 at HWH, while the same module from Apacer is around 1,700, and from PQI around 1,600. Basically if you're not overclocking (and notebooks normally don't) then a module of a certain spec from one company is the same as another.

Depending on the model, it can be a real PAIN in the butt to upgrade the memory of a Sony notebook. I helped my friend do it, and it took us more than an hour... you had to nearly take the whole notebook apart. If you're lucky, all it takes is the removal of a single screw.

If you had provided details on the model, we would have been able to tell you exactly what type of memory to get.

[hotgeekus]

When I upgrade my laptop ram I usually buy from HWH, since they're about the only place that carry anything other than Kingston ($$$) for notebook ram. I get the Apacer brand, and it's worked well, and cost around 30% less than Kingston (which is already darn cheap at HWH). Some of the HWH places will even say that the Apacer is not recommended, but I've had no problems. To be sure, bring your notebook along and test it out at the shop. An example is the price of a Kingston PC2700 512mb so-dimm module is around 2,500 at HWH, while the same module from Apacer is around 1,700, and from PQI around 1,600. Basically if you're not overclocking (and notebooks normally don't) then a module of a certain spec from one company is the same as another.

Depending on the model, it can be a real PAIN in the butt to upgrade the memory of a Sony notebook. I helped my friend do it, and it took us more than an hour... you had to nearly take the whole notebook apart. If you're lucky, all it takes is the removal of a single screw.

If you had provided details on the model, we would have been able to tell you exactly what type of memory to get.

model is sony viao PCG-GRT360ZG

[A_Traveller]

Apacer Part Numbers for suitable memory

AP256SOPGRT360 === VGP-MM256G === 256MB Memory === DDR SODIMM PC2700

AP512SOPGRT360 === VGP-MM512G === 512MB Memory === DDR SODIMM PC2700

AP1024SOPGRT360 === VGP-MM1024G === 1GB Memory === DDR SODIMM PC2700

Note, it looks like this may be a Sony special but I think a Transcend model TS1GSYV505 {1GB} or TS512MSYV505 {512} might be suitable priced at 1,484 and 2,426 respectively.

I also agree that Sony is often a real pain to upgrade and can have 'issues' with non Sony components.

Regards

/edit format//

Edited March 9, 2007 by A_Traveller

[Firefoxx]

So basically you just need a DDR SODIMM PC2700 (or PC3200), of the desired size. I recommend that you get 1GB (if you can find it, HWH seems to only have 512MB), because memory size is very important in a notebook, since a notebook's harddrive is very slow compared to a desktop.

The model you have has an easy-access memory slot on the bottom. Just remove a single screw.

[Guest Reimar]

Though I've not used them myself, have heard good things about Memorytoday.com

Site {includes search by model including Sony}

http://www.memorytoday.com

As of today:

The price for 1 GB Kingston DDR 2, PC5300 CL5 at the shop "Memorytoday" Baht 4,500.00 while in 2 other shops I asked for the price are Baht 2,990.00! Thats as little as Baht 1,510.00 difference or more than 30% more cheap!

May better look at other shops!!

Reimar.....may better look again.....

Penguine,

I'm sorry but the price I wrote is correct. I was looking for upgrade of the memory for my acer Aspire 5593 from 1 to 2 GB and I was asked in all shops at IT-Mall for the price. The price was varies from 2,800.00 til 5,900.00 for the exact same Kingston memory. Unfourtnatly they did not have memory 1 GB PC5300 CL3, only CL4 and CL5 which both will slow down my Laptop which using CL3.

By the way, the price for 2.800.00 was after bargain while the lowest just "asked" price was 2,990.00.

If you don't believe me, I'm happy to go with you to the shops to see and listen with your own eyes and ears what's the price! Better NOT put something in question which you haven't checkout by yourself and without to know which places was the source for the info!

[A_Traveller]

Though I've not used them myself, have heard good things about Memorytoday.com

Site {includes search by model including Sony}

http://www.memorytoday.com

As of today:

The price for 1 GB Kingston DDR 2, PC5300 CL5 at the shop "Memorytoday" Baht 4,500.00 while in 2 other shops I asked for the price are Baht 2,990.00! Thats as little as Baht 1,510.00 difference or more than 30% more cheap!

May better look at other shops!!

Reimar.....may better look again.....

Penguine,

I'm sorry but the price I wrote is correct. I was looking for upgrade of the memory for my acer Aspire 5593 from 1 to 2 GB and I was asked in all shops at IT-Mall for the price. The price was varies from 2,800.00 til 5,900.00 for the exact same Kingston memory. Unfourtnatly they did not have memory 1 GB PC5300 CL3, only CL4 and CL5 which both will slow down my Laptop which using CL3.

By the way, the price for 2.800.00 was after bargain while the lowest just "asked" price was 2,990.00.

If you don't believe me, I'm happy to go with you to the shops to see and listen with your own eyes and ears what's the price! Better NOT put something in question which you haven't checkout by yourself and without to know which places was the source for the info!

Not sure here, forgive me, but it seems you were being quoted a price for an item that they did not have. With all due respect to the shops you spoke with, my experience is, that a store will quote any price on something they don't have it's called, politely, lead on marketing.

Regards

[penguin]

Reimar, you need to take another look at the http://www.memorytoday.com website.

SO DDR2 1 GB PC5300 (667) - Premium Notebook 4,690 บาท

SO DDR2 1 GB PC5300 (667) - Value Notebook 2,990 บาท

[Guest Reimar]

Reimar, you need to take another look at the http://www.memorytoday.com website.

SO DDR2 1 GB PC5300 (667) - Premium Notebook 4,690 บาท

SO DDR2 1 GB PC5300 (667) - Value Notebook 2,990 บาท

Excuse me again but I wasn't on their Website, I was in their Shop at Fortune Town IT-Mall!! And the Sales Person was tell me the mentioned price!!

And A_traveller:

I had the Item in my hand!!

And about politely, may ask to first for the fact before talk about something while you don't know the fact's!

If I told what I know and that I'm happy to go with you guys there, you think I talk some b****hit? I'm maybe a little crazy but I don't need to lie!!

And this is my last comment on this!!