Jump to Location Map

Pantip Plaza:- Software and DVDs openly on sale.
Fortune Town:- Software and DVDs openly on sale.
MBK Centre:- Plenty of Playstation etc. games. Software and DVDs openly on sale.
Co-Co Walk:- No problem here, all the latest titles in stock! The same compilation CDs available for around 80 Baht per CD!
Seacon/Seri Centre:- No noticeable difference as it's too far off the beaten track for any real action from the anti counterfeit squad.

Co-Co walk is only a short walk from Pantip, up Phetburi Road towards the skytrain, see the map below.

To counteract the piracy to some extent, manufacturers are now offering genuine software with retail prices pitched at the Thai marketplace. Good news for us, but if they can still sell it at a profit for a fraction of the Western price, are we are being ripped off yet again? YES!

Without a doubt, Pantip Plaza is the best all round computer shopping mall I have ever visited ANYWHERE. Here you will find just about everything if you look hard enough, but there are the other options listed below which are a little less hectic. Pantip usually gives me a headache within 30 mins, particularly so on a Saturday when it is packed!

Recent moves on import tax have made hardware now quite competitively priced, and they always have the latest kit in stock! Notebooks, (Laptops) are getting down to European price levels.

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Zest Website HERE

PANTIP PLAZA on Petchaburi Road - THE No.1 Computer Mall!

This is Pantip Plaza, The Computer City, any taxi driver knows this place, just tell them "Pantip, or Pantip Plaza", and you'll get there, also a No.511 bendy-bus goes right past the door, tell the conductor you want Pantip and with any luck you will be told where to get off.
Take the stop immediately after the World Trade Centre, the next one after the left turn at the traffic lights, (if you come from the Sukhumvit direction). Here are 5 floors of almost completely computer hardware and software. In the same complex are restaurants, fast food, coffee shops, cinema, and a scruffy food court. The best food here is found at S&P on the ground floor, there is a Kentucky Fried "Chicken" here as well, you have to bend the facts a little to call it food though. 7-Eleven opposite.

Short of cash? there are no shortage of ATM machines within Pantip Plaza and a money changer at The Kasikorn Bank opposite.

Inside Pantip Plaza, taken from the Data IT escalators across the void on the 5th floor.

Plenty of software and hardware for PC, Mac and peripherals of all types. Lots of things that are hard to find in Europe and all at keen prices. This is also a good place to bring any damaged equipment for repair, they are particularly skilful with notebook PCs and printers. I had a new CD/RW combination drive replaced in my Sony notebook for 4000 Baht complete. It still works fine and it was done in the time it took me to get a cold drink!

Data IT on the top floor, go on the escalators over the void (you'll see what I mean when you get there) have the latest equipment on show with full details. See it here and buy it on the lower floors at a discount.

VAT can be reclaimed on anything bought at participating dealers, but due to the high level of smuggling, you may not be able to get a VAT receipt. Don't worry, if they can't give you a qualifying receipt then you aren't paying the VAT in the first place, so there is nothing to reclaim!

 Co-Co Walk
  Ratchatevi Station

From the skytrain station you should easily be able to see the semi-covered market area, shown in pink on the location map below. This is where many of the software vendors from Hollywood Street have relocated to. Here is the very cheapest software I have ever found in Thailand, you can get away with a low as 80 Baht per disc!

Please note, this is not an IT Mall, just 3 or 4 software vendors in an open market. The latest programs at the lowest prices and too insignificant to attract the Intellectual Property Mob. Really good service and they'll get you anything not in stock.

Fortune Town On Ratchadapisek Road (say "4-Toon Racha-Dah" for a taxi)
  Pra Ram 9 MRTA subway station

Adjoining the Fortune Hotel in the building vacated by Yoahan, the Japanese department store. This is fast gaining in popularity as an IT mall and has branches of some of the same dealers you find in Pantip Plaza.
The prices are just as keen and as there are fewer customers, it's worth a visit and much less hectic and more orderly.
A bonus here is that there is less obsolete hardware offered for sale, and the dealers have more time to help you.
Note, the IT section starts on the 4th floor, AFTER all the mobile phone dealers.

Minimal police action against software piracy here.

Good selection of down market shops, fast food etc. plus a Tesco Lotus supermarket.

Seri Centre

This is next to Seacon Square and quite a long way out of town, just off the Bang Na-Trat highway.
In the past, this was quite a good computer centre, sadly now it is loosing popularity and has many vacant units. A lack or customers means low stock turnover and poor prices plus a lot of obsolete software and hardware still for sale. Not worth the time and trouble, destined for the scrap heap in just a short time! I would advise you to steer clear of here unless you are 100% familiar with current hardware and all the latest software versions. Don't be fooled by stickers that say "NEW" or "Latest Version" they usually are not.

Seacon Square

Walking distance, and easily seen from Seri Centre, the basement level has a rapidly growing IT Mall, possibly trying to lure some of the former Seri customers in. Not much ground breaking stuff here, but another source of copy software CDs usually for 100 Baht each. Worth a look if you are in the area as any police "crack downs" don't seem to make it this far.

MBK Centre 4th Floor

  National Stadium Station  [MBK is plainly obvious from the station]

New in 2000, an IT mall was springing up on the 4th floor of MBK centre. The easiest way to find it in this vast maze, is to enter through Tokyu, go up to the supermarket, and out into MBK centre this way. Just outside the doors you will find the computer shops selling copied VCDs, ripped off software, and an increasing amount of hardware. The same prices as Pantip. Now they even have copy DVD's for 150Baht.
Computer equipment is giving way to mobile phones, but there is still quite a good selection of up to date software that seems to be readily available when Pantip is having a bit of a crackdown.

ZEER IT Mall

     Website HERE

A new one on me, but it looks to have been there a long time. Past Don Muang Airport about 3-4 Km on the same side of the road, look for Asia Airport Hotel (NOT Amari Airport Hotel). Zeer is another IT Mall along the lines of Pantip Plaza.
It's a long way out of town, to the north of Don Muang Airport, but Police action on pirate copies of software does not seem to extend there, so in the event of another "crackdown", it might be worth the taxi fare.

Laksi Plaza

This can be seen from the expressway when going to and from the airport. It was a tatty shopping centre with a few run down shops in 2003. Now with re-cladding the exterior it "looks" new, and they are trying to re-brand it as an IT Mall. Can't comment as I haven't found myself in that part of the city for quite some time.......but last time I was there, it was a complete waste of space.

   COPY DVDs have really taken over from VCD, plenty of stock in all the places you find computer software, the going price is 120 - 200 Baht each with case and inlay card, although they'll try to get away without giving you the case if they can!
Discount available for quantities of 5 or more, usually buy 5 get one free.

You would imagine that a digital medium would make a copy identical to the original, but some clown has come up with a way to convert either a video tape or a VCD to DVD, this means that although the disk may be a DVD, the actual content may have come from an inferior medium.

The thing to look out for is the DVD designation which is not a region code.

• DVD 5 single layer 4.7Gb - so the film is usually be in reduced quality or with extra features removed.

• DVD 9 dual layer same capacity as an original retail disc and usually indistinguishable quality wise.

• DVD 10 getting a bit rarer these days, but basically 2 DVD 9s back to back with a film on each side.

DVD 9 dual layer

The best DVD copies are those marked "DVD 9" or "Malaysia" - These are genuine digital copies of the real DVDs, usually from studio preview copies without the extra features you get on the retail versions.

Made In Thailand versions are marked DVD 5, and many, if not all, are poor quality, and may have only stereo soundtracks as opposed to the original Dolby 5.1 or DTS. A nice feature of some of these is that the audience gets up to leave at the end of the feature showing that it was actually filmed with a video camera through the projectionist's booth!

DVD 9 are the ones to go for, as every DVD 9 I have seen has been 100% quality in both picture and audio with full Dolby Surround and DTS.
Far and away the premier location for consistent DVD sales is Fortune Town.

DVD 10 dual layer double sided

Newly arrived mid 2003 are DVD 10, these are dual layer, double sided DVDs with 2 full length feature films on, although sometimes quite an odd pairing!
All I have tested so far have been top quality copies indistinguishable from the highly priced retail ones. Quite a bargain as they are sold at the same price, 200 -250 Baht for 2 films. I was recently buying Charlie's Angels Full Throttle for 200 Baht when I noticed you can have the same film with "Bad Company"  on the other side for the same price, what a deal!

Real DVDs

Yes don't fall over, you can now get real RETAIL and fully legal DVDs at bargain prices. Recent titles are only 199 Baht, and those from a year or 2 ago a mere 99 Baht retail with some as low as 59 Baht. Most department stores have them, as do some traders on skytrain stations

Examples Jackie Chan's Rushour 1 & 2 for 59 & 99 Baht
Kill Bill Vol 1 for 199 Baht

If the manufacturers priced the new releases at this level they would sell 300% more and wipe out all piracy at a stroke!

Prices for compilation software CDs start from 100 to 200 Baht for upwards of 30 titles that would cost you £1000s in the UK. Games go for a mere 100 Baht, I recently bought Sim City 3000 for only 50 Baht! There are also VCD copies of the latest films for Baht 100 to Baht 200 for 2-3 discs, some of these are out before the official release in UK or Thai cinemas. Video CD is a popular format around Asia, you can play a Video CD on your computer with Windows Media Player or the new version of Winamp.

MP3 is big in Bangkok, a CD with virtually everything the Beatles ever did on it, is only 100 Baht, likewise The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Oasis etc.! Sadly, if you want quality though, you will be hard pressed to find anything over 128bps.
You can also buy very cheap VCD players that actually will play back MP3, on your hi-fi, without a computer, prices start around 1500 Baht or less.

Apple Macintosh disks are also available for the deranged few amongst us, who just have to be different no matter what the hardship. A good selection in both Pantip and Fortune Town.

Example software CDs

Click on the thumbnail images below to view the full labels, prices vary between 100 Baht and 150 Baht

Co-Co Walk & Pantip Plaza location

BEFORE you fall in love with a Thai girl, read this The Bar Girl's 10 Commandments

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