oic so i can say that RAE 2001 is the main authority for postgrad course yea. i heard that next RAE would be issued this 2008 right?most univ that is ranking 5* and 5 is the best univ to choose for postgrad course.

pls share wat bank account are u using at the moment in uk

natwest's step account and a savings account. my wife's using hsbc.

quite comparable laa the two. but lately natwest has been promoting lots of free goodies for students. not sure if applicable to international students or not.

unfortunately international students usually are not...
some universities also have special "tie-in agreements" with certain banks...for eg. UCL has an agreement with Barclays, where reps from the bank will be present during orientation week to sign up students. I tried opening the Step Account with natwest u mentioned, but UCL were "unable" to provide certain documentation that Natwest required. "We only provide what Barclays requires" that's what the registrar office told me.
Whereas I think LSE ties in with Natwest...
So depends....

For postgraduate research, will Sheffield University provide the student a computer?

With limited budjet, should I get a laptop in Malaysia or in UK?

I'm thinking of bringing my desktop (without cpu casing and monitor) to UK. Do you it is a wise move? Is there any shop near Sheffield to buy a cheap 19" LCD panel?

Thanks.

really? haaa didnt know that. but i did open my natwest account with UCL back in 2003, which was done within 10 minutes. change of policy perhaps. when i moved to sheffield, they gave me a savings account, which entitles me for all the student offers. bear in mind i dont hold a PR or anything that changes my international student status.

computers, electronics and its family (except mobile phones) are cheaper in msia. except when there are special deals like orange broadband's "subscribe for 1 year, get a laptop free!". crazy huh? hahhahaha.

anyways, i brought my desktop from msia. my suggestion:

i. take out the motherboard, harddisk, ram, display card and any other cards and put it in ur hand luggage.
ii. stuff ur empty casing with baju and all that to save space in ur main baggage.
iii. put the rest of ur desktop in the main baggage.

my first trip here, i fried my harddrive. second trip, i fried my mother board. after that, i meticulously separate the important peripherals and put it in my hand luggage. apparently the whole "strong x-ray could damage ur pc components" is no joke...

How many time free flight ticket (per year) provided by your scholarship?
What's about the monitor? Did you buy in UK?
Do you think we can use the mobile phone bought in Malaysia in UK?

Thanks.

Erm, since i'm sure 99% of us don't want to checkin our laptops, are laptops as easily as susceptible to the x-ray machines like other hardware? Should i be worried?

You will be asked to take out your laptop and put it on a tray for inspection. No worries

well, i was told (though i had no proof) that the x-ray machine for the hand luggage has different intensity (?) than the one they use for ur checked-in baggage. i dunno much about x-rays, but after a motherboard and harddrive down, i dont gamble anymore. i avoided all my electronics from going in the cargo.

X-rays always have the same energy. Intensity probably increases the chances of frying the electronics.

is it better for me to open HSBC in Malaysia before i come to UK? or better i open HSBC at UK?

Ya... how's the banking? Which bank should we use?

Some said yes, some said no.

Well, HSBC in Malaysia is unrelated (I think) to HSBC in UK. In UK, HSBC employees are b***hes. In other words, it is hard for you to open an account with them in UK.

Natwest FTW

Oh well, it depends on your convenience.. There are plenty to choose from, e.g. Barclays, Natwest, Llyods, HSBC, etc.

yup, HSBC in the UK has no relation whatsoever with msian HSBC. it's like two different bank that happens to share the same name, despite their tagline "the world's local bank". yeah right. my wife couldnt even manage her account or pay her HSBC credit card from msia. she gotta do all that online.

so if u still wanna open HSBC account, just wait till u're here.

Mobiles from Malaysia work fine in the UK and vice versa. If you've got enough space bring every bit of electronics you can from Malaysia starting from the most expensive as the 17.5% VAT on electronics here means that despite being of the same price pre-tax, every piece of electronics is bound to cost more.
Yeah there is a chance to fry it although I don't think it's too great. You can also use the manufacturer as a guideline. If one particular brand keeps failing when put in the checked-in cargo then it'll have a tendency to fail in the future.

Hard disks however, should always be carried by hand because you just never know how rough the luggage handlers are.
Yeah as azarimy said, open an account in the UK. You get a chequebook and a Solo debit card (very, very useful).

An advantage of HSBC is that you can withdraw cash in a Malaysian HSBC ATM with a comparatively lucrative exchange rate.

cheers

oh yeah, another thing. it's also good to have easy access to an account in msia, especially if u desperately need some money from ur parents, or ur friends asking u to buy something for them etc.

i have CIMBank account, but unfortunately they have weak international support. their bankcard is also useless abroad, despite all the logos on the card. the services arent activated. u can manage ur account online, but u cant transfer money bcoz it uses that PIN number system that they send to ur mobile phone. and only to msian mobile phones. a hassle, isnt it?

my wife is using maybank. u can use maybank's bankcard here in the UK to withdraw money directly from msian account. they'll charge RM12 everytime u withdraw, but when u withdraw RM2000, RM12 is chicken feed laa. dont withdraw small amounts though... rugi. owh, u gotta activate the card for use in overseas first. goto maybank to do this.

Never happened to me. I've shifted computer electronics (checked in) several times on my flights and nothing's happened... yet.

I guess you have to activate your CIMB ATM card in Malaysia first before you get to use it in UK. This applies to my credit card too.

As for the PIN number to mobile phone thingy, it applies to Maybank and Public Bank too. I am not sure whether you could add your UK account into your 'Favourite' list or not. Any account number under Favourite doesn't require any PIN number for future transactions. But you need to have PIN number to add account numbers into your Favourite list.

how about if i want to carry money to UK?is it better i bring cash or put in travellers cheque...becoz i'll bring a lot about 2000pound...is it better for me to carry in cash or Travel cheque? and i heard that we must declare at airport if we bring more than 1000pound nowadays. this is new rules that i know