buying new notebook and install ssd and ram later

[KneeDeep]

48 minutes ago, 72BKK said:

I didn't mean to bother you. Sorry for that. 

I like these 2 laptops even if they are second hand. Prices are ok (though not sure about import tax)

But as you say I am not used to uk keyboard and most of all my concern is about the warranty. Does it work in thailand?

In case it doesnt work I have to ship it back to UK?

 

I am not recommending those to you. I am showing them because I am English and my language is English. You will know your market. 

My point is either to buy a budget machine at a small price and to fit the SSD yourself or pay more to get all the bells and whistles.

Unfortunately you are heading towards paying a lot, but getting a standard laptop. A bit like buying a new car, wherein it's value drops by a third immediately after you sign on the dotted line.

I prefer to buy mine straight after the buyer changes his mind. I get a brand new laptop in most cases, but with at least a third off the price.

 

 

 

 

[72BKK]

8 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

 

I am not recommending those to you. I am showing them because I am English and my language is English. You will know your market. 

My point is either to buy a budget machine at a small price and to fit the SSD yourself or pay more to get all the bells and whistles.

Unfortunately you are heading towards paying a lot, but getting a standard laptop. A bit like buying a new car, wherein it's value drops by a third immediately after you sign on the dotted line.

I prefer to buy mine straight after the buyer changes his mind. I get a brand new laptop in most cases, but with at least a third off the price.

 

 

 

 

I understand that. I think this same thing applies also to mobile phones and tv. You buy it just to see its price dramatically decreases in a couple of months.

I need a laptop and I want to use well my money.

Buying one with no warranty in thailand seems wrong to me.

Buying a refurbished one here from a reliable seller...really I don t know how.

So what's left. Oh yes. Buying a cheap one and add ram and ssd later. Lol. I am back to the start point ????

 

 

[KneeDeep]

2 hours ago, 72BKK said:

I understand that. I think this same thing applies also to mobile phones and tv. You buy it just to see its price dramatically decreases in a couple of months.

I need a laptop and I want to use well my money.

Buying one with no warranty in thailand seems wrong to me.

Buying a refurbished one here from a reliable seller...really I don t know how.

So what's left. Oh yes. Buying a cheap one and add ram and ssd later. Lol. I am back to the start point ????

 

 

 

What is wrong with your current laptop? Brand name and model number?

Are you living in Thailand? 

I've never had a laptop fail within warranty and I've never had a problem taking one out of warranty to a service centre.

[72BKK]

1 hour ago, KneeDeep said:

 

What is wrong with your current laptop? Brand name and model number?

Are you living in Thailand? 

I've never had a laptop fail within warranty and I've never had a problem taking one out of warranty to a service centre.

I don't have any laptop. I need to buy one now.

I said: if I buy one coming from a foreign country I have to pay import tax and the warranty isn t accepted by thai assistance service so what if the laptop doesn t work?

[KneeDeep]

46 minutes ago, 72BKK said:

I don't have any laptop. I need to buy one now.

I said: if I buy one coming from a foreign country I have to pay import tax and the warranty isn t accepted by thai assistance service so what if the laptop doesn t work?

 

Will get back to you....

[KneeDeep]

On 1/16/2019 at 3:06 PM, KneeDeep said:

 

Will get back to you....

 

As I told you. I'm on holiday, so cannot allocate all my time to your issue. I have a girlfriend that wanted to go to the cinema. ????

[BurgerGung]

SSDs are really cheap in Europe these days. A 2.5" SATA 3 model retails for 39 € on www.amazon.de 

 

BUT you might want something faster as SATA 3 is a bandwidth bottleneck. NVMe M.2 slots take SSDs with as much as 3,400 MB/sec (Samsung 970? Wedern Digital Black)

 

I bought a WD Green 120 GB SSD for 25 € and there is always the option to use an external hard drive if you need 500 GB or more. But then, 500 GB on a SATA 3 SSD are no longer expensive either, TBH. 70 € should suffice... Get a known brand like CRUCIAL.

 

FYI, I avoid buying new notebooks. Why not buy a nice Thinkpad X260 under factory warranty on www.ebay.com ? Repairable, good battery life, rugged, light weight and upgradeable.

 

Got 2 small X131 E / X140 E 11.6" models for about $ 65 each. 4 GB RAM. Nice little machines for traveling. With SSDs, they will fly. 

 

Sorry, even when you spend 15,000 THB you might not get a real value machine, JMHO.

[72BKK]

21 hours ago, KneeDeep said:

 

As I told you. I'm on holiday, so cannot allocate all my time to your issue. I have a girlfriend that wanted to go to the cinema. ????

thank you for helping

i understand your point (buy a second hand machine and deal with it) and of course i don't want anyone to do the job i am supposed to do.

Buying a new laptop in this thai market is quite complicated task and i am just trying to get as much info as possible.

Furthemore everyone has different ideas and i am trying to understand what is best for me

[72BKK]

2 hours ago, BurgerGung said:

SSDs are really cheap in Europe these days. A 2.5" SATA 3 model retails for 39 € on www.amazon.de 

 

BUT you might want something faster as SATA 3 is a bandwidth bottleneck. NVMe M.2 slots take SSDs with as much as 3,400 MB/sec (Samsung 970? Wedern Digital Black)

 

I bought a WD Green 120 GB SSD for 25 € and there is always the option to use an external hard drive if you need 500 GB or more. But then, 500 GB on a SATA 3 SSD are no longer expensive either, TBH. 70 € should suffice... Get a known brand like CRUCIAL.

 

FYI, I avoid buying new notebooks. Why not buy a nice Thinkpad X260 under factory warranty on www.ebay.com ? Repairable, good battery life, rugged, light weight and upgradeable.

 

Got 2 small X131 E / X140 E 11.6" models for about $ 65 each. 4 GB RAM. Nice little machines for traveling. With SSDs, they will fly. 

 

Sorry, even when you spend 15,000 THB you might not get a real value machine, JMHO.

I have a desktop pc, bought it new in 2015 here in bangkok and it's working perfectly. 

i prefer to buy a new one for 2 reasons: one it's the good experience buying the desktop one like just described, and the second one is the warranty: i was told that buying a laptop from ebay (which is a solution i explored) could end up with a machine with problems and without warranty in thailand. I may have not enough knowledge of computers but i do know thais and don't want to rely on thai service assistance.

 

I d like to buy a cheap laptop and then add ssd later and ram. But my primary goal is to have a good computer, fast and that can last for the long 

 

I am still searching....

 

[KneeDeep]

On 1/19/2019 at 6:10 AM, 72BKK said:

thank you for helping

i understand your point (buy a second hand machine and deal with it) and of course i don't want anyone to do the job i am supposed to do.

Buying a new laptop in this thai market is quite complicated task and i am just trying to get as much info as possible.

Furthemore everyone has different ideas and i am trying to understand what is best for me

 

Still super busy. Will have more time by the weekend.

[SheungWan]

On 1/14/2019 at 8:53 PM, 72BKK said:

Actually i have already an home computer and the laptop will be used to go out sometimes and avoid to spend entire days at home 

Then you should focus on a small, lightweight laptop IMHO. High spec might stretch the budget, but do you really need high spec? 

[72BKK]

8 hours ago, SheungWan said:

Then you should focus on a small, lightweight laptop IMHO. High spec might stretch the budget, but do you really need high spec? 

yes you are right i need i need a lightweight laptop.

The specs:

15.6" screen ( i need watch charts) , SSD 256gb (it is enough for me) and 8gb Ram are essential. I work and can keep many apps open and I need a fast machine. 

 

[SheungWan]

1 hour ago, 72BKK said:

yes you are right i need i need a lightweight laptop.

The specs:

15.6" screen ( i need watch charts) , SSD 256gb (it is enough for me) and 8gb Ram are essential. I work and can keep many apps open and I need a fast machine. 

I don't think I would be regularly carrying around a 15.6" laptop during the daytime.

[72BKK]

47 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

I don't think I would be regularly carrying around a 15.6" laptop during the daytime.

i need that screen ????

not going to go out on regular basis but let's say on alternative days. I can't sit all day long every day. need some action lol

[SheungWan]

12 hours ago, 72BKK said:

i need that screen ????

not going to go out on regular basis but let's say on alternative days. I can't sit all day long every day. need some action lol

Maybe check out the ASUS Notebook Vivobook S530UN-BQ317T.

But word of warning: if a machine is too big or too heavy, then, like a big camera, eventually it just stays at home. That's why you mainly see guys carry round tablets or small laptops.

[howto]

I recently had to return to Thailand to conclude some business.

June thru July. 2 weeks in BKK, rest way down on NE coast.

I took my Chromebook.

It plays 1080p vids, has Libra OpenOffice and VLC.

I trade 6 currencies on Fore-Ex.

Super light, fast, inexpensive.

Plug in a 128GB micro-SD, add a keyboard+mouse.

No, won't play games worth a spit. I don't care.

It does everything I need on a trip, email-text-vid-youtube-internet.

Around < USD $200.

IMO, you are over analyzing this, you don't need a huge heavy laptop for incremental use.

Just my 1 baht worth

- howto

[72BKK]

On 1/22/2019 at 5:40 AM, howto said:

I recently had to return to Thailand to conclude some business.

June thru July. 2 weeks in BKK, rest way down on NE coast.

I took my Chromebook.

It plays 1080p vids, has Libra OpenOffice and VLC.

I trade 6 currencies on Fore-Ex.

Super light, fast, inexpensive.

Plug in a 128GB micro-SD, add a keyboard+mouse.

No, won't play games worth a spit. I don't care.

It does everything I need on a trip, email-text-vid-youtube-internet.

Around < USD $200.

IMO, you are over analyzing this, you don't need a huge heavy laptop for incremental use.

Just my 1 baht worth

- howto

Hi Howto

thanks for your tip.

I am going to do forex trading as well but i also need the laptop for work. I was told that a minimum of 15.6" screen is essential for trading. And nowadays buying a new laptop that doesn't come with ssd isn't that good purchase. The point is that here in thailand it's hard to find the combination of those 2 specs at affordable price in a new laptop (when you find one there is always something else that disappoints you like processor or graphic)

[Pib]

25 minutes ago, 72BKK said:

Hi Howto

thanks for your tip.

I am going to do forex trading as well but i also need the laptop for work. I was told that a minimum of 15.6" screen is essential for trading. And nowadays buying a new laptop that doesn't come with ssd isn't that good purchase. The point is that here in thailand it's hard to find the combination of those 2 specs at affordable price in a new laptop (when you find one there is always something else that disappoints you like processor or graphic)

Amen.  It can be very, very tough to find an laptop outfitted as you want, especially for those folks who understand computer specs as they are usually the most picky....know what to avoid...know what is the best...etc. 

 

Usually, to get what you really want is to go to a laptop manufacturer website to see if they also have store/buy function where you can configure the laptop you want to buy.  That is you select what capability you want on your laptop like whether it comes with a SSD or HDD of XYZ size, what type of GPU it has, how much RAM, type of screen, type of Wifi chip, etc, whether it comes with Win 10 Home or Pro, etc....etc...etc. 

 

Usually you will pay a small premium for being able to configure the laptop you want and it will take a few weeks to get built/delivered vs some off the rack pre-configured model, but if you are the type that plans to keep the laptop for a "long" time that's the way to go IMO.   

 

Of course, here in Thailand that most likely means the laptop will be bought/built/configured outside of Thailand, face the possibility of import fees, maybe the warranty will not apply to Thailand, etc.

 

Now if a person wants to pick and choose how their computer is configured "here in Thailand" that's easy enough at the many small computer shops that build & sell "desktop" computers.  But I stopped using a desktop for home use at least 15 years ago since I want the ability to move my computer around the house...use it on the dining room table...use it in the bedroom....use it in my lap....take it with me...just use it anywhere I want to use it...don't want to be anchored to a specific spot within my residence where the desktop is located.  And I'm not a gamer so I don't need the extra GPU horsepower a person can insert in a desktop to get the highest possible X-frames per second.

 

 

[72BKK]

On 1/22/2019 at 12:31 AM, SheungWan said:

Maybe check out the ASUS Notebook Vivobook S530UN-BQ317T

SheungWan

I like this one but it has the mechanical hard disk and honestly I'd like only the SSD.... 

[JamJar]

11 hours ago, 72BKK said:

SheungWan

I like this one but it has the mechanical hard disk and honestly I'd like only the SSD.... 

 

It has SSD(SATA) and an HDD.

 

If you want only SSD, then you are back to fitting your own.

But more importantly, if you are paying that much, you want the ability to run NVMe SSD via PCI Express.

 

 

 

[72BKK]

Hello to everybody

what are your thoughts about Asus Zenbook 13/14/15??

 

https://www.asus.com/th/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-15-UX533FD/

[JamJar]

6 hours ago, 72BKK said:

Hello to everybody

what are your thoughts about Asus Zenbook 13/14/15??

 

https://www.asus.com/th/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-15-UX533FD/

 

It covers mostly the latest spec, ticking all of your boxes. My main caveat would be Windows 10 Home and if nit-picking, the PCIe® 3.0 x2 SSD, as opposed to PCIe® 3.0 x4 SSD.

 

As to build quality, longevity and quality of after sales service, perhaps someone else will know.

[SheungWan]

15 hours ago, 72BKK said:

Hello to everybody

what are your thoughts about Asus Zenbook 13/14/15??

 

https://www.asus.com/th/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-15-UX533FD/

Nice machines in a higher price range. For focus on portability, I personally would go for a size 13", would consider i5 good enough and also look for a flip in the Zenbook range.

[72BKK]

i found them for sale at fortune town rama9 

 

the 15.6" screen is only available in the expensive model. Contacted Asus Thailand via their facebook page and they told me the 2 cheaper versions will be available early feb.

Now i am not sure if i want to opt for the bigger screen or the lighter 13/14 models. Btw these screens are 95% ratio so even the 15.6" looks smaller than normal. They seem very light and small. 

[Pib]

Notice the M.2 SSD is a PCIe x 2 instead of a PCIe x 4.   That is, it can only use 2 PCI lanes versus 4 PCI lanes for data read/write.  This means the M.2 SSD may not achieve its full speed potential if whatever M.2 drive in the computer has specs faster than 2000MB transfer speed. 

 

The PCIe lanes restriction is probably due to the laptop motherboard design/chipset used and not the M.2 drive being only a x2 drive.   Now 2000MB read/write speed is still 4 times faster than the approx 500MB read/write speed of a SATA SSD so in the real world use of the laptop for the average user you would never notice the M.2 throttling so to speak. 

 

But if you were the type that wanted (had to have) the fastest M.2 PCIe SSD possible and say you went out and bought a Samsung 970 NVMe M.2 SSD which has read specs of 3500MB and stuck it in one above laptops you would only be able to achieve 2000MB read speeds due to the laptop only having PCIe x2 (two lanes) capability on its M.2 drive connector.

 

   

[JamJar]

4 hours ago, Pib said:

Notice the M.2 SSD is a PCIe x 2 instead of a PCIe x 4.   That is, it can only use 2 PCI lanes versus 4 PCI lanes for data read/write.  This means the M.2 SSD may not achieve its full speed potential if whatever M.2 drive in the computer has specs faster than 2000MB transfer speed. 

 

The PCIe lanes restriction is probably due to the laptop motherboard design/chipset used and not the M.2 drive being only a x2 drive.   Now 2000MB read/write speed is still 4 times faster than the approx 500MB read/write speed of a SATA SSD so in the real world use of the laptop for the average user you would never notice the M.2 throttling so to speak. 

 

But if you were the type that wanted (had to have) the fastest M.2 PCIe SSD possible and say you went out and bought a Samsung 970 NVMe M.2 SSD which has read specs of 3500MB and stuck it in one above laptops you would only be able to achieve 2000MB read speeds due to the laptop only having PCIe x2 (two lanes) capability on its M.2 drive connector.

 

   

 

I mentioned it in #82. But I'm sure your elaboration was helpful to others.

[72BKK]

On 1/29/2019 at 1:17 AM, JamJar said:

in the real world use of the laptop for the average user you would never notice the M.2 throttling so to speak. 

thanks for the explanation

i am definitely an average user

so basically I won't be able to add a faster ssd right? i mean, i could add it but without reaching its full potential....

[Pib]

thanks for the explanation
i am definitely an average user
so basically I won't be able to add a faster ssd right? i mean, i could add it but without reaching its full potential....

Using a PCIe x2 connection will max out around 2000MB speed. No use buying a M.2 PCI SSD speed spec faster than that as most PCI SSDs can do approx 2000MB speed no problem. Buying a M.2 PCI SSD that has 3500MB speed would effectively be throttled to 2000MB speed on a PCIe x2 connection.

[Pib]

And since we are talking this x2, x4 kind of stuff if you want the best speed from the laptop's "Wifi" capability you also need to be concerned if the Wifi chip is a 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 spec.  Some expensive laptops maybe even have 3 x 3, but not many....usually current day laptops will be 1 x 1 or 2 x 2. 

 

Sometimes a laptop's advertising/specs may not specify whether it's 1 x 1 or 2 x 2....like in above store specs you posted on the Asus laptops.   Then a person needs to drill down, see what the specific part number is of the Wifi chip used and then go lookup the specs of that chip---and then hope they don't have a 1 x 1 and 2 x 2 version of the chip to leave you wondering. 

 

One good thing about Lenovo laptops is they have a Performance Reference/Specs webpage that gives "detailed specs" on their computers.  Like going to below specs for a Lenovo ThinkPad T580 (a business, higher end, pricey laptop) where shows it has a 2 x 2 Wifi chip...and also only a PCI x 2 connection for it's drive storage.  Goes to show even higher end laptops may only have PCI x 2 for their drive interface; however, many have PCI x 4 which is better.
 

But back to only talking Wifi, in this case we are "not" talking the number of PCI lanes but the number receive/transmit antennas its Wifi chip can use at once to communicate with your Wifi router. 

 

A 2 x 2 setup will give you faster and more stable Wifi speed than a 1 x 1 Wifi chip.   But this will only come into play if your home internet internet plan is approx 200Mb or faster.  If your internet plan is below 200Mb generally a 1 x 1 Wifi chips will be fine.   And we also should ensure your Wifi chip is MU-MIMO versus SU-MIMO...but you can google what MU-MIMO is better than SU-MIMO.  But most new laptops today will be MU-MIMO.

 

You are probably not going to fine a laptop that meets all your desired specs....some of it is just how "you feel about the laptop"....its look....its feel....its price....how the keyboard feels to you...etc.....etc....etc.

 

http://psref.lenovo.com/Product/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T580

[72BKK]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

A 2 x 2 setup will give you faster and more stable Wifi speed than a 1 x 1 Wifi chip.   But this will only come into play if your home internet internet plan is approx 200Mb or faster.

the wifi is a 2x2 dual band so i think this should be ok. By the way i have a 60mb wifi in my home so following your explanation it's ok 100%