I want to put a computer together, or buy a built one.
I only know about the NOVA near Taipei Main Station, but that place seems a little too shady for a major investment.
Thanks
Bade Road / Gunghua market, but probably as “shady” as NOVA.
Else try the bigger chain stores like TKEC (or was it T3CC?).
BTW: There is one of those bigger stores near the NOVA you mentioned, along ChungHsiao Road towards PeiMen (North Gate), just 20 meters or so away from it.
Don’t know about Taipei, but Nova in Taichung is fine with many of the stores having been there for several years. Nova isn’t a store, it’s a mall. Inside the mall are going to exist stores of varying reliability and reputation. I usually try to buy m-boards, cpus, HDDs and memory from one vendor to get a better deal. Cases and monitors are usually better bought from shops that specialize in them, other peripherals, cables etc I get from the hypermart type stores.
YMMV
FNAC’s got some good kit, but is pricier than the regular computer shops. They do have proper money-back guarantees and warranties though, and manuals will probably be in English.
If you go to fnac or T-Zone or a like establishment, you will pay more but benefit from established money back/exchange policies.
Their sales people tend not be particularly knowledgeable though.
However, taking the time to properly comparison shop down at Guanghua will get you a better deal. In general, Taiwanese folks treat us better than their compatriots, and with time and patience you can do well by yourself.
In the end, it’s a matter of how much you want to invest (time, effort, money) and for how long.
For printers and small peripherals, I tend to go to T-Zone. For HDDs and other internal components, I go to Guanghua.
I go to the computer “mall” in the basement on the corner of Bade road and Shinsheng Rd normally.(Taipei)
Although all of the computer markets look “shady” you can have good deals. Walk around and ask prices.
Up untill now I build about 6 computers myself and never had major problems.
When I buy with a store I always ask them to test the CPU to see on screen if it’s the real deal.
You won’t get much service when it comes to helping out installing software though and maintenance doesn’t exist, but if that is what you need than probably you need to buy a brandname computer with a brandname dealer.
The stores give guaranty on the hardware, a couple of times I had some hardware problems but they were always solved without any trouble, they simply exchanged faulty parts for new ones or returned my money if there wasn’t a similar part available. On one occasion they changed the part even after the guaranty periode was expired.
That’s what I wanted to hear. I like the prices I’ve seen at NOVA, but I didn’t want to have a problem returning defunct parts. I’ll check that place out. I believe I get off on the zhongxiaofuxing MRT stop.
Thanks for the help everyone.
I believe I get off on the zhongxiaofuxing MRT stop.
Nope, that would take you to the Sogo. NOVA is at the Taipei Main Station MRT stop, just beside the ShinKhong Life Tower.
Can’t miss that one … 
GungHua Market is just north of the ChungHsiao / HsinSheng MRT station, at the Pateh Rd / HsinSheng intersection (below the flyover). There you find also a row of shops along Pateh Road with lot’s of shops. Also check out the basement on the left side just before reaching the intersection when approaching from the MRT.
That’s right. There are so many zhongxiao stops I always get confused :?