Buy computer in LOS or Australia??

[thumper64]

Simple question. I am moving to Pattaya next month and would appreciate boots on the ground who know if it’s cheaper to buy the exact same laptop in Pattaya or should buy it in Australia before I leave?

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by thumper64

[Kahoy]

7 minutes ago, thumper64 said:

Simple question. I am moving to Pattaya next month and would appreciate boots on the ground who know if it’s cheaper to buy the exact same laptop in Pattaya or should buy it in Australia before I leave?

 

Buy it in Pattaya, always needing an adapter plug will piss you off. The price difference isn't that great.

[eXplosief]

You would probably get a better price in Australia. As for the power cord, just buy 1 in Thailand, not a big deal. 

On the other hand if you stay in Thailand, having local warranty is a plus, for what it's worth. 

[forcebwithu]

Definitely buy in Australia. Electronics are more expensive in Thailand and you might have trouble finding the brand/model that you want here.

[Garzan]

Comparing to the US, you won't save any money buying in Thailand. There are often times when I have friends coming over from Australia carry along some sort of tech toy that is hard to find in Thailand. In a broad generalization, options are fewer, and expenses are higher buying here. 

That said, my laptop and desktop were both purchased locally. Having somewhere to take it back to if it breaks under warranty was worth the added expense to me. 

[taylor1975]

Do all locally purchased laptops have thai scipt on the keyboards? (You would think so!) ....i find it distracting.

[Bonkabit]

The advantages of buying in Australia are two. First, the Oz prices for electronics and cameras are often less by about ten per cent (check). Second, you have good consumer protection from the supplier's warranty and from Australian consumer law.

The advantage of buying in Thailand is that you have a local supplier; one needs to be certain of the warranty conditions and of the service provided by the supplier. If all is well, then it is probably worth the extra price to have someone on the spot in case of need.

[Zeb]

2 hours ago, thumper64 said:

Simple question. I am moving to Pattaya next month and would appreciate boots on the ground who know if it’s cheaper to buy the exact same laptop in Pattaya or should buy it in Australia before I leave?

 

Well - I'm buying more of this type of stuff direct from China - Notebook computers, Android tablets, phones, Android TV streaming boxes, smart watches etc - and its worked out well.

My current laptop that I paid just under AUD $400 about 9 months ago on a special -

Teclast F7 Notebook - Silver 6GB RAM + 128GB SSD 2

https://www.gearbest.com/laptops/pp_1682917.html?wid=1433363

Its a really good Laptop plenty of good reviews on Youtube etc.

But it depends on what your looking for really.

I got a good mobile phone with good specifications there as well -

 Ulefone T1 Global Version 5.5 Inch 6GB RAM 64GB ROM MTK Helio P25 Octa core 4G Smartphone. Paid about AUD $260 a year or so ago. Its cheaper now.

https://www.banggood.com/Ulefone-T1-Global-Version-5_5-Inch-6GB-RAM-64GB-ROM-MTK-Helio-P25-Octa-core-4G-Smartphone-p-1177311.html?rmmds=myorder&ID=228&cur_warehouse=HK

 

Just something to think about ?

Delivery time from China can take a while or you can pay a bit more ($20) for faster delivery. Never had an item not turn up.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Zeb

[Garzan]

As a sort of follow up to this, I am in the process of building a new desktop computer. For expensive parts like the motherboard and cpu chip, even with paying shipping and customs, the parts are a good deal cheaper off Amazon (total cost) than they are here. Some stuff I'm not willing to wait on, and buy locally, even if it's a little more expensive. But stuff where I'm saving around $100 USD even with shipping and customs, it's worth it for me to wait for the Kerry delivery guy to show up with my package from Amazon US. :-) 

[article22]

54 minutes ago, Garzan said:

As a sort of follow up to this, I am in the process of building a new desktop computer. For expensive parts like the motherboard and cpu chip, even with paying shipping and customs, the parts are a good deal cheaper off Amazon (total cost) than they are here. Some stuff I'm not willing to wait on, and buy locally, even if it's a little more expensive. But stuff where I'm saving around $100 USD even with shipping and customs, it's worth it for me to wait for the Kerry delivery guy to show up with my package from Amazon US. :-) 

Interestingly, I was just doing the same...looking to upgrade my motherboard and CPU to the new AMD Ryzen 3000.

On Lazada, I put these 2 items in my cart:

Which works out to be around £375.

Now I went to Scan Computers in the UK which is one of the best places to get stuff...

 

So a bit cheaper from Lazada all said and done...plus it is the latest AMD CPU and last years motherboard but still ok.

I haven't checked for memory or GPU as I will re-use them.

 

Also when buying from overseas to here, you can get clobbered for import taxes...so the price on Amazon isn't always what you pay.

 

 

[Garzan]

1 hour ago, article22 said:

Also when buying from overseas to here, you can get clobbered for import taxes...so the price on Amazon isn't always what you pay.

Amazon does add in an extra cost for the shipment, but with the majority of the computer parts I've been buying, a portion of that extra cost has been refunded after the parts have arrived. (bringing down the total cost from the initial bill.) So yes, the price I paid on Amazon was not the final price, the final price was lower.

My ASUS ROG Maximus XI Core motherboard was about $100 USD less from Amazon than it was from Invade. I probably ought to think about Lazada more often, but I just don't really think about them when I'm buying mainstream parts. I know that is bias on my part. 

[elperro]

On 02/06/2019 at 22:42, Garzan said:

Comparing to the US, you won't save any money buying in Thailand. There are often times when I have friends coming over from Australia carry along some sort of tech toy that is hard to find in Thailand. In a broad generalization, options are fewer, and expenses are higher buying here. 

That said, my laptop and desktop were both purchased locally. Having somewhere to take it back to if it breaks under warranty was worth the added expense to me. 

What sort of things are worth importing to Thailand? I am thinking of filling a suitcase not going commercial. Back in the dot com bust days I did quite well reselling used docking stations and power adapters - no software to worry about and people will spend more for an accessory just for convenience. 

[Garzan]

I don't know what sort of things you'd want for speculation. When I'm putting together a computer over here, I look at the local price and the Amazon price and go with the better one--sometimes that's local, and sometimes that's Amazon.