Depending on the country you are from you can renew your passport either in Thailand or somewhere like Vietnam (we recently renewed a British passport in Da Nang and it was a fairly easy process and it took around 3 weeks to get the new passport)
as in country of origin. But I asked my partner again and he said that the last time when we applied for a tourist visa at the consulate in Penang they asked for the address but not for a proof of it (like id card, utility bill etc)
You get 60 days visa exemption for free when you arrive (no need for proof of residency). For the DTV or tourist visa that you apply for at the embassy you need proof of residency though