to my great disappointment there were just 2 computers with ThinkPad logo - one without touchpad, another had no IBM logo on it sort of "Lenovo ThinkPad" and looked very suspicious from 3 meters distance or so

a) Pantip is not a good place to look for IBM

where is a good choice of this computers?

IT Mall at Fortune Town!

Lenovo

have taken over Think Pads , it's Kosher

Lenovo was the OEM maker of Thinkpads, then IBM turned over the brand "Thinkpad" to Lenovo. Lenovo still makes "Thinkpads" (like the R series), but it also makes its own cheaper version (simply Lenovos). You can find them at most IT places. I've seen them at Pantip, IT Mall, and Zeers.

As mentioned in the other replies, got to Fortune Town, 3rd Floor, Room 3P38. The shop is called "Blue Shop" (not sure).

They are an authorized dealer of IBM/Lenovo.

yes, thank you all, visited the shop in fortune tower today

well, these new lenovo thinkpads really don't feel like my wife's good old ibm thinkpad which she wants to change for a newer one

and no 15" models at all

so we had to change our mind and looked for sony, found a clearance sale of sonys in a shop, will probably get one tomorrow

Don't need to rush. There's a computer show coming up on the 14th (Thursday), that will probably have all the notebooks you would want in one place. It will of course be crowded, so go on a weekday, not a weekend. Also, the Sonys are probably on sale because they're an older model. You really shouldn't buy older models with notebooks, since their usable life is short to begin with.

The current models can be identified easily in that they have 800FSB and use the 965 chipset. Newer graphics cores can be identified by a 8xxx number (Nvdia) or 2XXX number (ATI). You should try to get a notebook with a digital video interface (DVI or HDCP), since it's really the current standard.

Don't need to rush. There's a computer show coming up on the 14th (Thursday),

Where's the show going to be located?

I'd certainly go to the comp expo if I had more time, however I just had 3 days before going back to Samui

Well, I've been to IT Square mall on the way to Don Muang in the northern part of Bangkok

The place was suggested by IBM office (btw their service is a mess, was really hard to get even this information from them)

There's a shop on the 1st floor, 5 or 6 models were available there

a) lenovo thinkpad (no ibm logo, strange look, obviously lowest built quality)

lenovo ibm thinkpad (both logos, looks better, but still not good enough)

c) ibm thinkpad (no lenovo logo, solid classic build)

Finally, there was only one pc which I'd buy - a 15 inch sxga+ T43 on pentium M platform

its not the latest spec obviously, would be worth 45 to max 50 thousand baht in my opinion (for the brand and durability mostly)

but it was priced at nearly 60K, so we got a really good sony for 55 with amazingly bright dual lamp screen

well, thats it,

found 2 shops - in fortune and in IT Square and seen about 20 thinkpads altogether

maybe helps someone in future

the pc was for my wife,

From what I've seen in this 3 days I'd personally choose from the 15,4 inch latest Acer with 8600 nvidia graphics at around 50K

and the new HPs in the same price range (many shops offer 2GB ram and 200GB hard disk models with 7400 graphics - not too bad)

btw, found it quite difficult to find a nice laptop with DOS or XP, I cant see any oems switching back to XP as the news reported recently

The latest Acer (the white one with the crystal design) has some killer specs, and a very compelling price. But my confidence in Acer is quite shaken after a recent experience. In the end, they came through, but what I had to do to make them come through....

The computer show starts on Thursday (tomorrow) and will be at Sirikit center. I'll be going there to buy a notebook, too.

Saying that the IBM is not the latest spec would be an understatement. The current spec is the 3rd iteration (or 4th?) of the Core series, which comes AFTER the Pentium M's (which were the beginning of the Centrinos... that was waaaay back). Thinkpads (especially in Thailand) tend to be rather late (and I mean LATE) in keeping up with the Jones'es.

The computer show starts on Thursday (tomorrow) and will be at Sirikit center.

Thanks for the info.!

I went to the computer show today, thinking that I might beat the rush. Nope. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many people there, and you have to park around a kilometer away (there's a minibus service). I recommend parking at Fortune IT Mall and taking the sub (or parking at any other subway station). However, if you buy something, the security check to get back on the subway can be a pain.

Found a BenQ notebook that has all the bells and whistles: Core 2 Duo, 800 FSB, Nvidia 8600M graphics, HDMI output, 120GB harddrive. Costs only 39,900 (without VAT), which is a lot cheaper (and lighter) than the new Acers of the same spec. Only problem is that there is no OS and the warranty is not extendable beyond the standard 1 year. Bought it anyways, and they gave a free stick of 1GB ram.

when does the computer expo close, is it opened on Sunday?

Commart runs 14th - 17th June