The wife wants to buy a desk top computer for an 11 year old boy a relative in Thailand my question is, is it better or cheaper for her to buy in the sales here or buy in Bangkok.
I know we will have to buy the keyboard there.
The last time I brought a computer in LOS it was not very good spec and if memory serves it was quite expensive for what it was.
The only other fear is actually getting it to LOS if brought here without damage.
There is an Acer desk top advertised on TV at Currys for 300 with a 19 inch flat monitor.
I'm clueless on this one guys so input much appreciated.

Your problem buying it here is transporting it to Thailand.

Tobias
dosn't it come in good packaging would that not be good enough ? That is a big worry to get all the way there and find it's broken.

If you send it by freight you should be able to get adequate insurance. Or are you intending to 'take' it with you? If so, your excess baggage charges might be a bit high!

quote:

The wife wants to buy a desk top computer for an 11 year old boy a relative in Thailand my question is, is it better or cheaper for her to buy in the sales here or buy in Bangkok.
I know we will have to buy the keyboard there.

Buying in the UK: You're likely to get stung with import duty shipping or bringing something that size into Thailand and getting anything replaced under warranty will be impossible.

Buying in Thailand: If bought from a decent company, warranty repairs will be simple. Ask them to fit a few extra fans inside; they'll only cost a few baht each and will help the machine cope better under higher ambient temperatures. If you want it to survive the Thai electricity supply, buy a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) unit at the same time or, at the very least, a surge protector.

quote:

The last time I brought a computer in LOS it was not very good spec and if memory serves it was quite expensive for what it was.

Prices in Thailand are comparable with the UK if you shop around. When I bought a computer here last year, I looked up computers with the same spec on UK websites. It worked out to be about 10% less than the UK price, coincidentally about the same as the difference in VAT rates.

Regards

We took a spare computer over last year. Bought a screen and keyboard over there quite cheaply. Now an interesting point on excess baggage, when we checked in, the computer was in a cardboard box and the Thai check in staff said that cardboard boxes were dealt with seperately, a sticker was issued and a porter collected it. Now that box was never weighed. Last month my wife was taking two hedgetrimmers over (don't ask ), again they were packed in a cardboard box and again not weighed and dealt with seperately. Slightly off topic I know but it just reminded me of this anomaly, maybe luck but

The problem would be no thai script on the keys on the keyboard.

yours waddy

Thank you for advice we will buy in Bangkok as suggested.Save the hassle.

quote:

The wife wants to buy a desk top computer for an 11 year old boy a relative in Thailand

Something worth considering: Where does the boy live? If not in Bangkok it may be better to buy one nearer to where he lives.

I may have saved myself a couple of thousand baht buying in Bangkok rather than Khon Kaen, but the shop in KK is only 5km away if something goes wrong, not 450km.

Regards

Bilbo
Bought in Bangkok last year for my stepdaughter , no problems with it at all,