A customer is attracted to a desktop computer while others are just looking around at the Lucky Bird Computer Company’s Showroom in Yangon last month. Pic: Aung Tun Win

DESKTOP computers have remained the leading sellers in the computer market, according to a number of computer dealers in Yangon.
But laptop sales are slowly increasing.

“Most buyers still purchase desktop computers but laptop sales have been increasing in the last year. When we compare the 2005-2006 financial year with 2006-2007, laptop sales have more than doubled,” said Daw May Phyu Thwe, director of Lucky Bird Computer Company.

And the reason for the increase she said, were government officials and businesspeople that need to carry their work with them wherever they go.
Daw Khin Mya Htut, managing director of Citicom computer sales and service, said her store still relied on desktop computers for the majority of sales.
“In our shop, desktop computers constitute about 90 percent of our total sales. Laptop sales are only about 10pc,” she said.

Managing director of ABC computer electronics store, U Aung Myo Lwin, agreed with Daw Khin Mya Htut and added that laptop sales were not yet strong enough to form their own market.

“There is certainly a growing demand for laptops in Yangon but there are no stores which specialise in them yet,” he said.

He said laptops were becoming increasingly easier to use, with broadband internet routers strong enough to offer connection anywhere in the house.
Most computer shops offer a variety of prepared computer packages but some customers preferred to buy customised systems.

“Fifty percent of our customers buy prepared packages while the rest choose customised sytems,” Daw Khin Mya Htut said.

Luck Bird Computers’ director, Daw May Phyu Thwe, said about 60pc of customers were buying computers for business or government use, while 40pc bought them for private use.

U Aung Myo Lwin said people who bought the best equipment often had no plans to use it at work.

“Advanced users usually buy computers according to the particular performance they require but people often save the latest and best systems for home use,” he said, adding that he expected sales to rise during the summer months.

Ko Aung Khin Tun, from Unique Computer Centre, advised people interested in playing computer games to investigate what would be required before they bought anything. He said gaming computers needed high quality graphics cards and large memory banks to support game play.

For computer monitors, people in Myanmar are still buying older cathode ray tube (CRT) screens.

“Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens do not take up too much space, consume less power than CRT monitors and are good for the eyes,” Ko Aung Khin Tun said.

“But CRTs are still better than LCDs for graphics work and the price difference between the two ranges between K100,000 and K150,000. However, if the difference falls to K60,000, I think LCD screens will replace CRTs,” he said.
In Ko Aung Tun's opinion, 15 and 17 inch CRT monitors were still the most popular choice for consumers.

For anyone interested in upgrading their old computer with new parts, experts warned that it might be more trouble than it was worth.

“Most of our customers sell their old computers and buy a new computer when they want to upgrade their systems. If a buyer wants to upgrade from a 478 socket processor to a 775 socket processor, it will cost them about twice the original price,” Daw May Phyu Thwe said.

For accessories like computer mouses – that direct the cursor – opinion remains divided over older rolling-ball units and modern optical versions.
“Optical mouses are in higher demand but some gamers prefer ball mouses because they have faster response times than optical units. It is also easier to maintain and clean a ball mouse than an optical mouse,” Ko Aung Khin Tun said.

Optical mouses cost between K4000 and K5000, more than twice the price of ball units. And wireless mouses are yet to become popular. “Wireless mouses are available on the market but some people don’t like them and many buyers still prefer cable mouses,” Daw May Phyu Thwe said.

Home businesses and students also require printers and most home users buy inkjet units, while offices usually look for laser units which are larger and faster

Canon and Hewlett-Packard (HP) printers are the most popular laser printers, while Epson and HP sell the most inkjet types.

“We import HP-2600 colour laser printers and find that our customers like them. All of them are sold whenever we import a batch. The HP-2600 has four toners and refilling the toners will cost US$360 because each toner cost $90,” Daw May Phyu Thwe said.

But U Aung Myo Lwin said his best-selling brand was Canon – for both inkjet and laser printers.

“The best selling printer at my store is Canon, for both inkjet and laser types. However, we have to sell the devices that we have in stock. It is still not a customer choice,” he said.

Since the government shifted to Nay Pyi Taw, some people have found it increasingly necessary to transport large amounts of data and their only solution is external hard drives.

“People use external hard drives for data backup and they now pay more attention to the importance of data saving. But compared to internal hard drives, external hard drives are still low in demand,” Daw May Phyu Thwe said.
Ko Aung Khin Tun said buyers were split into two categories: those who needed to store data separately and those who wanted to carry it wherever they went.

“Both categories want to keep their data in one place and I have seen one person who uses a 400 gigabyte external hard drive,” he said.

“There are 10GB, 20GB, 40GB and 80GB external hard drives for laptops but these are not suitable for permanent use. These drives should be used when moving large amount of data. Video editing professionals often use this type of drive,” he said.

While the market for smaller "flash drives" (portable USB drives) is brimming with competition.

“In the market, there are Chinese-made products and genuine brands from Singapore. You can get Chinese made 1GB flash drives for about K15,000, while a genuine one costs around K40,000 or K50,000,” U Aung Myo Lwin said.