Telephone	+66(0) 2793 7777
Opening Hours	10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. everyday
BTS	Nearest BTS is Ratchatewi station or Chidlom, but either one requires a walk. Best bet is taxi and they all know "Pantip Plaza".
Address	Petchburi Road , Pratunam, Rajthevi, Bangkok 10400
Credit Cards	All Major cards accepted
Discounts	Down to your ability to bargain
Pros	You'll find almost any IT related hardware or software here. Good prices.
Cons	Crowded, noisey.Vendors can be rude. Young men hanging around trying to sell you "sexy DVD"
Places Nearby:	Amari Watergate Hotel, Pratunam clothes market, Central World Plaza. Platinum Clothes Fashion Store.

Front Entrance to Pantip Plaza	View from outside Pantip Plaza

WARNING: Pantip Plaza is known to have pick pockets. Keep your belongings safe, and when using an ATM be careful of people around you.

Overview: Pantip Plaza is the place to go for all or any of your IT needs. If you want pre-built computers, computer parts, laptops, monitors, software, projectors, printers, scanners, MP3 players cameras and so on, it's all here, under one roof, scattered over 5 floors.
We have no recommendations for any particular shop as they all seem to be very similar but, as always, shop around for the best deals and shop where all the Thais are shopping.
If you are a dab hand at computing and can build your own computer then buying all the bits and pieces might save you some money.
Most items can be bargained for and if you know a local or an expat who has been in Bangkok for a while, go with them and get them to bargain for you. Good savings can be made.
Pantip Plaza is also a very good place for buying a digital camera but make sure the warranty is not limited to Thailand

Software: Many visitors to Thailand purchase copied software and movies*; and other than the fact that they are pirated versions, you do not always get what you think.
As a rule of thumb, if a movie is still in the theatres or is not yet 3 months old, the chances are you are going to get a very poor quality version of the movie and if subtitles are what you need, then you'll just end up splitting your sides with laughter over the translations.
Very new movies are almost certainly going to be very bad copies and the sound quality will be very poor too. Ignore anyone telling you it is a "master", which means top quality copy. DVD movies generally sell for about 120 - 150 Baht for DVD 5 or 180 - 200 for DVD 9 ( usually, but not always, better quality ).
PC or MAC software is also readily available and is again pirated unless you get it from DATA IT or IT City ( along with a few others ). If it's in a box, it's probably not pirated.
The pirated software can be purchased for 120 - 150 Baht per CD disk. The information on the disk makes no difference; it is the number of disks, so a 2 CD programme will cost roughly 300 etc.
It is possible to buy one CD with multiple programmes and this is probably your "best buy"

First ( Ground ) Floor:
Before you enter Pantip Plaza, here is a good place to have a bite to eat or a drink. Here you'll find KFC and S & P restaurants.
Entering Pantip from the front are free standing stalls selling all sorts of items such as chargers, batteries, power extension sockets, alarm clocks and so on. You can also find game consoles, Game Boys, PSP, games for PC, X-Box or PS2 as well as DVD movies and computer software. ( NOTE: for copied games to work on your X-BOX, PS2 or PSP, they must have been modified. If you have not modified your games console, copied games will not work ).
Moving further into Pantip there is a show case area which is usually taken up by large brand names such as HP, Canon or Brother showing off their latest, scanners, printers etc. Other times there are more free standing stalls that are selling other new items but at discount prices.
Further back you'll find actual stores selling either brand named equipment such as Sony, or shops selling high end computer parts for building your own computer.

Inside Pantip Plaza ( click for larger view )	ATM machines are readily available

Second Floor:
You get to the first floor by either walking up the stairs tucked around in the right hand corner as you enter from the front, or in the left hand corner at the back. if you wish to take the escalator, you need to enter Pantip Plaza and walk past the first escalator and you'll see a shorter one that leads to the first floor.
First floor holds many of the usual shops but it also has Data IT which is a mini computer superstore. Here you pay the fixed prices and the prices are usually higher.

Third Floor:
Access to this floor can be via the first floor or you can gain immediate access from the ground floor by choosing the long escalator immediately to the left as you walk into Pantip Plaza.
Second floor is probably the best place to find all the copied software, games and DVDs. There is an open eating area but unless you have a solid stomach, avoid it. This goes for anything with ice in it too.

	Fourth Floor: Fourth floor moves away from the software sales and computer peripherals and movies towards cameras and laptops but other items are available. It starts to get quieter on the fourth floor and it's a good place to get money from an ATM machine.
Examples of copied software*

Fifth Floor: IT City is on the 5th floor. IT City is a fully legitimate IT store. Here you can get most IT hardware, pre-built computers by HP, Fujitsu, Acer and so on. Everything in this store comes with fully legal software, warranty and there is even a service center where you can get your hardware repaired.

* Bangkok Residents does not condone the purchase of illegally copied software and is a firm believer of intellectual property rights.