Buying Notebook

[sparemale]

i will be relocating to thailand, (hua hin) about april may this year, need to purchase a labtop/ notebook are the prices cheaper in thailand, or best to buy from the uk? i dont know to much about computers so any help would be great.

[ballbreaker]

Prices vary so you need to be more specific about your needs in a notebook.

Edited January 4, 2008 by ballbreaker

[Guest Property]

i will be relocating to thailand, (hua hin) about april may this year, need to purchase a labtop/ notebook are the prices cheaper in thailand, or best to buy from the uk? i dont know to much about computers so any help would be great.

Yes the prices are very often cheaper in Thailand.

Buying in Thailand means that if it breaksdown during the warranty period, you'll be able to get it repaired locally.

Purchase a laptop with the highest capacity hard drive/ highest resolution monitor/ fastest CPU/ highest memory/ highest graphics card, that your budget will permit.

[sparemale]

i will be relocating to thailand, (hua hin) about april may this year, need to purchase a labtop/ notebook are the prices cheaper in thailand, or best to buy from the uk? i dont know to much about computers so any help would be great.

Yes the prices are very often cheaper in Thailand.

Buying in Thailand means that if it breaksdown during the warranty period, you'll be able to get it repaired locally.

Purchase a laptop with the highest capacity hard drive/ highest resolution monitor/ fastest CPU/ highest memory/ highest graphics card, that your budget will permit.

thanks for that was looking to spend around £400-£500 in the uk, so will wait now till i arrive hopefully april or may, my home pc is dell been very good 10 years old now been upgraded a few times, was thinking about toshiba sony , ant good asian makes that are worth looking at?

[percy2]

Purchase a laptop with the highest capacity hard drive/ highest resolution monitor/ fastest CPU/ highest memory/ highest graphics card, that your budget will permit.

Depending on how it will be utilized I would advocate almost the opposite.

Buying a slightly lower spec machine means you can replace it at least once every 12 months for the same price.

A low/older end spec unit will cost around B20,000 , middle range around B40,000 and a high end spec around B80,000.

High end doesn't stay high end for long.

Low end specs easily cope with what people generally do with computers - excel , word , explorer , bittorrent etc.

They struggle on Photo (large files) / Video editing and games.

Warranty is less important if you can replace machines every 12 months.

I do practice what I preach , I bought several B20,000 laptops for the company and 12 months later we have had zero problems. (we bought Acer but we also have a couple of B20,000 Compaq's which have been just as trouble free (except for the power adapter).

Of course for my Photo editing and personal use I like Mac

Cheers

[tsobanis]

a friend of mine just picked up a HP Pavilion DV2626TX for 42k baht, great value i think

2.2GHz Core 2 Duo

2GIG Ram

250GB drive

dvd-writer

webcam

14inch widescreen

all the ports you could want

[Lucifer]

Buy in the UK. Dell:-

305-N0110007 Home site - Best price £351.33 Delivered or *less.

Vostro 1000 (N0110007)

You must configure the deal to over £299 pre VAT to get the free shipping.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Mobile Technology TK57

Genuine Windows XP Home Edition - English

Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support

15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife

2048 MB 667MHz Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x 1024 MB)

160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive

ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 HyperMemory (integrated)

Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software

6 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (53 Whr)

Dell Optical Premium Mouse XP

Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-Card - Europe

[Firefoxx]

There is really no "what's best" for everybody, since everybody has their own needs, usage habits, budgets, etc. etc. If it was that way, there would be only one notebook model in the world.

The really expensive high-end/lightweight/flashy notebooks really make no economical sense, but people buy them nonetheless. It's just the way the market works.

As for buying in the UK vs Thailand, as stated above, it depends. Price is generally comparable, since the UK isn't the US and tends to be on the expensive side, like the rest of Europe.

[BlackArtemis]

Uhhh Thailand is MUCH more expensive for laptops than the US (Citing from living in CM, I do not know about BKK)

Dell Vostro 1500

1.6 c2d (can always swap it out to a 2.0)

2gb memory

160gb 5400rpm HDD

256mb Geforce m8600gt

I forget the rez, but the 15.4 wide screen is glossy with the highest possible rez

9 cell battery

built in 2mp web camera

2 years accidental drop. Sure I have to ship it back home, but I get a new laptop for free even if I spill a soda on it. I know people who have recieved better computers than the ones they broke!

all of this for 36,000 baht.

Find me a similar build for under 50k (in the north) and it still won't include the insurance.

Does UK dell have a "dell outlet"? you can get massive deals on refurbished laptops, they have the standard warranty and you can even upgrade said warranty.

[percy2]

I see no arguments against for buy B20k and replace every 6 months.

Cheers

Edit add against

Edited January 5, 2008 by percy2

[sparemale]

well thanks everyone, now i am even more confused, i am already filling up my external harddrive off my home pc, photos, music, videa etc etc think i will have to do more research, never thought about buying bottom end, was going to buy best i could, i am retiring there, so thought pay out once for a good one and hope it lasts, ........... decisions decisions

stuart

( sparemale)

[sfokevin]

I would get this:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF...0-81032214.html

It has a TV tuner and plays DVD without booting and has a cool remote that pops out from the side...

I think HP does a good job of creating a nice Media Based system

[PattayaParent]

When I last bought a notebook in UK and compared prices to Bangkok for the same machine it worked out slightly cheaper in BKK (by 50 quid) BUT that was 'cos I got the VAT (17%) back from UK as I am a non-resident, the saving would have been more in BKK had I had to pay the VAT.

Now I get notebooks from US 'cos they're much cheaper there but are generally only US waranty.

[Firefoxx]

I think there's a misunderstanding. The price comparison is between the UK and Thailand, not the US and Thailand. It's pretty much common knowledge that notebooks in the US can be ridiculously cheap, especially when there are rebates, sales, and whatnot involved. But the UK is another story entirely, as with the rest of Europe. So let's keep this on track, folks.

[jackr]

Purchase a laptop with the highest capacity hard drive/ highest resolution monitor/ fastest CPU/ highest memory/ highest graphics card, that your budget will permit.

Depending on how it will be utilized I would advocate almost the opposite.

Buying a slightly lower spec machine means you can replace it at least once every 12 months for the same price.

A low/older end spec unit will cost around B20,000 , middle range around B40,000 and a high end spec around B80,000.

High end doesn't stay high end for long.

Low end specs easily cope with what people generally do with computers - excel , word , explorer , bittorrent etc.

They struggle on Photo (large files) / Video editing and games.

Warranty is less important if you can replace machines every 12 months.

I do practice what I preach , I bought several B20,000 laptops for the company and 12 months later we have had zero problems. (we bought Acer but we also have a couple of B20,000 Compaq's which have been just as trouble free (except for the power adapter).

Of course for my Photo editing and personal use I like Mac

Cheers

Good advice

Simply hand-me-down to kids every couple years

[siamesekitty]

The one I'm looking at, nothing too fancy or high-end, is about 30+K. Has all the (now basic) bluetooth, wifi, dvd writer, 1 or so GB of ram, lots o' HD capacity etc.

20+ is available too if you're ok with Intel Celeron or AMD

[Firefoxx]

Dell is offering the new Vostro 1200 in Thailand, for very cheap, around 29,000, for a Core duo, 12" screen, Wireless-N, bluetooth, dvd writer, etc. etc, and around 25,000 for a Celeron version. But alas, the nature of Dell Thailand really shows... the only reason that I know that the Vostro 1200 exists is because of an ad in a Thai newspaper. The Dell Thailand website has *no* information on this model at all (zero, none, nada). And of course you have to call them (the only choice) to get any more information or order. No outlets, no dealers, useless website... a phonecall is the only option. How quaint, in this day and age. They're operating in the last century, and dragging consumers with them.

[alexth]

Buy it from your country. Try finding a Dell

[PattayaParent]

I think there's a misunderstanding. The price comparison is between the UK and Thailand, not the US and Thailand. It's pretty much common knowledge that notebooks in the US can be ridiculously cheap, especially when there are rebates, sales, and whatnot involved. But the UK is another story entirely, as with the rest of Europe. So let's keep this on track, folks.

I guess you didn't read the first paragraph of my post so I'll repeat it for you here.

When I last bought a notebook in UK and compared prices to Bangkok for the same machine it worked out slightly cheaper in BKK (by 50 quid) BUT that was 'cos I got the VAT (17%) back from UK as I am a non-resident, the saving would have been more in BKK had I had to pay the VAT.

Looks like a price comparison between UK and Thailand to me?

OP as you still have at least a month before you set off why not post the model and spec you're looking at and I'm sure some forum member will be in Panthip within the next month and will kindly check the price for you and I'll take a look in TukCom in Pattaya as I'm planning to be in there sometime this coming weekend.

[PattayaParent]

http://www.hwhinter.com/price_show2.php

http://www.jib.co.th/

Notebook prices from 2 shops in Panthip.

Edited January 8, 2008 by PattayaParent

[Firefoxx]

Errrr.... What??? As I said, and as you quoted me to say "The price comparison is between the UK and Thailand, not the US and Thailand". Also, when I was saying to keep it on track, I was referring to replies like that from BlackArtemis, not you, because yours was on track. I probably should have been more specific (as I hate to quote unnecessarily), but I was hoping for people to actually read the whole thing.

[TommyGun]

My Samsung R40 in excellent condition is for sale. B15k ono. Going to list it in classifieds but i can get the thing to load.

Edited January 8, 2008 by TommyGun

[PattayaParent]

I was referring to replies like that from BlackArtemis,

Sorry, as it was directly after my post I thought you were referring to my comment about US prices without having read the whole post.

[percy2]

20+ is available too if you're ok with Intel Celeron or AMD

I'm OK with Dual-Core too.....

ACER ASPIRE 4710Z-3A0516Mi

Pentium Dual-Core T2130 1.86GHz 512MB 160GB DVD-SuperMulti 14.1inch WXGA 1 Yrs. HWH B19,900

http://www.hwhinter.com/price_show2.php

Cheers

PS whats wrong with AMD?

[crabstix]

20+ is available too if you're ok with Intel Celeron or AMD

I'm OK with Dual-Core too.....

ACER ASPIRE 4710Z-3A0516Mi

Pentium Dual-Core T2130 1.86GHz 512MB 160GB DVD-SuperMulti 14.1inch WXGA 1 Yrs. HWH B19,900

http://www.hwhinter.com/price_show2.php

Cheers

PS whats wrong with AMD?

Yeah I get those kinds of comments too. I use an AMD (turion x2) laptop and find that it is no slower than a pentium core duo processor. I'd like to know what's wrong with AMD too.

[siamesekitty]

Well for some reason they're cheaper than the other models, all other things being equal?

So yeah, what's wrong with AMD?

Edited January 8, 2008 by siamesekitty