Prices in China/HK vs UK?

[Ulti]

Well I'm planning to go China and HK in around a months time and I was thinking of upgrading a bit in the summer anyway. I was just wondering if it would be cheaper to buy a HD4770 (upgrading from 8600GT) in China/HK or in the UK? Also would buying PSUs be cheaper in China/HK too?

If someone knows that would be great. Thanks!

[kitschiguy]

In my experience shopping around online in UK is as cheap or even cheaper than HK if you're buying memory cards and HDD's and stuff like that. I've bought a couple of camera's and some lenses in HK and they were significantly cheaper so a graphics card may well be cheaper too, but you'll need to shop around.

Try Golden Computer Centre http://12hk.com/area/ShamShuiPo/Gold...ngArcade.shtml in Sham Shui Po and Mong Kok Computer Centre in Mong Kok - Both in Kowloon.

There are many more - ask around

[Saracen]

Bear in mind that when you get back to the UK, you have to get past Customs and there are limits on the value of what you can bring back in. If you go over those, you either have to go through Green and try to smuggle your gear in, and risk getting it confiscated if you get caught, or you have to go through Red and will probably end up paying VAT and possibly import duty as well. If you do, that'll add something like 18-20% to the cost.

And, what happens if you get home, plug your new gear in and it doesn't work? You're going to end up either writing off what it cost you, or trying to get it sorted out by sending it back to China or HK. It's possible that there may be a worldwide warranty and that the UK arm of the manufacturer will support it, but it's often the case that it won't.

I have no idea if it'll work out cheaper, but even if it does, you have to decide if the savings are enough to justify the potential hassle and the extra level of risk. And only you can do that.

[aidanjt]

China should generally be cheaper than Hong Kong.

[Ulti]

Saracen, is there a customs website or something where I can check these things? I guess I'll check out the customs and things and look at the prices of the things I want to buy in the UK before I go to HK/China and then look around in HK and China and see which is cheaper. If it's gonna be a lot of hassle then I definitely won't bother. I'm the lazy type haha.

Mainly looking to get a 640GB ish HDD, a HD4770 and a PSU made by a company with rep as my current one is made by the people of Arctic Power which aren't that great.

[kitschiguy]

If you're just buying an HDD and a PSU then you don't need to worry about customs. Just throw away all the packaging and no one will even know you bought the items in HK and even if they did, it wouldn't matter.

I came back from HK 6 months ago and while I was there I bought a Nikon DSLR (D300) + 2 lenses, a Canon compact (G9), 3 external HDD and around 10 assorted HC CF and SD cards. Not to mention 3 pairs of trainers and about 5 pairs of jeans!

Just make sure you can't buy the items you want cheaper in UK. I've bought HDD's for roughly the same price from Amazon and ebuyer since I've been back.

China may be even cheaper still, but the cost of travel and the risk of being conned outweigh the difference from my experience.

[Infinite]

http://www.jumbo-computer.com/pricelist.asp

Meh, prices of most things are only slightly cheaper, you wont get any major saving. You can try and haggle, but if you're white and foreign they obviously going to try and exploit you. And the £ vs HK$ is pretty bad atm aswell. Last summer when it was £1 = HK $15+, most thing seem'd like a good buy.

You also have the problem of warranty. Remember to get an invoice/receipt. As if the item goes bust you cant exactly go back to the shop, so you probably have to RMA with the manufacture and hence need a proof of purchase.

And obviously get rid of the box for customs purposes. XD

Going to HK in a week, so YAH!

[arthurleung]

http://www.jumbo-computer.com/pricelist.asp

Meh, prices of most things are only slightly cheaper, you wont get any major saving. You can try and haggle, but if you're white and foreign they obviously going to try and exploit you. And the £ vs HK$ is pretty bad atm aswell. Last summer when it was £1 = HK $15+, most thing seem'd like a good buy.

You also have the problem of warranty. Remember to get an invoice/receipt. As if the item goes bust you cant exactly go back to the shop, so you probably have to RMA with the manufacture and hence need a proof of purchase.

And obviously get rid of the box for customs purposes. XD

Going to HK in a week, so YAH!

I'm heading back to HK tomorrow

RMA issue, if you buy HDD from Hong Kong or china, it does not show up on the manufacturers' warranty check, and you have to try very hard to get them to accept your RMA in Europe.

For low-medium end stuff, Hong Kong is great and price is cheap. If you want to buy any high end stuff like 1.5TB/2TB HDD, top-of-the-line graphics card, US branded PSU like Corsair, those are probably more expensive in Hong Kong than here, due to the low volume they buy.

And anyway if you buy SD cards and stuff like that by the time they break you might as well buy a new one. 7dayshop very often is cheaper than Hong Kong though.

I stopped buying stuff from Hong Kong a long time ago since the pound crashed, during that period everything in UK is a bargain. I'll see if that have changed.

Not to mention the banks now charge somewhere close to 3% for cash withdrawal from ATM in other countries, bar Nationwide (something like 0.3% as far as I tested last year)

Oh, I remember cases are very cheap in Hong Kong, like high-end Lian-Li stuff as well as Antec. It will however take your whole weight allowance to get one of those back though

[Ulti]

Hmm well I am Chinese so I could try haggle xD

But I guess I'll have to buy it here as recently something went wrong with my PC.

[Infinite]

If the price is right for SSD then I may get 1 before I come back though.

[arthurleung]

If the price is right for SSD then I may get 1 before I come back though.

Yea me too. I wish I can find one that runs in the mini-PCIe slot on my Inspiron 1525.
Dual SSD RAID0 + 500G Storage drive would make an amazing machine.