Buying Netbook

[mezcal]

Hi all

I'm planning to upgrade my 2nd laptop from a good but pretty old Dell Inspiron to a new netbook. I've done some research already and came up with 2 finalists:

Acer Aspire One and Asus EEE PC (not sure which model yet...1005 or 1008)

These 2 have what I like at a reasonable price. They're small, stylish, big memory 160Gb and good connectivity.

What I'm not so sure about is that there seems to be talk about upcoming models with 3G. Now, I'm not really a computer geek and I missed all the talk about 3G and Thailand.

My questions are: What is this 3G about? Ok, it's a way to connect to the internet, right? Do you need a contract with a mobile phone operator to use it? Do you need extra sim card in the netbook? How much would it cost to have unlimited internet access?

...and most importantly: CAN YOU EVEN USE 3G IN THAILAND???

When I go to Bangkok, can I use WIFI? Is it for free?

sorry...lots of questions, but I want to be sure before buying as I don't trust sellers too much :-)

thanks

[dave_boo]

I have an Asus 1000HE. Awesome battery life.

Don't hold your breath for 3G in LOS. Assuming it gets here, you'd need to ensure that the specs are the same (HSDPA/HSUPA/frequency/etc) or it's just an added cost that won't give you much benefit. And if you get the netbook from the States, there's a possibility that the modem will be locked into AT&T or whomever.....gotta love those telcos!

The only current widely available 3G in Thailand is CAT's EV-DO. However, unless you're outside of Bangkok (and down Chonburi area), you can't use it. You'll be stuck on Hutch's RTx1, which is comparable in speed to EDGE. Living in CAT's coverage area, you can definitely get a EV-DO usb dongle that will let you connect to the interweb, and yes you need a contract.

The current HSDPA (and other GSM 3G) technologies do require a sim card in LOS. Where available, they give you a faster connection than normal WWAN modems, but if you leave the coverage areas that have been upgrade you'll obviously default to the slower speeds. If you're lucky, that means EDGE (~25 KB/s from the speed I've seen around the country), and if not you'll default to plain old GPRS (about the same speed as dial-up....say 4-7 KB/s).

There's various places in BKK that I've seen offering TRUE wifi (even some McDonalds)...it's not free. Can't tell you the cost however.

[d0ndela]

When I go to Bangkok, can I use WIFI? Is it for free?

I don't know about bangkok as a whole city, but some places they have free wifi, like Starbucks and alot of bars/guesthouses/restaurants.

In Hua Hin though we have city-wide wifi that is for free. Needless to say it has limited speeds, but it's just fine for the occasional checking of emails and the likes.

[sibeymai]

If you'll be traveling in and out of Thailand there's only one brand to buy: IBM/Lenovo with a 3 year international warranty. In the rare instance that something does happen get it fixed almost anywhere and good recovery utilities built in in case you have to recover the operating system or data.

They're not much more expensive than Acer or Asus and the peace of mind in having something bullet proof is worth it. I'm on my 4th in 15 years and wouldn't buy anything else.

[mezcal]

Thanks guys and Dave for the extensive reply

I guess there is not much point getting a G3 if I can't use it, and to be honest I don't think I would use it that much. I just didn't want to buy something that would become obsolete in a few months...but then, it will anyway!... :-)

I'm planning to go to Pantip and trade in my old Dell with a netbook. Anyone knows a good shop?

[cdnvic]

I love my little Acer. Battery life is great, and the Intel Atom punches above it's weight compared to other processors of similar power.

[livinthailandos]

My questions are: What is this 3G about? Ok, it's a way to connect to the internet, right? Do you need a contract with a mobile phone operator to use it? Do you need extra sim card in the netbook? How much would it cost to have unlimited internet access?

...and most importantly: CAN YOU EVEN USE 3G IN THAILAND???

When I go to Bangkok, can I use WIFI? Is it for free?

As someone who reads the bangkok post database section on every wednesday you pretty much get the idea that 3G internet won't be here at least all around thailand for another 4 years at least in my opinion to much bickering, fighting over concession fees, licensing. Basically think of 3G as faster internet speed although since its over air packet loss can vary depending on where you are using the internet. I don't think you'd need a sim card for the netbook just a usb device for logging onto the mobile carriers network. contracts don't think so but depends on the carrier. Yes from my understanding you can use 3G in thailand but only in some areas of bangkok though. as for wifi depends on location, i'm more or less waiting for the day for more labtops and people to install routers and wireless chips with wireless N instead of b/g