Korean Job Discussion Forums

[itaewonguy]

Is it cheaper to buy computers in the states or in korea?
this goes for parts also..
also what about NOTEBOOKS? cheaper here or the west?

or are they pretty much the same prices ?

[BigBlackEquus]

Notebooks are cheaper in the USA. Especially at entry-level. If you want performance, you can get it both places, but pay a lot lot more for it in Korea. Parts are similar, except video cards, which are often much higher in Korea.

Dell always offers pretty decent deals for the average user (in the states).

[huck]

I don't know about desktops, but I think laptops are way cheaper in the States - if you're comparing RAM, screen size, processor, etc.. They seem to be about 6 months - 1 year ahead in technology.

Go look at bestbuy.com or....I found it cheaper to go to hewlitt-packard online, and just custom-order a laptop how I wanted it.

[elric]

Aesthetically speaking the Korean-made laptops are beautiful and you can't get all of them in the states. In terms of technology they have a 19" screen laptop here and their superflat 12" widescreens are the best in the world. They have dual cores here, so you don't know your laptop technology very well. Samsung is probably on of the best laptopmakers in the world.

You probably want some gaming laptop, wheras the primary use for laptops here is business/aesthetics. Hell buying a custom HP off bestbuy is pretty sad. You are probably going to get a loud, ugly beast of a machine.

[BigBlackEquus]

I'm not a big fan of Samsung products. They seem to suffer from a great many problems. At least 1/3rd of all Samsung products I've purchased, or had purchased for me (in the case of my refridgerator, which my school got me) there has been some sort of problem out of the box. My old school bought exclusively Samsung desktops, and they have been plauged with numerous failures/issues. I don't even want to get into the horrid software package they included with the computers -- and the worthlessly buggy XP back-up disk they shipped. Same problem happened with a friend's Samsung model computer (which was a year older).

I'm not trying to bash Korea in general. I like the LG X-note computers (although I've never owned one). I'm also a fan of some TG/Sampo budget models. I have no love for anything Samsung, however, and frankly can't understand why Koreans would, past nationalistic pride.

I used to teach corporate individuals. They told me that Korea is a sort of training ground for products before they are sold overseas. Yes, you might get something here sooner than you would elsewhere, but you may unknowingly be taking a risk when you buy the "latest and greatest." Product failures are much more commonplace here, according to them. Why? Because this is where they "test run" several models. Due to failures (laptop heating issues, for example) many of the products you can buy here will never make it overseas, because Samsung service centers aren't on every corner to fix the problems. It's not cost-effective.

There are dual-processor models overseas too. And big, beautiful widescreen laptops. It's certainly not just a Korean thing.

[mindmetoo]

For some reason computer and audio cables in Korea are really cheap.

[Wrench]

[JongnoGuru]

[mindmetoo]

The problem with a lot of these Korean laptops is, yes, they're pretty nice but they don't come with English driver CDs. As I note in my FAQ, setting up a laptop is more than just installing vanilla XP. After that you have to run the driver set up CD. Laptops use a load of special drivers.

[ohfamous]

It's almost always cheaper in the states. This goes for notebooks, but especially for building a desktop. You can always buy cheaper parts online in the states than anywhere in Korea. I'm actually having a friend bring me all the parts since it'll cost about half of what it would if I bought them here. As stated before, video cards are way overpriced here, at least 50-60% more expensive. The only things that seem cheaper are peripherals (e.g. cheapo speakers, mice, keyboards).

[Hollywoodaction]