Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DCJames]

Buying the latest electronics / computers is alot more expensive here than back home. Also, the availability of the latest electronics / computers is pretty lame.

Is fast Internet the only thing Korea has going for techies???

[eamo]

Now that I think about it, yes.

99% of Koreans, even those who use PC's a lot, tend to shy away from anything high-end. The amount of times a Yongsan dealer has expressed total confusion at my refusal of cheaper components. They really don't seem to understand why anyone would pay more for performance when mainstream is cheaper.. They also tend to use software and games well beyond their sell-by date.

Korea can be a frustrating place for the genuine computer geek who likes to be bang up-to-date.

I've yet to experience a Korean computer store where the staff understand performance and think the same way as me. In fact, more often than not, the staff know a lot less about the latest advances in computing than I do. They're all stuck in this, 'if it's good enough to run Starcraft, it's good enough' rut.

[kprrok]

[SeoulnPepe]

Actually, I think Koreans have a "The more expensive it is, the better it has to be" mentality. Don't believe me? Check for yourself.

9,000W for three avocados...in Japan you can pick them up for about $1 a piece (or is that 110Y). How is it that only a boat ride away the same product is three times cheaper?

Then again there's golf gear, camera gear, snowboarding gear...it all seems ridiculously overpriced for the demand. High end computer gear is the same.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a D80 Kit at COEX going for 1,200,000W. They're averaging 450-500US on Ebay. It makes no sense, but when you believe that the more expensive something is, the better it has to be, I guess vendors will prey on that.

[pkang0202]

You gotta be kidding me OP.

Consumer electronics here are light years ahead of the US. The DMB/PMP players put to shame anything the US has to offer. I can pick up a DVD player with flash memory slots/USB ports, and enough builtin codecs to play everything I throw at it for less than 100,000w.

They have so called "electronic dictionaries" that are more powerful than the top of the line PDA's.

[Temporary]

Sorry Pkang your smoking crack.


Electtronics here are a joke. They are expensive and not that good, except for couple exceptions in the PMP department. To be honest with you I didn't see very many people use PMP's in Canada anyway.

When I was in Canada about a month ago. Samsung, LG TV's were at least 200 - 300 dollars less. Computer equipmentlike mobos, cpus, gpus, were cheaper and a larger variety and better quality. Not to mention consoles were a lot cheaper. Don't even get me started on the cell phone department. Not only were the Korean brands more feature rich in North America they were also cheaper. To knock Korea down further down the pedistule in the Cell phone market North America has supperior brands and models. Only thing Korea has going for it is the reception quality is better.

In Canada I have a couple SnapGear routers.. Try to find them here for a reasonable price.
Then we get into speciality electronics like, switches, Routers(no shity little home ones), NAS devices. They are outragously priced here. Not to mention you can't even get them here. Not to mention printers and other accessories, like mice, keyboards, powersupplies, headphones, speakers, Notebook computers.. etc......

[JustJohn]

Fast internet
Phones tech is generally a couple years ahead of the states
PMP stuff generally better


Basically everything else is going to be better/cheaper in the states. That's been my experience anyway.

[DCJames]

[OneWayTraffic]

Well it's better than NZ for sure.

One advantage is that here I actually have the ability to buy stuff rather than just looking at it due to disposable income being higher for me.

In general America has the cheapest stuff. But many gadgets are released here and in Japan that never make it Stateside. Good for companies like Dynamism.

[Temporary]

[pkang0202]

The electronics and gadgets in Korea are on par, if not ahead of the US. They are more expensive though. Electronics in Japan are pretty expensive also.

If you want price/performance, best bang for your buck deals than no country can beat the US. If you want the latest/greatest gadgets then no country beats Japan.

Korea just falls somewhere in the middle.

The selection and the products are here in Korea. Just because your wallet is tight you say, "everything here is crap because its more expensive than back home."

[Gaber]

[Temporary]

[SeoulnPepe]

[DCJames]