Thai Computer Component Prices, Similar To The Us?

[MadFrankie]

What are the prices of high end desktop PC components like in Pan Tit compared to the USA? I've been there quite a few times before but didnt take any notice of component prices.

Same as the US, cheaper?

Also, is there any good sites where shops have their product catalogue online?

Many thanks

[lopburi3]

http://www.pantipprice.com/

This is probably the most used site in English. Price of top end equipment is usually higher than US I believe as it is slow to get here. Once it becomes mainline the price drops to US levels and sometimes below.

[Firefoxx]

It's generally true that prices of high-end stuff (like DVD recorders) are generally more expensive than the US. An example is that a pioneer 8x DVD recorder can be had for about 7000 baht here, while in the US it's half that price at Newegg. Stuff that's mainline, like mainboards and CPUs, is generally very similar in price (except for high-end mainboards and CPUs of course). Not to mention that a lot of exotic stuff is impossible to find.

There is some stuff that doesn't seem to follow this rule. Scanners and printers are a good example. A scanner that retails (msrp) in the US for $99 will usually sell for twice that much here. Same goes for printers, laser or inkjet. It doesn't matter how low-end the printer is, it just is really expensive.

Digicams also are another outrageously priced commodity.

Here is the website of an fairly popular Thai retailer, with prices:

www.hwhinter.com

[MadFrankie]

cheers for the info

Any idea what singapore is like for prices on the higher end kit?

[huski]

http://www.pantipprice.com/

This is probably the most used site in English.  Price of top end equipment is usually higher than US I believe as it is slow to get here.  Once it becomes mainline the price drops to US levels and sometimes below.

lopburi3, so true...it does seem a camera is alot more at pantip than circuit city or best buy in the US. however, the same exact cam can vary in price if one takes the hike up a few floors to a vacant desperate store hungry for business and willing to bargain with you.

as for chips, RAM, hard drives and motherboards you can generally see the best value by the loads of thais crowded around a particular store. prices are posted but the girls will accept some grinding within reason.

cheers for the info 

Any idea what singapore is like for prices on the higher end kit?

i would imagine higher than bkk

[penzman]

A suggestion. I took my pc apart and left the box and screen-kbrd behind. Got new ones here.

[huski]

A suggestion. I took my pc apart and left the box and screen-kbrd behind. Got new ones here.

sounds good, why drag extra weight if your don't have to...also removes the chance of forgetting to hit the 100/220v switch on the back of the case.

i dragged a 1954 fender twead super amp over about a year ago...security scratched their heads for about a half hour on that one. the tubes must have scared them.

[Firefoxx]

I have seen some shops which sell digicams for quite less than retail shops. This is because they're sort of gray market. Most shops get their digicams from the local authorized distributor, complete with in-country warranty and sometimes localized manuals. The cheaper shops sell stuff which is imported by them, either by frieght or hand-carrying. The local version of the Canon S-50 is silver, while the US and Japanese versions are black. So the authorized shops sell silver S-50's and the import shops sell black. They are quite cheaper than the normal shops, but it is still cheaper to buy from the US.

However, I haven't seen something like this for printers and scanners. Too big to hand-carry perhaps? So the only shops you'll find them in are shops which get them from authorized distributors, with roughly the same (usually exactly the same) price.

One thing about Thailand is that you'll rarely find any super sales for computer stuff. You can find many items heavily discounted (up to 95%) in the US. I once found a watch on sale for 25 cents, discounted from 12 bucks. I've seen graphics cards sold for a quarter of their usual price. Not so for Thailand. You'd be lucky to find even a 10% discount.

[MadFrankie]

I cant see some of the kit im after on the aformentioned websites Do any of the US sites ship internationaly, and how much import duty would I have to pay if I got one shipped to thailand?

cheeerz

[Dancali]

A few months ago I researched all the computer components I wanted online and then went to Pantip to purchase and assemble at home.

I had to change my plans as most of the particular items I wanted were not available.

In the end, I was able to put together a fine near top of the line computer, but I had to comprimise with the exact parts.

In general, the prices on everything I bought were about the same as I'd find in America at full retail price.

And about printers, I was able to get myself a cheap Canon printer for $50 which is about $50 in the US as well. I did the same with a cheap Canon scanner some time before. They weren't exhorbitantly expensive. I imagine the it's the more high-end models that have the inflated prices.

[Firefoxx]

Actually, I think that the prices are close only for certain "dirt-cheap"/mass-market printers and scanners, usually the ones that are promotional items. Don't believe me? Some examples:

Product : US Retail Price (compusa) : Thai price (itcity): Markup(approx)

Epson 1670 Photo scanner: $99 5,950B 50%

HP scanjet 3970 scanner: $99 10,600B 150%

HP scanjet 3670 scanner: $79 7,990B 150%

Canon CS3000F scanner: $49 5,990B 200%

Canon LIDE30 scanner: $49 5,990B 200%

Canon LIDE30 scanner: $47 2,790B 50%

All are sub-$100 scanners. Huge difference, no?

I would compare printer prices, except for the fact that Thailand's "current" printer models are 1 model behind the US, so finding matching models isn't easy.

Remember that these are retail prices, and you can get even cheaper prices at online stores like newegg. Prices in Thailand, however, are pretty much fixed, unless you go gray-market.

Another thing: Rebates are pretty common in the US, and can take a hefty chunk (sometimes you end up paying nothing!) off the price tag. Come to Thailand, farang say "rebate?", Thai say "huh?".

There are certain stores in Pantip that sell exotic/luxury items. Just expect to pay an arm and a leg for them.

[lopburi3]

I would compare printer prices, except for the fact that Thailand's "current" printer models are 1 model behind the US, so finding matching models isn't easy.

If you compare Epson they do not use the same model numbers in US market. It is not that we are behind (although that can happen too). My Epson Photo 830 was $100 here in Thailand and about $140 in US last year (and I checked every discount store in Denver).

The big difference is that in US you do have real price cuts to attract customers were here that is only starting to happen (at Lotus/Carrefour type places) and they do not deal in components.

[JJDinsay]

Sing is definitely cheaper. A spindle of CDR's here, I believe about 100 or so sold for about 18 Sing dollars - that's about 9 US. Here I think it's been selling for about 700 or so baht? I think that's it. But I've been shopping for a laptop and prices in Sing were definitely cheaper. I did see DVD burners as well in Sim Lim Square - Singapre equivalent of Pantip - selling for about $100 US.

[Dancali]

I'm not disputing that there are likely price differentials on lots of printers/scanners, I'm just saying that I was able to purchase a couple perfectly adequate printer/scanner items for the same price as in the US. It wasn't hard to find them either.

I have a Canon S2000SPx Printer and Canon Canoscan Lide 20 Scanner that both cost $50 each in the US and $50 each here.

And I see you're comparing prices using those from ITCity. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't stuff there normally quite a bit more expensive than the same stuff around the corner in the 101 stores in Panthip selling the same thing?

[Firefoxx]

Well, the models you mention are pretty much the cheapest you can buy. They do print and scan, just adequately, and people who are even moderately interested in printing/scanning wouldn't buy them. They're also the types that dealers usually bundle with products in promotions, and so are sold to retailers at rock bottom prices (and many times for free as a bundle). That's why I said that they're the exception, not the rule. Look at pretty much EVERY other model that's not the bottom of the range, yet still sub-$100.

If you go to any store that gets their scanners/printers from authorized dealers (and pretty much all stores do, Pantip or not), then there is very little, if any, price difference between them and the big retailers like ITCity. If a scanner is 6,000 baht at IT City, you won't find it for 5,000 at some other place. You may find it for 5,800, but that's not much (this is taken from an actual price). Yes, IT City is way more expensive for many products, but not for printers and scanners. If you can find a shop that sells for 10% discount or more, WITH local warranty, then you've found a rare shop indeed. Even then, with the 50%-200% markup, that discount doesn't count for much.

As for printer models, I was talking about Canon printers. Canon printers usually arrive about half a year (or more) late. Some models don't arrive at all.

[kabal1234]

Basically Thailand sucks for computer components. The range is limited and people selling them don't know jack...also they are not so cheap. Best thing if your spending a decent amount is to get a flight to HK and buy the components there. HK is SOOOOO much cheaper (in the order of about half price at times) and a bigger range. The ticket will more than pay for itself.

[Dancali]

I think the kabal1234 is overstating it.

Unless you're a specialist, you can find 100% of what you need at Pantip. And many of the girls working there are just clerks, but you can find some people who know what they're talking about.

Everything I purchased for my computer was about the same price as found at most online retailers. I don't know what he is talking about by saying it's "SOOOOO much cheaper (in the order of about half price at times) ".

I bought a new p4 2.8c cpu, motherboard, 19 inch flat screen monitor, specialist super high speed raptor hard drive, and 2 sticks of 256 ddr ram. All the prices were similar to online retailers. I wanted a brand name power supply unit and this took some hard work to find, but I found 1 little store on the 4th floor which specializes in imported power supply units and I got what I needed.

You won't have the same selection as if you could pick and choose everything on the internet, but with just a bit of compromise, you'll get what you're looking for.

[Firefoxx]

I'll just recap on what I've seen of the Thai computer market:

Stuff that's not imported in large numbers by local dealers is usually pretty expensive compared to the US. Otherwise, it's about the same. All the stuff Dancali bought (except for maybe the PSU) falls into this category.

Some products, like most printers, digicams, and scanners, have a very high markup compared to the US (but this is also true for Europe).

Thailand does not have big sales. There are no shops which slash prices. There are no rebates. Nearly all stores have prices within 5% of each other. About the only time you'll find stuff for cheaper than the US is for second hand goods. And even those are not at e-bay levels.

That's about as general as I can get about the Thai market. Also, as Dancali said "Unless you're a specialist", which is what the gist of this thread is about: High-end specialist component prices. If you want those, then chances are you'll pay a lot extra in Thailand.

[Dancali]

Firefoxx said: "as Dancali said "Unless you're a specialist", which is what the gist of this thread is about: High-end specialist component prices. If you want those, then chances are you'll pay a lot extra in Thailand. "

Not to quibble, but the original poster was looking for high end desktop components -- not necessarily, say, the latest in digital camera zoom lens adapters for post 2004 Athlon XP systems. I assume this means the lastest pentiums, motherboards, memory, hard drives, etc. All this stuff is not anymore expensive than in the US, in general. I bought my new p4 2.8c computer -- not a shabby machine -- about 3 months ago and the prices were comparable to the US.

[MadFrankie]

I've done a bit of comparing prices now, and everything (component wise) seems very reasonable, apart from the new intel CPUs and the latest Radeon graphics cards (which seem to be a total joke in price, almost double).

I only looked @ the online thai computer sites so far, is this the cheapest place to go or is pantit shoppin centre itself cheaper?

The only part I have yet to find a price for is the Radeon X800 XT graphics adaptor, i've emailed that pantit price website a few times but to no reply Could any of you guys shed some light on this?

Cheers brothas

[kabal1234]

Dancali, dude let me give you an example... my power supply gave up the ghost last week and I wanted a Zalman PSU with Verax low noise fans...Panthip... no way, had to settle for an Enermax. In HK or Australia, no problem, just order it in if you can't find it. Get a guy at panthip to try and tell you what voltage rails what components run on and what size PSU you really NEED, ummm sorry...hard to find.

Again, a few months ago looked for an MP3 player... did my research and narrowed it down to 5 models.. umm no, sorry no have. Needed to buy a player that was not what I really wanted.

Dude when I said "SOOOOO much cheaper (in the order of about half price at times)", I don't know how else to say it but here goes, HK is VERY cheap, sometimes by up to half price.

Panthip is fine if you don't mind brand whatever with a pentuim 4 and your 80 GB drive, but the level above that can be hard.

[Firefoxx]

Dancali, I think your definition of high-end and my definition of high-end are quite different. For example, I would consider the 2.8C (even 3 months ago) about mid-low range, very mainstream (well, you can't get anything LESS from intel unless you go the celery route). Something that people would buy to overclock or put in a budget machine. High-end to me would be the prescott 3.2 or 3.4, or perhaps the EE (try to find THOSE in Thailand). In graphics, it would mean the first or second highest in the radeon or nvidia line. High-end would mean stuff like corsair twin XM low-latency memory. It would mean stuff like enermax power supplies. Lian-li aluminum cases (really, try to find more than a few GOOD cases in Thailand). Large, high quality LCD screens. Pretty much all of this stuff is very overpriced in Thailand. Why? There is no market, and so the local dealers don't import them in bulk, or at all.

"High-end". Not enthusiast. Not budget. Not something that would go in a sub-$1000 machine.

[MadFrankie]

Dancali, I think your definition of high-end and my definition of high-end are quite different. For example, I would consider the 2.8C (even 3 months ago) about mid-low range, very mainstream (well, you can't get anything LESS from intel unless you go the celery route). Something that people would buy to overclock or put in a budget machine. High-end to me would be the prescott 3.2 or 3.4, or perhaps the EE (try to find THOSE in Thailand). In graphics, it would mean the first or second highest in the radeon or nvidia line. High-end would mean stuff like corsair twin XM low-latency memory. It would mean stuff like enermax power supplies. Lian-li aluminum cases (really, try to find more than a few GOOD cases in Thailand). Large, high quality LCD screens. Pretty much all of this stuff is very overpriced in Thailand. Why? There is no market, and so the local dealers don't import them in bulk, or at all.

"High-end". Not enthusiast. Not budget. Not something that would go in a sub-$1000 machine.

you can get the CPUs and top end Kingston memory

[Dancali]

Hehe, I didn't realize my computer was so shabby. My p4 2.8c system, 3 months ago, "mid-low" range? C'mon, you're just being silly.

I bought a motherboard based on the 2nd best available chipset from intel (and pantip had the one based on the latest chipset btw).

I bought just about the best hard drive the world has going right now. The 74 gb raptor sata for $250 -- expensive, but about the price you'll find online at the time, factoring in s&h. Definitely not a vanilla 80gb item.

I bought a beautiful 19 inch monitor. I had to settle for my 3rd choice as they didn't have any others, but this one is still nice. (Samsung SyncMaster 955mb)

Anyway, I think the original poster has an idea of what's up nowadays. It's not the same as online shopping, but it's pretty reasonable.

[MadFrankie]

Hehe, I didn't realize my computer was so shabby. My p4 2.8c system, 3 months ago, "mid-low" range? C'mon, you're just being silly.

I bought a motherboard based on the 2nd best available chipset from intel (and pantip had the one based on the latest chipset btw).

I bought just about the best hard drive the world has going right now. The 74 gb raptor sata for $250 -- expensive, but about the price you'll find online at the time, factoring in s&h. Definitely not a vanilla 80gb item.

I bought a beautiful 19 inch monitor. I had to settle for my 3rd choice as they didn't have any others, but this one is still nice. (Samsung SyncMaster 955mb)

Anyway, I think the original poster has an idea of what's up nowadays. It's not the same as online shopping, but it's pretty reasonable.

just to confirm, which is the best chipset by intel on the market @ present?

[monty]

Firefox probably got it right...

What is considered top of the line in Thailand, most others laugh with.

There is a big promo going on from one of the major Thai brand assemblers for a so called top of the line PC: nforce3 Mainboard(ok), amd64 3000 (ok), fx5200 vga(joke), 512mb ram(big joke), 60gb HD(joke gets even funier) standard cdrom burner (what???)....

Only 29900 Baht, but why the ###### spend money on a good(and expensive) cpu and good mainboard if you don't match the other components?

You can make a faster and cheaper PC just by matching components (like good a good nforce2 based mainboard, plenty of memory, fast serial HD with big buffer and better videocard, a radeon 9600 at 4500 Baht goes much faster then a fx5200!)

It's just to hard to find those good components, like decent case as mentioned before...

Probably indeed no market fr it over here...

Still, a decent pc can be had for a very good price if you know what to put in yourself...

And please no onboard graphics card in a 40000 Baht PC like most ready made machines....

[Firefoxx]

I think monty got it right: what may be considered high-end in Thailand is only barely middling in the US. At best, dancali's machine would be considered "enthusiast" by the US hardware community.

A example of a middling high-end machine in US eyes would be:

Prescott 3.4-3.6 processor

1GB DDR Corsair TwinX Memory

Asus P4C Deluxe RAID

Twin Raptors, RAID0

Radeon X800

Lian Li Alunimun case

Enermax 450W power supply

Plextor 12x DVD-RW

Water cooling

Special case modding, cooling and gadgets

19" LCD DVI

It would be hard to find many of the things listed (except for maybe the mainboards), and even if you could, they would be pretty much more expensive than buying online in the US. Remember that thread is about a direct price comparison, without S&H to Thailand.

A truly high end machine would involve stuff like dual Anthlon 64s, the BTX form factor, PCI express, some really crazy memory, SCSI 15k HDDs, etc. etc. Something that people in Thailand can only dream of.

An example of why I said that mainstream items imported in large quantities by local dealers are reasonably priced: When I bought a DVD-RW on december of last year, newegg had it for $200. It was sold here by a well-known local dealer for 16,000 baht. Back then, there were very few DVD-RW drives sold in Thailand. Warp to present, an 8x pioneer drive is sold for $120 at newegg, for 6,500 here, and there are a lot more brands to choose from. The price gap has decreased, but it's still significant.

[lomatopo]

Can anyone help me to put together a current , for Thailand, upper mid-range (lower high-end?) desktop PC, and recommend a specific shop at Panthip or the IT Mall?

My applications would include basic MS office, internet access, DVD (viewing-archiving-burning), audio (listening to CDs/MP3s), basic photo editing, basic gaming.

I am can't even figure out which socket to start with (478/775)? But was looking to start with a Intel (775) P4 640 (3.2) or a 478 Prescott 3.2.

Mainboard, which one, or which manufacturer?

1GB memory

160 GB HDD, fast, reliable

video?

audio?

ethernet (on the mainboard?)

WiFi (not req'd)

56k modem (dial back-up to ADSL)

DVD-RW/CD-R - Pioneer?

case?

cooling?

[The Coder]

AFAIC, nothing imported is nearly as cheap or cheaper than USA! People posting otherwise may not be comparing USA street prices where you order online and the compoenent is shipped to your door within a few days. It is very easy to find examples in Thailand of imports costing twice as much compared to USA street prices; sofas, perfumes, cpu's, cameras, flash cards, you name it. The craziest thing is even hard drives actually manufactured in Thailand cost MORE than in the US! Go figure on that one. If anyone has a link to livable prices in Thailand on computer component(s), I'd be happy to know of it.

[Highwayman]

I am can't even figure out which socket to start with (478/775)? But was looking to start with a Intel (775) P4 640 (3.2) or a 478 Prescott 3.2.

Socket 478 while still available is obsolete for what you want, 775 is what you need for P4.

For better value l'd take a look at the AMD range. Socket 754 would be fine for what you want, 939 if you wanted to do some serious gaming.

Asus have the best rep for mainstream boards and easy to find in Thailand. Gigabyte, Intel and Abit not always so easy to find. Some of the onboard audio and video you get with the more expensive boards is pretty good so that might do the job, you never know (steps back awaiting flaming from other TV members).

As was mentioned earlier, top line components like cases, power supplies and cooling systems can be a problem to locate.

It all comes down to what price you are prepared to pay.

Edited October 12, 2005 by Highwayman