I have been living in Bangkok for 7.5 years and have been very happy with the computer centers we had there (Pantip, Furtune etc). The shops there had almost everything you could ask for, and in in stock...

Recently i moved down to Pattaya area and was really surprised that Tukcom in Pattaya DID NOT EVEN HAD ONE mid/high-end computer shop :-o The shops at Tukcom seems to only sell phones, memory cards, printer inks, cheap laptops and older low-end computer parts. I spent 2 hours walking and asking for some parts today and no one had it. "we can order, take two days" was the answer i got from ONE shop, the rest did not have a clue about the parts i was asking about. And that includes shops like J.I.B, Hardware, and Banana.

Am I looking at the wrong place? Or does nobody in Pattaya play PC-games that requires a modern computer????

So, are there any other computer shops elsewhere in Pattaya area who stocks high-end parts like gaming graphic cards, gaming mice, CPU-coolers, Water coolers, etc???

Thanks,

/T

When I moved to Pattaya I was also really surprised that street book stores did not have even one fundamental book on nuclear physics and quantum mechanics. The shops seem to only sell fashion magazines and romance novels.

Seriously, you're looking at the wrong place. Look ~120km north.

Welcome to Pattaya. Everything sucks here best ordering from Bangkok then paying 100thb for the postage and then it goes to your home that's what most of us do here in Pattaya..

Try Wantana in Pattaya Klang, authorised HP & IBM reseller with good tech support department

Tuk in this instance means "Cheap" and Com is the obvious abreviation for communications.

Buy cheap, pay dear. In the long run.

I have stopped buying anything in there. There is another thread on TV about external hard drives from Tuk Com that are fakes.

I bought a Samsung phone there thinking I was gettting a bargain, only when I got home did the GF tell me I had bought a fake and that she considered everything in there as "Copy". Which may not be strictly true but not far off.

What kind of high-end components are you looking for...I have found just about everything I ever was looking for at Tuk...mostly at Hardware House and JIB...and if it's not in stock, what's wrong with waiting a couple days for them to ship it down from Bangkok? You're living in a beach resort town now so relax and chill out

Try InvadeIT online from Hua Hin.

I ordered a trackball last week and it was sent EMS - arrived the next day!

The owner is knowledgeable and communication was superb.

I find it extraordinary that in a city where there is such a large number of well-off farangs (apparently with more retired and semi-retired residents than any other place in Thailand) there is such a shortage of decent shops, outside of the endless designer-label clothes places. Tukcom is indeed a bad joke; more like a souk in Morocco with 500 tiny stalls all selling exactly the same overpriced crap, and just one or two decent shops here and there, but even those carry little or no stock of many items. JIB, as mentioned, is the best of a very bad lot.

Prices, of course, are usually way over the top everywhere here. Amazon UK is much cheaper for most things, in spite of VAT being 3 times higher there.

How could you miss the Sony and Apple shops on the ground floor. How much more high end do you need to go?

I wouldn't buy anything Sony from that shop as I don't like their attitude, but the Apple shop is a good shop with good service and none of the ridiculous nonsense you come across at the Apple store in Central.

Prices, of course, are usually way over the top everywhere here. Amazon UK is much cheaper for most things, in spite of VAT being 3 times higher there.

Apple computers are cheaper in Thailand than the UK, but the price doesn't vary much from country to country.

Edited July 4, 201214 yr by tropo

yeah, i'm in a similar boat, 300gb intel ssd - none in stock, needs to be ordered. decent main boards, ram, video cards, all of it I've had to have them order. i can never get anything i want there.

no server hardware at all. it's frustrating when you need something now, and the best option is to wait 2-5 days for them to order it.

no one here sells anything high end, mainly because the only things that sell here are low end (the price for thais) and foreigners who know nothing about computers. they can't afford to stock high end hardware that doesn't sell fast enough, it'll devalue too fast.

Try Pattaya 2 U on the third or fourth floor. I just added some ram and I gave the manager the part number and he walked around till he found it. And yes you have to be careful at Tukcom as most places are a scam.

How could you miss the Sony and Apple shops on the ground floor. How much more high end do you need to go?

I wouldn't buy anything Sony from that shop as I don't like their attitude, but the Apple shop is a good shop with good service and none of the ridiculous nonsense you come across at the Apple store in Central.

That sony shop has nothing to do with sony thailand. It's not an authorised reseller.

I've always got my bits and pieces from Hardware House in Tukcom. I've never had a problem with them and they usually have the parts in stock. High-end video cards? Yes we have. High-end sound cards? Yes we have. New motherboard? Yes. 2Tb disk drive? Yes. If you go to the established names in Tukcom, I don't think you'll have a problem.

How could you miss the Sony and Apple shops on the ground floor. How much more high end do you need to go?

I haven't noticed an Apple shop on the ground floor,

where about is it and whats it called?

I'm aware of the one on the same floor where the phones are sold and another a floor or 2 up.

I find it extraordinary that in a city where there is such a large number of well-off farangs (apparently with more retired and semi-retired residents than any other place in Thailand)...................................

Not sure how you reached that conclusion in that many, many "well-off" (your words) farangs are simple Aussie, British, American pensioners who came to Thailand because they can enjoy a better lifestyle than their home countries. Retired Pattaya expats as a group are hardly what I would call "well-off".

Beware of buying high-end phones at Tukcom. I was at Central Festival recently and the Thai shop owner was trying to explain to the Russian tourist that the IPhone they had just purchased at Tukcom was a copy.

How could you miss the Sony and Apple shops on the ground floor. How much more high end do you need to go?

I wouldn't buy anything Sony from that shop as I don't like their attitude, but the Apple shop is a good shop with good service and none of the ridiculous nonsense you come across at the Apple store in Central.

That sony shop has nothing to do with sony thailand. It's not an authorised reseller.

How did you figure that one out? They sell the full range of Sony products at exactly the same prices.

How could you miss the Sony and Apple shops on the ground floor. How much more high end do you need to go?

I haven't noticed an Apple shop on the ground floor,

where about is it and whats it called?

I'm aware of the one on the same floor where the phones are sold and another a floor or 2 up.

The name escapes me right now. It's right next to the Hatchiban Restaurant, on the left when heading toward the south exit doors.

Hi TramsRepus

I can believe that there is no very high-end computer shop in Tuckom, the market is not so big for them in Pattaya, but for mid/high-end computer shops you should find all the most recent & popular components in shops like Banana IT of Hardaware House. Just chose your configuration, go drink a coffe, and come back take your new mounted super computer

IT City, on top floor, use to have brand name ready-to-use computers, some of them with strong configuration aimed to games. Some people prefer this way, even if more expensive.

Well I understand where the OP is coming from, but in my experience when I needed a larger monitor that nobody stocked and was told two day wait, I ordered the item and it was delivered to me in two days. No sweat. Welcome to the beach!

Edited July 4, 201214 yr by Jingthing

yeah, i'm in a similar boat, 300gb intel ssd - none in stock, needs to be ordered. decent main boards, ram, video cards, all of it I've had to have them order. i can never get anything i want there.

no server hardware at all. it's frustrating when you need something now, and the best option is to wait 2-5 days for them to order it.

no one here sells anything high end, mainly because the only things that sell here are low end (the price for thais) and foreigners who know nothing about computers. they can't afford to stock high end hardware that doesn't sell fast enough, it'll devalue too fast.

And how about foreigners who know loads about computers and know they don't need high priced boys toys.

And how about foreigners who know loads about computers and know they don't need high priced boys toys.

You have a good point there. It's normally the more naive customers with too much money and limited knowledge who buy top-end. They'll pay double to get something 5% faster... and then they can watch their top-end stuff superseded by cheaper stuff within a month or so.

You could always ask one of the thousands of internet/online game shops around town how they manage to cope.

How could you miss the Sony and Apple shops on the ground floor. How much more high end do you need to go?

I haven't noticed an Apple shop on the ground floor,

where about is it and whats it called?

I'm aware of the one on the same floor where the phones are sold and another a floor or 2 up.

The name escapes me right now. It's right next to the Hatchiban Restaurant, on the left when heading toward the south exit doors.

iBeat or iStudio

How could you miss the Sony and Apple shops on the ground floor. How much more high end do you need to go?

I didnt miss them but neither sells parts that I might want to buy. There are expensive shops in Central that sell all sorts of assembled products also, but I wouldnt go there for PC parts either.

How did you figure that one out? They sell the full range of Sony products at exactly the same prices.

I did order stuff there. Was told not iin stock - willl take two weeks. After four weeks i went there to get my deposit back. Their answer was sorry big shop in bangkok no have.. The reciept for the depsit didnt say sony , so ichecked with sony thailand and they are not listed.

Not sure how you reached that conclusion in that many, many "well-off" (your words) farangs are simple Aussie, British, American pensioners who came to Thailand because they can enjoy a better lifestyle than their home countries. Retired Pattaya expats as a group are hardly what I would call "well-off".

There are plenty of relatively well-off farangs here, some retired, some supposed to be retired but doing computer work anyway, and some on tourist visas also working remotely. Just look at the number of farang-owned cars around; anyone with a car here is relatively well-off and is quite likely to want decent parts for his PC. They wont find them in this town though.

OK, there are plenty of relatively low-budget farangs also, but you might be surprised how many of them would also be prepared to spend money on good equipment.

I recently spent 50'000 THB on a high end computer at J.I.B. in Tuk Com, which included a 17'000 THB graphics card. 16GB of 1600 Memory and a 10'000 THB i7 processor.

Do you actually need higher spec than that?

Edited July 4, 201214 yr by Satcommlee

I've always got my bits and pieces from Hardware House in Tukcom. I've never had a problem with them and they usually have the parts in stock. High-end video cards? Yes we have.

I tried them for a mid-range video card a while ago. They had a choice of about 2 suitable ones. Absolutely pathetic. I checked Invade-it also and they were little better. Very poor choice indeed and high prices generally.

Amazon UK had dozens of suitable different ones, and other online UK stores had even more.

I've always got my bits and pieces from Hardware House in Tukcom. I've never had a problem with them and they usually have the parts in stock. High-end video cards? Yes we have.

I tried them for a mid-range video card a while ago. They had a choice of about 2 suitable ones. Absolutely pathetic. I checked Invade-it also and they were little better. Very poor choice indeed and high prices generally.

Amazon UK had dozens of suitable different ones, and other online UK stores had even more.

And guess what?

We aren't in the UK, check your address if you thought you were.