Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hindsight]

Finding what you are looking for on the gmarket labyrinth can be hit or miss. So I'm going to post a couple of things while I remember where they are.

Anyone got other suggestions? Post them here!

1) The ultimate connector, the Next-218:

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=171113058

Currently, it's about 20,000 won with shipping.

This gadget lets you hook up just about any drive to your laptop. IDE 5.25, 3.5, 2.5 or 1.8, SATA 3.5 or 2.5, hard drive, DVD drive, etc. You get a USB output from the connector that goes into your laptop or desktop.

OK, you don't get a case for the hard drive. But for a DVD drive, you don't need one.

I bought a fancy case for a 3.5 inch hard drive and it has a proprietary power plug. I moved and misplaced the plug.

But this gadget has a brick that lets you change plugs going into the wall, using generic cords, so you can take it to another country. It works great. If you have a netbook, you MUST get one of these. Then you can buy a cheap DVD drive and hook it up.

I use an external DVD drive with my laptop because, even with the USB 2.0 connection, it's much faster than the internal drive for reading. And I suspect it writes data more reliably.


2) Cheap external sound card.

The Abko USB 5.1, also called "Absolute." Under 30,000 won with shipping.

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=125635007

Give you louder, better sound than most internal sound cards. Also gives you a digital optical spdif out and in. Send a digital signal to a hifi, or receive a digital signal from a DVD player. Also gives you a stereo microphone input.

I've had mine about two years. It works great. But sometimes I have trouble with the software.


3) Britz BR-1000A amplified speakers. I have them at work. They sound very good, and look nice. About 50,000 won.

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=172560947

[Senior]

http://gen.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=175834617&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=western+digital+hd+tv&search_keyword=western%20digital%20hd%20tv

Western Digital HD TV. Will output high def video to your TV from an external hard drive.

[spanky1off]

just recently bought a inavi K3 plus sat nav for the car (wife paid 350k i think from danawa)..it really iz the shiznit...great 3d maps fast smooth movement and tons of extras...vids/tv/games for her when im on the freeways..and when i need it traffic info..speed camera warnings...even can locate shops like homeplus/costco..anything relatively well known is on there. massively impressed so far. but no english menus so u will need some help figuring it out if u cant read korean

http://blog.danawa.com/prod/?prod_c=928726&cate_c1=1840&cate_c2=9736&cate_c3=9744&cate_c4=0

[Hindsight]

This is a little gem that's been worth every cent:

The Seagate 7200.4 ST9320423AS.

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=165644003

This is a 2.5 inch laptop drive with 320gb and 16 mb of ram. What makes it special is it runs at 7,200 rpm, like a good desktop drive.

Most laptop drives run at 5,400 rpm; some even run at 4,200 rpm.

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=180141551

In theory, this saves power and keeps the drive cooler. It may also provide greater longevity. All things being equal. But this Seagate does not run hot or take much more power, according to tests. And I have had it for a year -- I bought it from Newegg before it was available in Korea -- and it has worked fine, and silently.

Why do you need 7,200 rpm? You can read and write data much faster. Also, Windows uses virtual ram, which uses the hard drive like RAM memory to supplement your ram chips. So it is frequently moving data on and off the hard drive that it thinks it will need later. The less RAM you have, the more often it does this. So a faster hard drive improves virtual ram access. It also improves boot times.

The price on these hard drives has improved a lot recently, and they are now available in Korea for about what I paid for mine a year ago in the States.

If you haven't upgraded your laptop drive in a year or two, this is the way to go.

[petitshallot]

Thanks for making this thread - it's just what I'm looking for.

I'm wondering if you can help withthis ...

I have just bought an ASUS EEE PC netbook to bring to Korea (I arrived Saturday).

I really want to buy a Slim USB External CD-ROM Drive for watching DVDs and listening to CDs.

I saw one on EBAY (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320483825250&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123) but am wondering if it could be quicker to get hold of one on Korea?

Do you know if anywhere in Daegu sells them? I'm not expecting to get to Seoul anytime soon.

Thanks a lot.

[Bloopity Bloop]

[tatertot]

[Senior]

[quote="tatertot"]

[Hindsight]

petitshallot, my advice is just get a full size DVD drive for internal use in a PC and hook it up with one of those connectors I listed earlier, like:

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=171252937&interest_group_no=0

A full size DVD will read and write faster and probably more accurately, and it will be cheaper. It won't be quite as easy to lug around, but it will do fine for use at home.

That's what I have, and I have a laptop with a built in DVD drive. I prefer the external because it is faster, even hooked up the USB 2.0 slot. Also, you can update the firmware easily to match new DVD media. And you reduce wear on the internal DVD drive.

[pkang0202]

[Senior]