Where In Chiang Mai For High Spec Laptop

[mrireland]

Looking to buy a high spec laptop in Chiang Mai, is the best spot Pantip plaza or the electronic stores around the corner from the central plaza or is there somewhere else. I want something on the lines of a Dell XPS laptop and willing to pay around the 1500 mark however if there is a bargain for something similar thats cheaper then that would be great.

I dont need it for gaming, more for work and usually do a lot of multitasking with Photoshop and several other programs running at once so i need lots of ram and lots of power.

Anything i need to watch out for buying in Thailand? People trying to sell refurbished Laptops as new or false specs or anything like that? Im not really worried too much about warranties as i can fix most issues myself but obviously dont want to get stuck with a piece of junk either with faulty parts.

[mrireland]

p.s am i better off buying online? Also is there any laptops on the market with dual graphics cards so i can add 2 monitors and have a triple monitor setup? That would be a huge bonus but not sure if thats even possible with laptops

[tfc]

If you're getting it online from overseas you may need to pay duty, it depends on your luck a bit but prices are definitely better.

I shopped around Pantip Plaza and Icon plaza (along the moat) and the various other computer shops around there. I ended up going with Goodspeed computers because of mainly good reviews on TV. So far I've had to return my laptop once for repairs and it was done with minimum fuss. Another time I returned a product that I didn't need expecting at best store credit but they gave me a cash refund which was a big surprise.

It's worth shopping around though because I noticed that some of the bigger stores sometimes have a big price reduction so you may find yourself a very good deal elsewhere.

[Sateev]

p.s am i better off buying online? Also is there any laptops on the market with dual graphics cards so i can add 2 monitors and have a triple monitor setup? That would be a huge bonus but not sure if thats even possible with laptops

AFAIK there are no laptops with DUAL monitor outputs - maybe someone here has seen something I missed. Your next best solution would be a docking station, or an external box (if speed is the issue, stay away from USB, even 3.0, go with ExpressCard 34). They are NOT cheap, but do true multiple monitor, each with it's own video memory.

Examples (I have not used any of these):

ExpressCard (faster):

http://www.digitaltigers.com/sidecar.asp

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/

http://www.villagetronic.com/vidock/techspecs.html

USB 3.0:

http://www.everythingusb.com/targus-usb-3.0-dual-video-laptop-dock-21437.html

I would try the USB 3.0 device to see if it performs well enough for your particular application.

Good luck.

[mrireland]

Had a look around the computer places around the corner from Central Plaza, the highest spec machines are i7 4GB 750GB HD 2gb Graphics card for around 30k. Would i be better off getting one of those and getting another 4gb of Ram put into it or would there be a noticeable difference by splashing out another 500-700 euros on something higher spec?

I dont need something super, i just want something that can handle a lot of programs at once like my typical system will be running Photoshop, lots of chrome windows, word, outlook express and 1 program that would use similar ram to the likes of photoshop, running poker clients with a few windows open and things like that.

Do you think the i7 would be good enough for that with 8gb of Ram running 64bit windows? What i dont want is to buy a laptop now and then have to buy a better one in a couple of months time cause its lagging too much, i would imagine with 8gb of ram that shouldnt be an issue?

[bobl]

Depending how often you travel (and the route) you might be better off picking up something in duty free, I find the IT prices here a bit high for many things. Perhaps I just haven't shopped around enough (I haven't been looking for anything in particular, just keeping a mental note of prices). I did think about buying a UPS for the telly until I saw the silly prices here...

[beachyman]

Honestly, if you have the time I'd probably expect prices in Bangkok to be much cheaper an in line with what you can order online. Come down for a weekend and go home w a laptop. I used to live in Phuket and I bought a laptops for about 40-50% cheaper in Bangkok than prices quoted me down there.

Lots of options here- fortune, mbk, pantip plaza, independent stores etc.

[mrireland]

Thanks for all the suggestions, Just to clarify, when i said online i was thinking one of the Thai websites in the sticky and not abroad. I actually have a high spec PC at home and could get it sipped over but from what ive heard theres a reasonable chance it will go missing and ill have to pay import fees on it so im just going to get a laptop since im over here for a year.

Not really interested in going to Bangkok again as ive had to make 2 trips there over the past 2 months. I honestly dont mind paying a bit more than i might in Bangkok or shipping it from abroad, especially if im only paying 30k when i would have paid up to 60k, my main concern is if the laptops i have my eye on i7 4GB 750GB HD 2gb Graphics card (and going to bump it up to 8gb ram) is going to be able to handle multitasking including a couple of programs like photoshop etc without much lag issues or if im better of spending another 10-30k and get something better. I dont want to waste another 30k if the performance increase isnt huge or if giving the programs im using that buying a higher spec machine wouldnt be very useful as ill never been using enough ram/cpu intensive programs that would make use of the extra power.

Ill also checkout the Pantip Plaza tomorrow and see if there is anything there that stands out. Is there anything better than i7 that i should be looking out for?

On a sidenote, did anyone ever see any of the multimonitor plugins like Sateev mentioned anywhere in chiang mai or on any of the thai webistes?

[astral]

Watch the guarantee cover if you live in LOS and buy outside

Windows 7 Home Premium need a at least 6Gb of memory, why not 8Gb if you can manage it.

I am using 3Gb+ with just normal browsing and e-mail nothing fancy

like image or video editing.

[manarak]

AFAIK there are no laptops with DUAL monitor outputs - maybe someone here has seen something I missed.

There are many laptops which support dual displays.

In fact, almost any laptop that has 2 video outputs, for example one DVI and one HDMI, will support dual display.

Watch the guarantee cover if you live in LOS and buy outside

Windows 7 Home Premium need a at least 6Gb of memory, why not 8Gb if you can manage it.

I am using 3Gb+ with just normal browsing and e-mail nothing fancy

like image or video editing.

please..

he's looking for high spec!

here he can order a high spec laptop with 16, 24 or 32 GB RAM, 3 harddisks, and dual GPU:

http://www.originpc.com/choose-eon-gaming-laptop.asp

[Digitalbanana]

AFAIK there are no laptops with DUAL monitor outputs - maybe someone here has seen something I missed.

I had a similar dilemma and bought a high end laptop online from US having seen the dearth of products in the malls here. The laptop I got has three external monitor display with a switchable GPU option turned on via HDMI, Mini Display or VGA ports! Only drawback is warranty/servicing isn't valid outside US but I will take my chances, seeing as I saved over 1500USD on the marked up price for same product in SE Asia. YMMV. 7% import via Fedex.

[mrireland]

Well i settled on this for 50k

http://asia.cnet.com/product/dell-xps-15z-core-i7-2620m-processor-2-7ghz-8gb-ram-45498846.htm

Checked it out online and its a little cheaper than i would have paid back in Ireland but probably more than if i shipped it from US but didnt want it going missing in post and having to worry about import tax etc.

Got it in the Pantip Plaza, they didnt have this one in stock but said they would order it and have it in 3-5 working days. I had almost giving up and was going to get a standard one for 30k and the nice lady showed me the specs on this and i was instantly sold, good resolution too and looks a powerful kit so all happy in the end, thanks for all the advice.

[nikster]

Well i settled on this for 50k

http://asia.cnet.com...am-45498846.htm

Checked it out online and its a little cheaper than i would have paid back in Ireland but probably more than if i shipped it from US but didnt want it going missing in post and having to worry about import tax etc.

Got it in the Pantip Plaza, they didnt have this one in stock but said they would order it and have it in 3-5 working days. I had almost giving up and was going to get a standard one for 30k and the nice lady showed me the specs on this and i was instantly sold, good resolution too and looks a powerful kit so all happy in the end, thanks for all the advice.

Looks like a solid copy of a MacBook Pro. Of course I have to wonder why you didn't just get a MacBook Pro in the first place... way better battery life, thinner than this "thinnest 15" PC", at least as solid, and also spanks the Dell in the multi media test if you believe the CNET test in your link. 2 days shipping anywhere in Thailand, international warranty so no worries when you take it back home.

I hope you opted for the High res display - standard is a rather useless 1,366 x 768 - yikes! But 1080p display should be nice. Probably just about acceptable on 15.6".

[Digitalbanana]

Of course I have to wonder why you didn't just get a MacBook Pro in the first place...

Always amuses me to see Apple fanboys wondering why the rest of the world doesn't have their point of view.

[sbk]

Just as an FYI invadeit is very reasonable on prices and you wont' get your laptop loaded with a fake copy of Windows.

http://www.invadeit.com/