Laptop ?

[johninbkk]

I will need to buy something reliable, quick, and with international warranty, any suggestion? And which retailer in Tuk Com Pattaya do you recommend? Also Windows, Licensed,. Or should I buy 2nd hand? I'd really love some good advice on this matter as mine just failed, it's only 3 yrs young.

[george]

Look into a MacBook Pro.

[johninbkk]

Look into a MacBook Pro.

I have just been researching this model, MacBook Pro 15.4" 2.4GHz Intel Core i5, thank you George, now I know what I need to buy. Any retailers suggested? in Pattaya or Bkk. thank you again

[Chicog]

Macbook, pretty but overpriced.

Dell or ASUS are better value.

Look on Amazon and use their product selector to see what you can buy within your budget. Dell, Asus, HP are probably the best brands to go for.

[thailandbluegrass]

Macbook, pretty but overpriced.

Dell or ASUS are better value.

Look on Amazon and use their product selector to see what you can buy within your budget. Dell, Asus, HP are probably the best brands to go for.

Do NOT buy an Asus. I bough one here last march and on the 8th day (1 day after you can return it) the keyboard went and I had the dealer call ASUS Main office in Lam chabang and they did bugger all so I got on the phone. She hung up. We called again and they said the dealer can send it in and they will replace the keyboard but will take 2 weeks. No loaners.

I had no choice so I did. After I got it back the battery life went to about 15 minutes. I paid 26,000 baht and sold it for 17k just to buy another one.

I started an official complain with Thailand Consumer Affairs and they were GREAT however what Asus offered me for my troubles was an Asus t-shirt they said valued at 700 baht hahahahhaha. Or a Gumble or a blue-tooth usb both valued at 120 baht.

I would NEVER buy one again. The Apple Mac is your best bet as mentioned.

[Darrel]

Apple products are always grossly over-priced. Having paid over the odds to buy it you then generally spend the rest of its life paying more to Apple to use it. If it goes wrong (and they do, just as often as any PC) you will pay another absurdly high price to get it fixed.

I would never buy one.

Stick with PCs. Cheap to buy, cheap to use, cheap to repair, compatible with everything. And there is NOTHING an Apple can do that a non-Apple product cant do for half the price. The only difference is that Apple usually bring it out first, put it in a glossy case and fancy box and charge accordingly. People who buy designer jeans must snap them up, and more fool them.

On the other hand there are things that Apple products arent compatible with. Apple rely on the fact that most Apple buyers are more interested in having a glossy case than owning something useful. So if you have more money than sense, and all you ever do on a computer is check email and do a bit of web-surfing, then by all means buy an Apple.

Apple products are ideally suited to be-(designer)stubbled dillettante Steve Jobs look-alikes, or the equally pointless people who call themselves "designers". Gah.

[powderpuff]

Cost no object Alienware.

[dominique355]

I did the step from Windows ACER laptop to MacBook Pro 15", but still have some mixed feelings.

Sure, the quality of a MacBook is unsurpasses, just look at this solid aluminium body, the finish ... nobody can compete with that.

But, I could not use my windows software anymore, had to find the OS X software and buy it (again) and get familiar with OS X. I can be done, but needs time. I still don't know how to drag and drop a file for copying somewhere and I still don't know how to call up a different (German) keyboard.

The wireless LAN is a nuisance, half the sensitivity of my still in-use Acer and thus frequent drop outs.

Battery life is OK and could be enhanced with an SSD. Speaking of which, my friend uses a Lenove Thinkpad X-Series with an SSD, great machine, perhaps my choice today.

[nikster]

Apple products are always grossly over-priced. Having paid over the odds to buy it you then generally spend the rest of its life paying more to Apple to use it. If it goes wrong (and they do, just as often as any PC) you will pay another absurdly high price to get it fixed.

I would never buy one.

Stick with PCs. Cheap to buy, cheap to use, cheap to repair, compatible with everything. And there is NOTHING an Apple can do that a non-Apple product cant do for half the price. The only difference is that Apple usually bring it out first, put it in a glossy case and fancy box and charge accordingly. People who buy designer jeans must snap them up, and more fool them.

On the other hand there are things that Apple products arent compatible with. Apple rely on the fact that most Apple buyers are more interested in having a glossy case than owning something useful. So if you have more money than sense, and all you ever do on a computer is check email and do a bit of web-surfing, then by all means buy an Apple.

Apple products are ideally suited to be-(designer)stubbled dillettante Steve Jobs look-alikes, or the equally pointless people who call themselves "designers". Gah.

This post brought to you straight out of 1999. Man, those were the days.

Meanwhile, none of the above is true anymore, if it ever was.

With the introduction of the unibody aluminium MacBook Pro, Apple's gone back to offering the best quality laptop money can buy. I am writing this on a 2 year old one. This laptop has been used 12 hours a day for 2 years straight, carried in a backpack all day every day, done countless international trips and it still looks and feels exactly like it did the day I took it out of the box. It's a marvel in some ways. It's just a rock solid piece of equipment.

That said, its true that things go wrong with all machines, which is why you buy the 3 year Apple Care and no matter what happens your investment is protected. Any authorized Apple dealer world-wide will take care of your machine.

Is there any other computer maker that will replace a laptop battery after 2 years? I don't think so... batteries are not warrantied for more than 1 year by anyone. Except Apple: My battery was at around 70%, took it to the customer service center in CM, they ran some hardware test which showed a big red REPLACE BATTERY banner. Ordered a new battery for me, installed 2 days later, all under warranty. Now I am back to 6 hours and 30 minutes battery life, on a 17" 2.66GHz laptop with a 1920x1200 screen...

Edited February 8, 2011 by nikster

[johninbkk]

Apple products are always grossly over-priced. Having paid over the odds to buy it you then generally spend the rest of its life paying more to Apple to use it. If it goes wrong (and they do, just as often as any PC) you will pay another absurdly high price to get it fixed.

I would never buy one.

Stick with PCs. Cheap to buy, cheap to use, cheap to repair, compatible with everything. And there is NOTHING an Apple can do that a non-Apple product cant do for half the price. The only difference is that Apple usually bring it out first, put it in a glossy case and fancy box and charge accordingly. People who buy designer jeans must snap them up, and more fool them.

On the other hand there are things that Apple products arent compatible with. Apple rely on the fact that most Apple buyers are more interested in having a glossy case than owning something useful. So if you have more money than sense, and all you ever do on a computer is check email and do a bit of web-surfing, then by all means buy an Apple.

Apple products are ideally suited to be-(designer)stubbled dillettante Steve Jobs look-alikes, or the equally pointless people who call themselves "designers". Gah.

This post brought to you straight out of 1999. Man, those were the days.

Meanwhile, none of the above is true anymore, if it ever was.

With the introduction of the unibody aluminium MacBook Pro, Apple's gone back to offering the best quality laptop money can buy. I am writing this on a 2 year old one. This laptop has been used 12 hours a day for 2 years straight, carried in a backpack all day every day, done countless international trips and it still looks and feels exactly like it did the day I took it out of the box. It's a marvel in some ways. It's just a rock solid piece of equipment.

That said, its true that things go wrong with all machines, which is why you buy the 3 year Apple Care and no matter what happens your investment is protected. Any authorized Apple dealer world-wide will take care of your machine.

Is there any other computer maker that will replace a laptop battery after 2 years? I don't think so... batteries are not warrantied for more than 1 year by anyone. Except Apple: My battery was at around 70%, took it to the customer service center in CM, they ran some hardware test which showed a big red REPLACE BATTERY banner. Ordered a new battery for me, installed 2 days later, all under warranty. Now I am back to 6 hours and 30 minutes battery life, on a 17" 2.66GHz laptop with a 1920x1200 screen...

A sincere thank you to all who replied, now I'm really confused...... After reading Nikster's review I was swayed to look for another brand but now look what Dominque 355 has done to me. Holy shoot! ok I think I should be looking at anything that has an intel processor and obviously all the storage and speed ram I rerquire. Is this the way I should be thinking? I always thought Toshiba were sound but after hearing my brother's failed and it took Toshiba service weeks and weeks to repair it, well I crossed them off my list. Currently using Acer and getting 2.5 hours is there better other than Macbook, say 4-5 hours, any brand of laptop u suggest.

[nikster]

^ I guess you meant Renaissance man Darrel - I recommend a MacBook Pro in a heartbeat.

But if you must stick with Windows, Thinkpad is a great choice. Not the other Lenovos - just the Thinkpad line.

Dominque makes an important point - if you're set in your ways with Windows, it's great to have a Mac guy around; somebody who can answer very basic questions like "how do I drag and drop a file" - even though I didn't think it was any different from windows, you just drag and drop it?!

I've spent maybe 15 Minutes total recommending software and giving little tips to my neighbor and he's now very comfortable with the Mac. OS X is arguably a bit better and easier than Windows, but it's also a little different and so if you're used to one way of doing things, now there's another one.

Check out this for 5 Minutes, it should cover all you need to know about switching http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/

You could also install Windows on your Mac and then use it as a Windows laptop. Good fallback if you find you hate OS X.

[Darrel]

Sure, the quality of a MacBook is unsurpasses, just look at this solid aluminium body, the finish ... nobody can compete with that.

That's just the glossy case I mentioned. Inside are EXACTLY the same parts you will find in many PCs. And so every bit as reliable (or not) as a PC containing the same parts. But much more expensive.

Why are people so easily swayed by what's on the outside when what you are interested in is what's on the inside?

But, I could not use my windows software anymore, had to find the OS X software and buy it (again) and get familiar with OS X. I can be done, but needs time. I still don't know how to drag and drop a file for copying somewhere and I still don't know how to call up a different (German) keyboard.

The wireless LAN is a nuisance, half the sensitivity of my still in-use Acer and thus frequent drop outs.

I did try to warn you about the huge costs involved. Unfortunately you are only at the beginning.

Apple wifi is notoriously bad: they are incredibly sensitive to which channel you use and so I would recommend changing your router's channel. This may sort it out.

You can change the keyboard configuration from the preferences panel (and you find that either in the dock or in the menu accessible from the Apple icon top left). Once you have told it you have multiple keyboards you can pick the one you want from the icon top-right (just like Windows).

Drag and drop is the same as on Windows: open two Finder windows (small W lol) and pull the file from A to B. Or, if you have a proper mouse with two buttons, use the right-click. Yes, I detest the Apple Finder too.

The OSX file system is a nightmare: all sorts of rubbish here, there and everywhere. And all sorts of folders with similar or identical names.

About the only thing I like about OSX is Time Machine, and even that has several faults and bizarre ways of working.

Do NOT rely on either iPhoto or Time Machine as your only copy of your data as both often screw up. Ensure that you have another copy of all your important data on another device (or online) and that is backed up using third party software.

[Darrel]

With the introduction of the unibody aluminium MacBook Pro, Apple's gone back to offering the best quality laptop money can buy.

Inside the flash aluminium case are the same parts you will find in many much cheaper PCs. Apple do NOT make parts. They design boxes.

.

..... buy the 3 year Apple Care ....

Precisely. More expense.

You can buy extra warranty cover for PCs and all other white and brown goods too, not that I ever would. On average, extended warranties are not worth having.

[Darrel]

You could also install Windows on your Mac and then use it as a Windows laptop.

That would indeed make it much better.

Or just buy a good PC laptop for significantly less total cost?

[Darrel]

I think I should be looking at anything that has an intel processor

Apple is now "Intel inside" also.

[astral]

It is not just the brand.

If you buy a consumer model they are not so well built as the professional models.

I am working on an HP NX8220, 5 years old now and still going strong.

Yes I have had to replace the hard disk a couple of times, but that is a simple job,

and I had to buy a new battery a year ago.

Cost $2000 at the time, and equivalent spec today is $1400

[Darrel]

Per ardua ad astra.

I'll vote for that.

[robblok]

Apple products are always grossly over-priced. Having paid over the odds to buy it you then generally spend the rest of its life paying more to Apple to use it. If it goes wrong (and they do, just as often as any PC) you will pay another absurdly high price to get it fixed.

I would never buy one.

Stick with PCs. Cheap to buy, cheap to use, cheap to repair, compatible with everything. And there is NOTHING an Apple can do that a non-Apple product cant do for half the price. The only difference is that Apple usually bring it out first, put it in a glossy case and fancy box and charge accordingly. People who buy designer jeans must snap them up, and more fool them.

On the other hand there are things that Apple products arent compatible with. Apple rely on the fact that most Apple buyers are more interested in having a glossy case than owning something useful. So if you have more money than sense, and all you ever do on a computer is check email and do a bit of web-surfing, then by all means buy an Apple.

Apple products are ideally suited to be-(designer)stubbled dillettante Steve Jobs look-alikes, or the equally pointless people who call themselves "designers". Gah.

This post brought to you straight out of 1999. Man, those were the days.

Meanwhile, none of the above is true anymore, if it ever was.

With the introduction of the unibody aluminium MacBook Pro, Apple's gone back to offering the best quality laptop money can buy. I am writing this on a 2 year old one. This laptop has been used 12 hours a day for 2 years straight, carried in a backpack all day every day, done countless international trips and it still looks and feels exactly like it did the day I took it out of the box. It's a marvel in some ways. It's just a rock solid piece of equipment.

That said, its true that things go wrong with all machines, which is why you buy the 3 year Apple Care and no matter what happens your investment is protected. Any authorized Apple dealer world-wide will take care of your machine.

Is there any other computer maker that will replace a laptop battery after 2 years? I don't think so... batteries are not warrantied for more than 1 year by anyone. Except Apple: My battery was at around 70%, took it to the customer service center in CM, they ran some hardware test which showed a big red REPLACE BATTERY banner. Ordered a new battery for me, installed 2 days later, all under warranty. Now I am back to 6 hours and 30 minutes battery life, on a 17" 2.66GHz laptop with a 1920x1200 screen...

That is not warranty its just an insurance and then your blabbing around about how good the warranty is... DUHHHHH. Apple is just what everyone says it is an overpriced machine. If you invest the same amount of money in a pc as you do in an Apple you get a machine that is equal or beats the apple hands down.

[Rastaputin]

Some month ago I decided to buy the new Apple Airbook.

Originally I wanted to use it as a second laptop, mainly for light travel, and to brush up my knowledge on OSX.

About a week later my old but trustworthy Asus Windows laptop died, and I was briefly thinking of replacing it with either a Dell or a Lenovo Thinkpad.

Could not find a decent model in Tuk Com Pattaya, no matter how hard I tried.

So I installed Windows 7 on the Macbook Air. Wow, it worked like charm! No issues whatsoever, and great speed (due to the SSD) and overall performance.

So, instead of buying another laptop, I changed the OS permanently to Windows 7.

It is also the small details where Apple excels, like the Magsafe Power unit, with magnetic plug that keeps the Laptop from falling off the table once you stumble over the power cord (The reason my old laptop died ...)

Or the fantastic track pad, which is the first one I experienced that makes the use of a mouse unnecessary.

Great Battery life, and no need to turn it off and reboot, just send it to sleep, and open the lid again, and it is running within two seconds.

Yes, it costs more, much more, than Windows Laptops with similar specs, and yes, I wish the Hard drive were larger than the 128 GB I have, but , I cant find a better laptop FOR MY NEEDS no matter how much money I would be ready to spend.

I have to say I am not a fan of OSX any more. Used to like it, but now I much prefer Windows 7. Also need Windows for the job.

[Darrel]

It is also the small details where Apple excels, like the Magsafe Power unit, with magnetic plug that keeps the Laptop from falling off the table once you stumble over the power cord

This is indeed a very good feature that I had forgotten about.

Or the fantastic track pad, which is the first one I experienced that makes the use of a mouse unnecessary.

Hmm. I detest the Apple trackpad. It's totally unusable for me.

I can (just about) use the trackpad on my PC laptop though I hate that also and normally only use a mouse with it.

[Rastaputin]

Hmm. I detest the Apple trackpad. It's totally unusable for me.

I can (just about) use the trackpad on my PC laptop though I hate that also and normally only use a mouse with it.

Funny. I had the same perception when buying the MBA, and immediately bought the Apple Bluetooth Mouse.

But, after looking into the properties and possibilities of the trackpad, my mouse is now gathering dust.

One tap -> left click, two-finger tap -> rightclick.

Swipe ->scroll

As intuitive as can be! And works!

The only thing I have sometimes issues is drag and drop, but I am learning.

[edmartech]

I'd recommend Lenovo Thinkpad, Asus or Toshiba. Any of the those three brands. (computer and laptop technician here)

[NanLaew]

Macbook, pretty but overpriced.

Dell or ASUS are better value.

Look on Amazon and use their product selector to see what you can buy within your budget. Dell, Asus, HP are probably the best brands to go for.

Do NOT buy an Asus. I bough one here last march and on the 8th day (1 day after you can return it) the keyboard went and I had the dealer call ASUS Main office in Lam chabang and they did bugger all so I got on the phone. She hung up. We called again and they said the dealer can send it in and they will replace the keyboard but will take 2 weeks. No loaners.

I had no choice so I did. After I got it back the battery life went to about 15 minutes. I paid 26,000 baht and sold it for 17k just to buy another one.

I started an official complain with Thailand Consumer Affairs and they were GREAT however what Asus offered me for my troubles was an Asus t-shirt they said valued at 700 baht hahahahhaha. Or a Gumble or a blue-tooth usb both valued at 120 baht.

I would NEVER buy one again. The Apple Mac is your best bet as mentioned.

Pity that you are slamming ASUS on your personal experience.

A ) ASUS warranties are usually 12 months with some special promotion items getting 24 months.

B ) The ASUS service center is in Bangkok.

I have an ASUS laptop from the US that came with a 24 month warranty. The mobo went bad with about 6 days remaining on the warranty. ASUS in Bangkok replaced the mobo without question. They warrantied their repair for 60 days. It took a few weeks longer due to the mobo not being on the local market and the red shirts f*cking up everything else in Bangkok.

Sounds like you bought a grey-market ASUS from a non-certified dealer, hence their 7-day 'warranty'. And they in turn bought it from some warehouse in Laem Chabang which is a dumping ground for grey area imports (being next to the port and all). ASUS sounded like they did their best to appease a customer who made the mistake of buying a dodgy laptop that they did not officially import from a dodgy dealer they did not officially recognize. All ASUS producs come with a minimum 1-year warranty card. If a dealer is offering you something but doesn't seem to have the original ASUS warranty card, buy somewhere else.

For the OP, I will give my preferences in order of satisfaction.

1 ) ASUS

2 ) ASUS

3 ) ASUS

[schmutzie]

I'm biased, but:

Buy a Macbook Pro with 3 year Applecare factored in to the price.

If you're feeling adventurous drop the Applecare, but factor in a battery replacement or similar within the first 3 years as a minimum.

You can partition the drive and dualboot Windows and MacOS. You could even simul-run Win using either VMWare or Parallels.

Unless you're using certain Win only apps all the time, or gfx-intensive Win apps, or have certain devices that only have Win drivers and one or all of these are essential

in your daily routine then it's really OS-agnostic.

You get a slick and sophisticated UI that your Grandma could use, but if you're feeling more

adventurous, there's a a best of breed UNIX environment running under the hood.

It'll be your new best friend. And a good looking one at that.

[HardenedSoul]

Whatever you consider, do a Google search on how the manufacturer performs in warranty claim situations.

Don't think it matters about individual experiences with specific manufacturers because for everyone who has a positive encounter with Sony, Asus or HP, there'll undoubtedly be somebody else with a bad one. My Dell XPS has put up with all sorts since I bought it a shade under 3 years ago in the UK so I'm sure glad Dell's 3yr warranty covered a knackered motherboard and a DVD writer here in Bangkok. Only had to wait longer than a day for the motherboard because, apparently, it had to come from Singapore.

Get as much processing power and RAM as you can afford whilst respecting the above caveat 'cos I'm sure it won't be long before we'll all need 8gb of RAM to open a couple of programs.

Best of luck.

[Hssl]

Lenovo but i got mine in the UK - better value!

[Jebhead]

MBP 13" - perfect......

Got to be Apple, expensive yes but as we all know you get what you pay for - quality....

JH

[MJP]

HP are the worst. Dire. Got two DV's sat here dead as, a 9000 and a 2000. Common yet unfixable faults.

I have a Dell XFR E6400 for work, an HP desktop here (awful) . . . but by far my favorite is this . . . got it Friday;

Why bother with expensive heavy laptops?

External DVD

This thing is by far the ideal. No OS with it so I loaded XP (taken three days to update with this connection). Runs MS Office and other applications no problem at all. Shall never bother with another fancy expensive laptop again, this does everything I need, same, same.

[ignis]

Sony, can't say I love it but it is 10 years and 3 months old now, still use the same original battery.. the 15" screen is so much better than most of the new 13" ones these days... If and when I change then maybe will go to a 17" Mac book

The only problem started about a year ago the DVD RW has a mind of it own, otherwise it has never missed a beat. of course it is old and not as fast as new laptops.

[jackr]

Do NOT buy an Asus...

...After I got it back the battery life went to about 15 minutes.

Remove battery before sending off for repairs. In your scenario, likely they replaced the good one with an old one... less likely the original was bad.