shopping at PC fair

oh gosh! i’m poorer by RM700 after spending 4 hours at the recent PC fair at PISA on 7 may.

the picture you see here are the stuff i bought from the fair – except a 8GB SD card for my android phone, which was immediately installed. i need the card as i have too many aps on my phone and the memory is getting full. rhough i have so many aps, i only uses ½ of them. lol. guess this is because i’m the ‘kiasu’ type. i must have as many aps as possible… just in case. just in case i need to use or just in case i need to show off or just in case i need to tell that i too have the aps. i think because of the memory getting loaded that lately my phone seems to lag a lot. well, when i bought this card, the staff there installed for me and move my aps to the card (waited 10 mins!). cost: RM60.

first of all, i finally got my external hard-disk – samsung 2.5”, 500GB portable. i remember at the last PC fair in august last year, i had wanted to get one. i settle for Samsung brand as i heard it is quite good. also, it has cute colours. at first i wanted to get the blue one but the leather pouch for the HD is black in colour, whereas this maroon one that i got, the leather pouch is also in maroon colour (or wine red as i saw it somewhere on the net). cost: RM185.00

one of the main reason i want an external HD is to store my many photos. i am very fearful of all my photos disappearing into thin air if something went wrong with my PC. i did have lots of photos online (facebook and online album) but photos online are also not secure (especially if not using own host), so it’s better to have them on external HD.

i had also wanted to get a AV software since my bitdefender AV will expire in august. was trying to look for bitdefender but couldn’t find it. everywhere saw so many stalls selling kaspersky AV instead but i heard from a friend who had used kapresky that it is no good at all. finally settle on avira, since this one comes with premium internet security. actually i haven’t heard of avira until early this year, when the church bought a new PC, which comes pre-installed with avira. i look at it and find that is quite good. the AV comes with a free ‘tune up’  utilities. i will use only 2 license – for my desktop PC and for my laptop, while the 3rd license is for the church. cost: RM115 for 3 users license.

also, it seems that when i bought the sensonic USB flash drive from the same stall of the avira AV, i was given 3 months free avira AV license.  yes, i bought a 8 MB flash drive, sensonic brand… but this is not for me… it is for the church, like the avira AV.  cost: RM40.  (btw, you can see the avira recycled bag (red colour) in the picture.)

ahh… and finally i managed to get wi-fi modem.  was toying with the idea of getting one since early this year. since i do not sign up for data plan for my phone, i was thinking if i have a portable wi-fi modem, then ican get wi-fi easily for my phone. anyway, i have a maxis broadband account for a very long time (few years), where i have to pay RM68 every month (lite user, 3.0GB).  i hardly use the broadband modem these days. i usually use it only when i’m traveling (out of penang). so i was thinking of changing to pre-paid broadband at first.  then when i found out about the wi-fi  modem, i was thinking to myself might as well get it, since i can use both for my laptop and phone.

i  first knew about wi-fi modem during the ‘rocks for right’ concert few weeks ago. the ‘yes’ telco set up a stall there and i visited it. when i told the staff my needs, she recommend me their wi-fi modem… and after all the calculation, she said i have to pay RM399 for the modem, installation, first month subscription payment. i would have signed up at once if i have enough money, as i was impressed. so i told the staff, i’ll go and visit their agent one day to sign up.

then i checked the P1 wimax website and notice they also have wi-fi modem, so  was thinking of buying the PI one, since i’m now using PI wimax broadband at home, plus the P1 wi-fi. however, at the fair, i found out that the P1 wifi modem is without battery, of which i have to connect to a laptop to be able to use. so i didn’t buy it. i notice the staff is not friendly too when i told her that the P1 broadband portable modem that i have is not working on my laptop. it is working on my desktop but not laptop. i would have top up for P1 prepaid broadband if it is working. i asked the staff to check out my broadband modem for me but she refused.hmph! good lah, you lose one customer.

fed-up, i move next to the stall next P1, which is maxis, and the moment the staff introduced me to their wifi modem, i was hooked. the cost is RM380 for modem and activiation. monthly subscription is RM48 for 1.5 GB. i choose 1.5 and not 3.0 as i think it is enough as i seldom use it; as i said i use it only when traveling (or when in penang, using laptop, attending seminar, etc) . there is a rebate of RM10 for the first five months for the subscription fee for free gifts, beside the big colourful bag. there were also two RM10 parkson cash voucher and er… an air-tight flask (as you see on the picture.)

ok so you see, the total cost for my PC shopping is RM775 – RM60 (SD card for phone) + external HD RM185 + avira AV RM110 + pen drive RM40 + wifi modem RM380. less RM75 (pen drive and 1 license AV) from the church, so total i spent RM700.

oh no, poorer by RM700 in just one day. now, for lunch, i must go on bread and butter or instant mee. or i must resist from buying other things at least for 3 months. anyway, i seldom go shopping for anything, so once a year, spent on PC shopping ok i guess (if i do shop, it is usually for facial/body products/make up only).

i paid for the maxis wifi modem of RM328 via my debit card. you don’t expect me to carry around RM700 in my pocket, do you.  wth this receipt, went to the pikom counter for lucky draw coupon. Received 2 free gifts there – one is for the receipt of over RM100, i think, and another one is where i pre-registered at their website before the fair. i don’t remember which is for which – one is a mouse pad and one (as you see in the picture, bottom right) is quite interesting – a stick-it colourful writing pad in small strips. i thought my lucky draw would be enough time for the 6.00pm draw but after i walked round the place a bit, it was already 6.15pm and i had trouble looking for the way out.

so after buying some stuffs again, i went to claim lucky draw again, and with RM400 i though i could get 4 coupons but was told each person only one coupon. cheh! if i knew that, i would have gone to claim first with first RM100, and later go back and claim with another RM100. haha. that is if the staff did not recognize me.

anyway, i stayed back for the 8.00pm lucky draw but to my disappointment, only started at 8.15pm.  3 prizes of bluetooth headset, external hard-disk and er… forgot the other one. Before the lucky draw, there was a quiz of which, those who answered correctly, got a prize… but the prize was only a mouse-pad! if i knew the answer, i too would not want to answer as i don’t want such a cheap prize.

the MC announced that at 8.30 there will be another special lucky draw – and this time the prize is a netbook. wow! netbook!! oh my, i had been thinking of getting a netbook but my cash said no. so i said to myself i’d better stay back for the lucky draw and prayed that i can get it! again, as usual, the lucky draw started late… and oh no, i had no luck. Didn’t get it. how sad. sadder still that it was so late already and i lost my way in the dark in the huge PISA compound. instead of using a short-cut, i had to use a long way and walked so far. i had wanted to go out by the entrance opposite PDC  so that i can walk home but i couldn’t’ find that entrance. instead i used the relau entrance and had to walk first to PDC entrance junction… already tired… and it was dark… so i called my sister to fetch me home instead. i could have walked home if i did find the entrance opposite PDC in the first place (PISA to my home is only about 300 meters).

anyway, i’m satisfied with what i had bought… though of course i haven’t try the avira AV yet as i’ll wait till august to try it. then my samsung external HD, i haven’t try it yet too. will try it today, after this post maybe. i did try out the maxis wifi modem earlier today and was glad that it works fine with my handphone. the wifi did not work properly with my laptop though. it was working fine at first connection but after i disconnect to get the password and try again, didn’t seems to work. never mind, i’ll give it a try again. i google around for maxis wifi modem to read about the review and especially to read on how to use it. (yes it comes with a manual but still reading from the net, instructions from others who use it, is better).