The demise of Hua Hin's computer shops

[buksida]

Years ago you could get pretty much any computer hardware in Hua Hin, at a markup of course. There were quite a few quirky little computer shops about where the owners would be happy to order something from Panthip for you if you knew what you wanted. My first job in Hua Hin was at a computer shop and business was booming.

I have decided to rebuild a machine for use with the TV from 2-3 year old components I have laying around in the office, all I needed was an AMD AM3 socket motherboard. I must have visited no less than six places in Hua Hin with no joy whatsoever. The first was the top of the old 'chopping maw' which was turned into a tech plaza several years ago, today it is a ghost town with not one shop selling components and just a few bored fat girls eking out a living selling mobile phone accessories and printer cartridges - the units are bleak and empty, the lights are flickering and all of the computer shops have gone.

Next stop was the IT Pawin shop near the Grand Hotel, what a surprise, it is now a big shiny 7-Eleven to fill the demand for those in Hua Hin. There used to be a another tech shop opposite Soi 80, also gone. Mr Ton previously down Soi 56 has also moved but I have no idea where to so it was on to Market Village. The top floor here is primarily phone shops so I wasn't holding out much hope, I was greeted with a cacophony of 'mai mees' before I even stepped over the threshold in Banana IT so continued the search. On the opposite site some promise showed, a store with hardware components, yes they did have motherboards, graphics cards, processors, hard disks and memory, but nothing over six months old and all at top end prices.

North of town I tried Pure Hi-Tech which is next to the Baguette, we used to source all of our office hardware from this place, today it is virtually gutted of stock and the usual greeting of 'mai mee' rang out before the door stopped swinging. On to InvadeIT then, surely these guys must have something ... wrong, the new office is a small dark unit on Soi 6 which looks closed down from the outside, they only stocked a couple of Intel boards and said I should buy online.

This seems to have been the death knell for Hua Hin's computer stores - online shopping; within 5 minutes of connecting I found what I needed on Lazada (GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2 for 1,560 baht) and it is currently on its way to my home. The age of the desktop seems to be over, everyone is on smartphones and tablets now and they're using them to shop which is also killing off all of the local stores. It was a fun but frustrating bit of research and I now know to fire up the web browser before even stepping into a shop - things they are a changin'.

[Big Boy]

OK, when you phoned me yesterday, I thought about Mr Don (Mr Ton), but he now works from the front yard of his house. He still does a good job, but where as before he had bits and pieces on display, which I assumed you could buy, He doesn't have that any more. However, I think he would have had what you needed - sorry. His new location is:

[pitsch]

I tried to find a loading cable for my ACER tablet at Market Village. No chance. Then I ordered it with Lazada and it came after 2 days with free delivery and cash on delivery.

[buksida]

Don had a good business going so definitely a sign of the times if he's had to move from that little shop back to his house to run it.

I wonder where people take their computers for repair/upgrades these days - there seems to be zero options in Hua Hin.

[Big Boy]

Signs come and signs go. Only Mr Don seems to keep going, albeit a much scaled down operation (and not that easy to find - even with a map).

[buksida]

Cant beat Lazada, motherboard arrived yesterday (3 days from order), threw it into a case with a dual core Athlon II, 4GB DDR3, Nvidia graphics card and 500GB hard drive and voila - a new machine is purring away for the princely sum of 1,560 baht!

You can pretty much spec and buy a whole machine in components online now for less than any shop in Hua Hin would charge without even leaving your house - no wonder they've all closed up!

[Scout]

Hey Buksida,
Does the 1560 baht include the price of the 500GB hard drive ? If so, what manufacture did you select and where did you buy it ?

[buksida]

No, the price was just for the mainboard: http://www.lazada.co.th/gigabyte-main-b ... 91072.html

I used a spare HDD I had laying around but you can pick them up for about 1,600 baht.

[Big Boy]

I've just come back from Mr Don's, and I noticed he now has all of his old stock on display.

[buksida]

Bet he didn't have an AM3 motherboard!

[Big Boy]

I saw boxes marked 'motherboard' but what type, I don't know.

[Davy B]

As repairs and upgrades are concerned I use a guy called Job at K.A.N.Computers in the Hua Hin Shopping Mall on the 3rd floor. (089-0228446). He has a fair selection of parts and what he doesn't have I am sure he will be able to get. He made a computer for me when I first came to Hua Hin and I take it back to him if any problems arise. Very knowledgeable and quite cheap.

[Big Boy]

Are you sure he's still there? From the OP:

The first was the top of the old 'chopping maw' which was turned into a tech plaza several years ago, today it is a ghost town with not one shop selling components and just a few bored fat girls eking out a living selling mobile phone accessories and printer cartridges - the units are bleak and empty, the lights are flickering and all of the computer shops have gone.

[hhinner]

Are you sure he's still there? From the OP:

The first was the top of the old 'chopping maw' which was turned into a tech plaza several years ago, today it is a ghost town with not one shop selling components and just a few bored fat girls eking out a living selling mobile phone accessories and printer cartridges - the units are bleak and empty, the lights are flickering and all of the computer shops have gone.

He was there last weekend.

[Big Boy]

The OP must have been having a bad day then