Korean Job Discussion Forums

[half_pint]

Lemon, or anyone else who might know - is there a repair shop in Yongsan where I can take my camera (Canon sureshot A1) to have it looked at and hopefully fixed? It's a great camera and I love it but it has suddenly started rewinding film for no reason after I've only taken 5 pictures....this sucks!

[The Lemon]

Hi HP -
I think you need to take it to Kuk-Il Camera in Chongno:



Have a look at http://www.canonas.co.kr/index2.html (Korean, of course).

I looked around for Canon Camera A/S places in Yongsan, but came up with nothing - sorry...

[half_pint]

Those directions were perfect - there is a Canon centre right outside Jongno3ga station, exit 1, on the fourth floor of the KB building right outside the exit, if anyone needs it for future reference. Hopefully I will have a working camera again in a few days, yay!

[rudyflyer]

Lemon how about where can I get a region free DVD player at Yongsan? What about cost? I know this was mentioned in other threads but how about putting it here for everybody

[The Lemon]

I've seen them around in Yongsan, but can't recall where. Look for cheap, Chinese non-brand brands. And before buying, consult the websites that describe the hacks necessary to make them region-free (usually involves a sequence of keypresses on the remote). Do a search on Google for "DVD hack".

[Manner of Speaking]

Lemon,

Got any advice on buying a CD burner for a laptop? Mine does what I want basically, but it's a few years old: a Toshiba Satellite 2100 I bought at FutureShop; it's only got 64 megs of RAM and a 4 gig hard drive. Any advice would be much appreciated -- thanks!

MOS

[Ella Bella]

I went to Yongsan today looking for a laptop. I'm going to Japan and Thailand soon, is it better to wait and get them there? Any advice would be great. Thanks

[The Lemon]

[kangnamdragon]

Where can we buy PC games in English? i.e. SimCity4 Are English versions available in Korea?

Thanks

[gjk08]

I am hoping to purchase a laptop when I get to Seoul...how much do you think I will end up spending? I hope to get one that I will be able to take back to the states with me after my year is up. Is that possible? does anyone know?

[The Lemon]

I've never bought a laptop here, but I'd be discouraged to do so for two reasons:

1. The warranty might not/probably won't be good outside Korea. Laptops are finicky and fragile enough that you should CARE about the warranty.

2. Laptops are generally more expensive here than in the US or even Canada, though the difference in price has narrowed in the last few years.

If you're sure you want to buy one here, check on-line as well as in Yongsan. Don't be surprised if you find cheaper prices on Korean websites than at real-live stores. Good luck!

[david brent]

So, how much, roughly will a laptop with CD Burner, English software cost in Korea?

And, also how much will a comparable Sony laptop with Int.warranty cost in Japan?

Thanks.

[wuzza]

Hi,
i'd like to give a shameless plug to a guy who really helped me out on Saturday. He's the boss of a astore called Seoul-media (www.seoul-media.com) and it's a little store in do-kae-bi sang-ga. number is 707-3810. The manager speaks good English.

Anyway, the reason for my plug; I went there to buy a DVD-Writer. i had found it on the website the day before. First he says that's the website price, and it's cheaper cause it's automatic etc. i can understand that. Anyway, after 10 minutes of negotiating, he gave me a realyl good deal, an external DVD -writer, 50 discs, and one RW disc for 310,000. They should have cost around 330, so that's a decent discount.

Anyway, I want to buy a laptop, so I asked him to recommend someone. He says to the other guy running the shop he'll be back in 30 minutes, and takes me to all the notebook stores. I've already gone to these places earlier in the day, but he says, don't worry, wait outside. They see a foreigner and they raise the price. Sure enough what was 2.3 million for me is 2.1 million for this guy.

So i'm humming and hawing, feeling bad cuase the guy has brought me around places for almost 50 minutes, part of me is wondering if he's on teh level too (you can never be sure). anyway, jsut when I was about to buy, he says "don't make a rushed decision, be comfortable, it's a lot of money" ok, I say, let me think about it. I say i feel bad for keeping him away from his store, and he says, well let's try one more place. it's right out of the way, but sure enough, they have a Compaq, higher model than than the 2.1 place selling for 2.1. He bargains this guy down to 1.95m right in front of me, the salesman is nearly crying. (this notebook sells for 2.2 on the HP koren website) Then at eh end, he forces teh guy to throw in a mouse too...incredible. Saved me a lot of money and time and effort, and was a just a really nice, genuine guy, the likes of which I haven't met in Korea for 2 or 3 years, and had almost forgotten they exist.

So if you're in Yongsan and looking for any kind of drives, or blank discs, please go to this guy, or give him a call if you can't find the place. there are so many sharks operating in Yongsan, that it was so nice and refreshing to find a nice guy stuck in there (literally, he's a big guy and his store is tiiiiiny)

And even if you're not into buying computers, don't forget that Korea is full of kind people, who take it as personal responsibility to help people with a problem, much more so than any other country i've been to.

[The Lemon]

Great story. It's been my experience too that there are lots of genuinely nice people working in Yongsan. If you find someone who has been good to you, stay with him.

Even if it's an item (like the laptop) that the guy doesn't sell, he may direct you to good deals from friends of his, or give you an idea of how much you *should* pay. If it's an item he doesn't sell, you can trust his word, since it's not a negotiation - just advice.

Those guys you dealt with were so good to you, if I were you I'd go to them first next time you're shopping.. and haggle a little less with them, considering the 100,000s of won they saved you. Shoot - I'm tempted to pay them a visit on my next trip!

[matthews_world]

Don't forget. If you buy a computer in Korea or another place in Asia, you're gonna get a keyboard where you can transpose English and the characters of that country.

For example, laptop keyboards manufactured in Korea have the QWERTY keys along with the Hangul.

Make sure you know that when you come here to buy that you'll find more Hangul keyboards, especially for laptops than those just in Korean.

Buyers may be better off buying plain qwerty keyboards in their own country and paying a bit more if they don't know where they are gonna end up.

I bought a laptop at home that was just qwerty and has worked fine for me.

I plan to be in Korea for another couple years so I'll invest in a laptop with a Hangul/qwerty keyboard.

Hope that makes sense.