Are all laptops in Thailand overpriced?

[Daniel Boon]

TV's are decidedly dearer here than in Australia (Kogan comparative) for 32 inch is about 5,200 baht in OZ

[bkk_mike]

for branded laptops (except Acer), Thailand seems to be generally more expensive.

But there's a shop in Pantip I went to and bought no-name laptops for the kids, and the hardware was very good for the money - I'd just never heard of the brand before (it was TCL - have now heard of it obviously - but it seems to be a bigger name for TVs than computers).

As for Windows, for some reason, at the time anyway, you could buy 3-packs in the UK, but not in Thailand, so it was cheaper to get Windows 7 in the UK, rather than buy it locally...

[WhizBang]

On the other hand, cables and wires and mouses and keyboards and other small accessories tend to be much cheaper in Thailand than in many (Western and surrounding) countries..

True, but most are also complete crap and not worth what you pay for it. I would rather pay more for a quality product. Can't even trust the product brand name on the package here, as they are often counterfeit.

[cme]

It's called profiteering!

Think about it, all computer hardware, TV's etc. are made in Asia, They are then shipped at considrable cost to the US, europe etc. I don't know about the sales or federal taxes etc in the US but in the UK it's VAT and it's 20%, in Germany 19%. In Thailand, (close to where the stuff is made or nearby Singapore, China etc) VAT is 7%. So take the cost price plus shipping and add 20% (for the UK) and you still get the Uk price about 20% or more cheaper than in 7% taxThailand. That together with the fact that all Thai imports are channelled via a monopoly importer and there you have it.

[spiritrace]

Cars, pumps, generators, hand tools etc, are also pricy. No good reason for that. A lot of other stuff too.

When common items and fuel is so high in cost it drags the economy down.

[NeverSure]

Things that are made for the US in Asia are supervised by Americans. US companies don't want their name on it if it isn't good. Think even Nike shoes.

The US invented much of that stuff and it is branded. Both Intel and AMD still made CPU's in the US but they have some made in Asia too.

Google isn't going to put its name on a Nexus 5 if it isn't good.

The US doesn't charge import taxes. Several states don't have a sales tax (VAT.) Oregon and S.Dakota are two but google knows. California has about a 9% sales tax so it's a miss.

Many Asian countries counterfeit US products including Windows. I don't trust them at all.

China bought Lenova from IBM (US) and I wouldn't buy one. No US supervision.

Even if I had to pay a little more I'd buy from the States. I'd be assured of genuine hardware and genuine, valid Windows. In the states I know those items are cheaper than in LOS. I don't know about getting them to LOS.

[ChoakMyDee]

I only buy high end laptops so I NEVER buy them in Thailand as they are way too expensive. I went to Singapore to buy my last laptop, an Alienware gaming laptop. The duty is too high for many items in Thailand. Supplements for weight-lifting are double the price at GNC in Thailand compared to other countries! What I do is every few months I go to Kuala Lumpur for a weekend shopping...I fill up a couple suitcases with items that are too expensive in Thailand...I save a lot of money that way.

[KamalaRider]

If it is only 10-20% more here not too bad actually and most of us can live with it, you don't buy lap tops and cameras every day.

But you don't buy it here if you are smart.

Most brands have a world wide warranty, but not when bought in Thailand, according to sales staff in various IT shops here, the warranty on products here are tops 1 year. (there's always exceptions, I'm talking about the norm)

You'll get a Eng-US/Thai keyboard.

They'll steal your windows key number and use it over and over again to other customers or themselves.

If you travel between your native country and Thailand, I recommend you to buy when you're in your own country.

[Sophon]

In Holland there are several online price lists making it very easy to find our which stores (both online and real life) sell a certain product, including price and stock information. Certain websites also couple shop ratings based on customer experience thus making it almost too easy to find cheap devices at reliable businesses.

These price lists have been around for over a decade and of course contribute to low average prices. This concept has yet to emerge in this part of the world. It's even fairly impossible to just shop online in countries such as Thailand let alone find a decent shop, in English, with good prices. Plus I would never buy a laptop here because I really don't like those Thai keyboards but that's only a personal thing.

priceza.com is such an online price list covering Thailand. It's only in Thai, but if you have the model no of the product you are looking for, that is not too difficult to overcome.

Sophon

[techboy]

Perhaps your inability to find a good price is linked to your misperception of limited availability.

[2fishin2]

Importing computers to here (from the States) is not always that easy because of the U.S. govt's rules on technology.....

Has nothing to do with buying computers....any computer equipment you purchase feom the US came from Asia anyways

I think it was more to with what was (might be) installed on it.

Nope, no software installed on computers originating from the US has any problems being brought or exported overseas. All of the software for sale in US is readily available for sale anywhere internationally.

[WhizBang]

Are all laptops in Thailand overpriced?

Not for Thailand.

Thailand is NOT cheap, especially things like consumer electronics.

[WhizBang]

Nope, no software installed on computers originating from the US has any problems being brought or exported overseas. All of the software for sale in US is readily available for sale anywhere internationally.

Except for encryption software, which the USA thinks they have a monopoly on. The irony here is that German encryption is better and readily available worldwide.

[TechnikaIII]

No, not just laptops, about everything in Thailand is overpriced by now!

The prices for new, genuine brand-name items are pretty much the same wherever you go. The variation is mostly in the local taxes. For the best computer prices, oddly enough, is expensive little Norway. Stores often dump previous-model items at a fraction of their retail prices. And the online second-hand market is a gold mine.. especially just after Christmas. because so many what the latest of everything in IT. Super cheap laptops, with legitimate software, ... which is fine, as long as you can read Norwegian!!

.....

I can

... but it is tedious sometimes, especially when getting into the system to carry out maintenance.

[Cheesekraft]

the laptops I am trying to find are mostly not available; the ones I have found are for example; $1199 on Newegg and $1850 in shops here with questionable warranties. Which laptops/suppliers are the same price or only ~10-20% more?

Edited December 28, 2014 by Cheesekraft

[2fishin2]

Nope, no software installed on computers originating from the US has any problems being brought or exported overseas. All of the software for sale in US is readily available for sale anywhere internationally.

Except for encryption software, which the USA thinks they have a monopoly on. The irony here is that German encryption is better and readily available worldwide.

huh....are you telling me I cant purchase encryption software in the US and bring here?

Of course you can. Hell I can download it from the internet....why in the world would I want to purchase a hard copy and bring here anyways?

Man o man some of you guys are still living in the dark ages. Any software you could ever want can be downloaded from the internet.

[JacChang]

asus is the best value to price brand I've seen. next comes acer

[German Viking]

I find prices to be about the same. I buy things on sale at PowerBuy usually. Sometimes they have computers on sale but not advertised there as well. You have to ask.

I was in America in September when the laptop I had with me stopped working (it was the HD). I stopped at Frys in California and bought a 4Gb ram 500 Gb HD, 15 inch Toshiba for about $250. No CD player and you couldn't upgrade the RAM. It's a cheap laptop. The only thing bad about the computer was the evil Windows 8.1 OS. 20 years of computer experience and I just gave up on trying to figure it out. It works fine as a media center with Classic Shell. A little add-on that makes it work like Windows 7. I don't understand what Microsoft was thinking. Hopefully Windows 10 will be better.

Is very simple they tried with windows 8 to copy Apple and this was leading to a big shoot in their own a$$e.

Som nam na just idiots

[German Viking]

No, not just laptops, about everything in Thailand is overpriced by now!

The prices for new, genuine brand-name items are pretty much the same wherever you go. The variation is mostly in the local taxes. For the best computer prices, oddly enough, is expensive little Norway. Stores often dump previous-model items at a fraction of their retail prices. And the online second-hand market is a gold mine.. especially just after Christmas. because so many what the latest of everything in IT. Super cheap laptops, with legitimate software, ... which is fine, as long as you can read Norwegian!!

.....

I can

... but it is tedious sometimes, especially when getting into the system to carry out maintenance.

Norwegian is just a pretty hard german dialect I can read and understand the most, but not while speaking.

[German Viking]

asus is the best value to price brand I've seen. next comes acer

I agree I have both an acer and asus laptop don't have to buy Apple for my use.

[German Viking]

asus is the best value to price brand I've seen. next comes acer

I agree I have both an acer and asus laptop don't have to buy Apple for my use.

[German Viking]

asus is the best value to price brand I've seen. next comes acer

I agree I have both an acer and asus laptop don't have to buy Apple for my use.

[johnj]

HUAHIN62, you say can you live on 1,000 GBP in the UK? You can in Thailand! 1,000GBP.,for what, a week, a month or a year? You forgot to say how long you can live on this amount.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I used to find it cheaper to buy in the USA, but now it's not

Some examples,

SJCAM sj4000 wifi, 3,300bht in Central Festival, $110 from Amazon.

Trek Fx7.2, 15,000bht Thailand, $490 USA

Acer Aspire E15 quad core, 10,900bht Thailand, $355 USA

[BudRight]

Many of these comments seem very odd.

I buy a lot of tech stuff here and the prices are fair and reasonable.

If you try to buy cheap, then that's what you'll get. Buy a Windows device from a dodgy source, you'll get a dodgy product with dodgy software.

It's not really difficult, my fine fellows.

Is it me, or do I just have a slightly more realistic view than some of you?

My dear sir, your extensive wealth and flair for perfection mean only the very best would be fair and reasonable. We lowly, common people must comparison shop and use arcane 'math' to decide what is fair and reasonable as well as comparison shop and read product reviews on the 'Internet,'

[Cheesekraft]

im trying to look up a lot of the laptops on lazada to compare to USA costs and most don't show up; they use a different serial number format or something. Anyone know a good way to compare?

[kkerry]

If the serial number is only slightly different, as in the last few digits, then it's most likely the differences in configuration are in the amount of RAM, hard disk type/size and whether Windows comes factory installed (often not the case in Thailand). Look at all the specs, note the differences and try to calculate what that works out to in dollars/baht e.g. RAM 4GB v 8TB 1200 baht difference, basic genuine Windows 7/8 add 4,000 baht. Any major difference in price is most often due to the cost of having to purchase Windows in Thailand whereas in the US it normally comes standard. You can check Thai prices for hardware at jib.co.th

[kungpao]

If Mac works for you, you can get from legit shop and serve its purpose for many years. I'm using a beautiful looking 7 year old MacBook Pro and it worked awesome.

[kungpao]

Would add that a chromebook is awesome. Mac or chrome. Windows as a last resort.

[TheSiemReaper]

I'd rather sandpaper my nuts than buy an Apple. Dreadful devices that I genuinely loathe. Windows has never been as bad as people seem to remember. I can't remember the last time I saw that blue screen of death. Boot times may be slower but my PC outperforms a Mac of a similar cost by about 3x. A PC running Linux can be 5 years older than a Mac and kick it into touch too...