New Laptop Uk Or Thailand

[Jared]

Im going back to the Uk for 4 weeks and I need to get a laptop as my machine backhome was built in 2001.

Firstly Ive never had a laptop before so Im not sure which brands are worth looking at. Ill need something with a good graphics card and at least 2mb of Ram, more if possible.

Any suggestions?

Second question, Is to be cheaper to buy the machine back in the UK or in Thailand before I go with the Current exchange rate. It would be easier for me to buy it here so I can load all the programs and move work over from my machines in Thailand. If I buy back in the UK ill have to stick everything on a portable hard drive to take back.

Thanks

[johnwills]

In Thailand I would recommend an Acer if you want a reasonably priced machine, or in the UK you can check out the dell website (www.dell.co.uk)

As for the spec, it depends on how much you have to spend and what you want to use the machine for(weight maybe an issue if you plan on carrying it around a great deal)

Personally I would recommend something like this as a minimum;

Intel Core 2 duo 2.26 +

2gb Memory, maybe 3gb if you want to use vista

320gb (7200rpm if possible) Hard disk

15.4" screen

Graphics card- this depends what you want to do with the machine, normally these are integrated and share system memory. Gaming laptops may have a separate card with dedicated memory.

DVD re-writer

Built in webcam if available

One general rule when buying a laptop is to spend the top end of your budget as upgrades are not so easy on a laptop compared to a desk top, normally you are limited to upgrading the memory and/or the hard disk.

[danw]

I'd buy in the UK, it's much cheaper and has far better brands available.

You don't say what you primarily use the machine for, so I'll assume something powerful enough to see you through the next 3 - 5 years with regular usage. I'd go with A Sony Vaio or Fujitsu Siemens, both great build quality and good hardware configurations - find the model you want by looking round a few physical shops or review sites (cnet, pcpro) then buy from Ebay - you'll save around 33% on the instore prices. At christmas I found a great spec vaio for about £350 on ebay (you would struggle to get bottom end Acer in Thailand for that), and ended up buying a Vaio aw11z-b for £1000, when instore prices are £1500+.

If you must buy in Thailand, dont get Acer (terrible build quality). HP/Compaqs are ok(ish), Lenovo a little better. You can get Sony here too quite easily. But I'd definately recommedn ebay UK route, you'll get a new laptop for considerably less than duty free prices even.

For data transfer, find a USB drive holder (1000baht or less) and take the hard drives out of your current laptop - easy!

Edited February 18, 2009 by danw

[JohnC]

Also have a look at www.ebuyer.co.uk some excellent laptops available there.

[Noodles]

Im going back to the Uk for 4 weeks and I need to get a laptop as my machine backhome was built in 2001.

Firstly Ive never had a laptop before so Im not sure which brands are worth looking at. Ill need something with a good graphics card and at least 2mb of Ram, more if possible.

Any suggestions?

Second question, Is to be cheaper to buy the machine back in the UK or in Thailand before I go with the Current exchange rate. It would be easier for me to buy it here so I can load all the programs and move work over from my machines in Thailand. If I buy back in the UK ill have to stick everything on a portable hard drive to take back.

Thanks

I'm in the exact same boat as you going back to the UK and want a new laptop. I've decided to wait

till I get back and buy one from dell. The main reason for this was mainly down to cost. All my programs

I will load back on in the UK, and music and other stuff I will do when I get back.

[Noodles]

Also have a look at www.ebuyer.co.uk some excellent laptops available there.

Gonna check out this site aswell....thanks

[Lucifer]

I think I read somewhere on this site that Dell was difficult to get fixed in Thailand. So you may want to check that first.

I was told by a salesman, selling lots of different brands, that Hp is a good make as they only make computers (so do Dell) and as a result, thought of layout and quality of build is very good.

If you're buying in Thailand, Pantip's top floor is where you should be headed along with your haggling cap on.

[robertthegreat]

Uk every time alot cheaper and know what your getting and genuine OS Uk keyboard . i always buy laptops in the UK,I was after another Asus Eee pc in Pan Thip the 1000H was 18900 baht i got the same in the Uk 12000 baht Even Dubai duty free was more expensive than for laptops you can get the same in a Uk store.

[ungcas]

Im going back to the Uk for 4 weeks and I need to get a laptop as my machine backhome was built in 2001.

Firstly Ive never had a laptop before so Im not sure which brands are worth looking at. Ill need something with a good graphics card and at least 2mb of Ram, more if possible.

Any suggestions?

Second question, Is to be cheaper to buy the machine back in the UK or in Thailand before I go with the Current exchange rate. It would be easier for me to buy it here so I can load all the programs and move work over from my machines in Thailand. If I buy back in the UK ill have to stick everything on a portable hard drive to take back.

Thanks

Last summer I picked up a Gateway in the States on the way back to Bangkok. The price was really cheap. And since I am a gamer. There wasn't even anything close to the specs available here in Thailand.

If you want something with a good graphics card you choices are pretty limited here. Maybe a Geforce 8600GT at the best. And those probably cost well over 60K.

[case69]

As others have said uk is much cheaper, only i needed a new one whilst staying in Pattaya so had a look in Tuk Com which was far to expensive so got one of ebay from america. The model is acer 6920 and apart from the crappy graphics card on mine its the exact same spec as Tuk Com and was

almost 350 GBP cheaper including the cost of postage from the states.

[mdechgan]

The sole and main reason to buy a laptop in thailand is for the Thai font and keyboard layout. You won't find a Thai keyboard on a UK laptop. But if you don't ever plan on or have someone use Thai font on your laptop just find the best deal where you can. I found many good deals while I was in the US, but my wife often chats and types in Thai so I had no choice. Well one could buy those stickers and put them on the keyboard layout but it was way too much hassle.

Edited February 19, 2009 by mdechgan

[robertthegreat]

If you want Thai font on a laptop just buy a keyboard from Pan Thip and plug & play.thay are cheap.

[eddiemonster]

I was told by a salesman, selling lots of different brands, that Hp is a good make as they only make computers (so do Dell)

Just shows, you can never trust a salesman

Lots of reasons to buy in UK as mentioned. Price being the obvious one.

I am a fan of eBay but you have to be careful of copies and knock-offs

[mdechgan]

If you want Thai font on a laptop just buy a keyboard from Pan Thip and plug & play.thay are cheap.

Yeah but if carrying the laptop and adapter all over the place through airports and hotels isn't enough I don't want to have to carry a keyboard around with me also.

[PattayaParent]

I think I read somewhere on this site that Dell was difficult to get fixed in Thailand. So you may want to check that first.

Difficult but not impossible.

DELL Thailand were extremely helpful when I had problems with my US purchased and still under warranty laptop which is not even a model available in Thailand.

Unfortunately they were unable to repair it but identified the problem and gave me a report which I was able to send to DELL US along with the computer so they could fix the problem.

DELL US were extremely helpful as well but they would not send the replacement part to Thailand to be fixed here.

[Jared]

Well I waited and got my new laptop in the UK, I went for the Acer Aspire 6930G for £700

Spec

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7450 2.13ghz

16'' screen

4gb DDR2

NVidia Geforce 9600M GT

320GB HDD

The only problem Im having with this is Vista, what a load of Poo. Im having problems installing all the programs I need and just problems in general with it. Ive decided to get a copy of XP installed, how hard is this to do and is it possible?

Jared

[torrenova]

I looked at the previous version of that Acer Aspire the 6920 but the fx rate was around 65 at the time and it was about Bt45k or more at UK prices (I was also back in the UK).

[BelfastMike]

Difficult but not impossible.

DELL Thailand were extremely helpful when I had problems with my US purchased and still under warranty laptop which is not even a model available in Thailand.

Unfortunately they were unable to repair it but identified the problem and gave me a report which I was able to send to DELL US along with the computer so they could fix the problem.

DELL US were extremely helpful as well but they would not send the replacement part to Thailand to be fixed here.

I'll second that. The Motherboard on my Dell XPS M1710 died a day after I arrived on a 2 month break. I had purchased a 3 year international warranty with the notebook. Dell Thailand were very helpful and diagnosed the problem quickly. But as this model was never sold in Thailand they could not source parts. In the end I got a cheap flight to KL, met the Dell Malaysia engineer at my hotel there and he had it fixed in 30 minutes. Wasn't planning on going to KL but I really needed the notebook for work etc and it was a good excuse for a 3 day sightseeing trip. Can't fault Dell warranty support. Had issues with the same machine in Belgium and Germany (it's the traveling that kills it) and on both occasions an engineer has been out and fixed it within 24 hours.

Back to the OP's question though. I would definitely buy in the UK. Much better range of notebooks available at much better prices. But try and buy a model which is also available in Thailand.

Edited March 3, 2009 by BelfastMike

[George4]

I hadn't time to read all the posts so if I am repeating what someone else has said I apologies.

If price is similar I would buy in the uK. The problem with buying any compter here is the parts are most likely made in Asia. When you have a problem and you try to solve it by going on to the internet you most likely cant find the component on an english speaking site.

I suppose it depends on which one you buy but when it happens that you can't get English written help it would drive you nuts