This would be my first blog post for the month of May. I’ve been pretty much occupied the past several weeks with various types of work. At the same time I’ve been eyeing on a new laptop for the past several weeks to replace my loaned Acer Aspire 3683 laptop (technically it’s my brother’s laptop). After looking at this brochure, I’ve already decided which laptop that I’m going to buy since the spec and the price is within my budget:

Compaq Presario V3751AU on Brochure

At RM2199, it’s quite an affordable price to pay for a decent laptop with the technical spec listed. However, I needed more financial leverage since I wanted a monthly installment over the full amount which I needed to pay. I don’t want to pay in full cash because it will affect my monthly budget and savings.

So I started making some analysis on ways I could do to finance my new laptop. At first I wanted to apply for the RM125 per month under AEON Easy Payment scheme. However, after getting the information and did a rough calculation, the total amount I would have to pay under the Easy Payment plan would be (RM125 X 24 months) is RM3,000! WHAT? That’s RM801 more than the selling price! I’m not going to pay the credit company (in this case AEON Easy Payment scheme) that amount. On top of that, there is another 0.84% of interest per month equivalent to 10.08% a year.

My second option is to reduce the throat-choking Easy Payment scheme interest to a personal loan. The idea was to apply for a RM3,000 personal loan and pay back on a monthly payment. There was 2 option (CIMB Cash Express Micro Finance and AEON-Cash Personal Financing) since a lot of personal loans are not meant for small amount. I had to eliminate CIMB Cash Express because it’s a financial killer. At 24% interest yearly, it is one of the highest interest personal loans ever based on my findings. As for AEON-Cash Personal Financing, I had to apply for an AEON Credit Card in order for my loan to be approved. If I went for this, I would have to wait for another week or so to get my credit card approved and so on so fourth. Not what I had in mind.

My third option is to use my Petronas CIMB Bank credit card I just received a month ago. Utilizing the 0% monthly installment, I can just buy a laptop by just dividing the price of RM2199 with 12 months. That would make RM183.25 per month and best of all, interest free. The only issue is there aren’t many shops that provided this facility. Most of the shop I found have Maybank and Citibank 0% interest free payment plan. I’m not going to get another credit card for my financial sake. From my reading in forums and some blogs, I find that in order for me to get an interest free plan with CIMB Bank, I need to find a shop that uses a CIMB merchant processing machine. So, my quest for searching for the right shop begins.

After searching high and low at Low Yatt Plaza, one shop that I’ve found charge 4.5% on top of the laptop price before dividing it with 12 months. I didn’t go for that one. I finally found a shop that provides me with the monthly installment facility using my credit card. The shop wasn’t as busy as any other shop; in fact I was the only customer inside the shop. After dealing with the sales guy for 15 minutes, my transaction went through and I was on my way back with my brand new Compaq Presario V3751AU.

At home, I joyously unpacked my new laptop:

My New Compaq V3751AU package

Unfortunately the package I bought only got me an original Targus HP laptop bag and a RM35 optical mouse. By the way, the laptop I bought only comes with FreeDos so there was no Windows or any other operating system. I had to add more money if I wanted an operating system installed. This is where the hassle begins.

My Brand New Compaq V3751AU Unpacked loaded with FreeDOS

It took me one night for me to install a fresh copy of Microsoft Windows XP and then another 2 days for me to search for all the drivers since the package doesn’t include a driver CD. Even worse, the system is configured for Windows Vista when I tried searching for the drivers on HP Compaq official website. After searching around, I’ve gathered all the necessary download and bundled all the driver’s link into this single URL link:

I downloaded most of the drivers but only a few of them really work. Here’s a list of it which I did managed to note down that really works on my Compaq Presario V3751AU:

• SP34842A - BlueTooth Driver
• SP35333 - Wireless Assistant
• SP37950 - Network Controller Driver
• SP35414 - Webcam Driver

After all the driver was done installed, it was then time to make the transition to transfer all my working files from my previous laptop to my new laptop. I’m not the kind of person who uses back-up software because I know there will be a point where complication will arise. So I did it manually using a portable hard drive and thumb drives:

The Manual Side by Side Laptop File Transfer Process

It took me my whole Sunday weekend to complete the transition. Performance wise, since the processor is a dual core processor, there is a huge improvement when I’m running heavy multiple applications. The temperature is cooler and the CPU utilization is less likely to reach 100%. My only problem is I can’t play my Simcity 4 most probably because of my display card issue.

My Compaq 3751AU on Windows XP is ready for action

Why I didn’t choose Intel Core 2 Duo over AMD Turion 64 X2? Based on my finding from benchmarking charts, using Intel Core 2 Duo is slightly ahead of AMD Turion 64 X2. Then again, I’m looking for a bargain and not performance so I think I made a good choice.

Last Monday, I went for a meeting with my boss at the outskirt of KL City. After the meeting, we had a 3 hours gap before the next meeting. After taking lunch, my boss decided to check out the IT Heaven at Bukit Bintang namely, The Low Yatt Plaza. A junior colleague who tagged along never went to Low Yatt before so this was his first time there. He got overwhelmed by looking at so many IT products inside the mall.

Anyway, my boss owned an iPhone so he checked out The Mac store at the ground floor in Low Yatt Plaza. Inside the Mac store, I saw this:

MacBook Air Display at Mac Studio Sdn Bhd Low Yatt

Taking a closer look at the MacBook Air:

The MacBook Air

Testing the Mac was like the last time I tried using Ubuntu. Although it seems exciting and more fun to use Mac compared to Windows, I don’t think I’ll ever fit in being a Mac user. Here’s a list of why I will never use a Mac:

1. Change requires time to get used to, to learn new features, to utilize it to the max thus is can waste your productive time and lowers your output productivity
2. A lot of application I’m using is not built for Mac.
3. A Mac is just too flashy for me.
4. The current price for a MacBook Air is RM6229. I can get three lower end Core 2 Duo blank laptop for RM2,000 a piece.
5. I will never convert to a Mac

Now you have it, my 5 top reason why MacBook is not for me.

Last weekend, I went to The Curve. The best part of hanging out there is it is just 15 minutes drive from my house and the parking fees is literally free of charge (the trick is to buy something at Ikea). Besides that, there are 3 malls you can walk around if your leg and feet can handle it. I lost count of how many times I’ve visited The Curve Mutiara Damansara but I’ve never went to a place call the Big Apple Donuts. I’ve passed through in front of the shop so many times but I’ve been put off by the price I guess.

So last Sunday Afternoon, I decided to accompany LV for a treat at a Wi-Fi enabled shop and found out The Big Apple Donuts provide free Wi-Fi. So, after trying out a box of donuts worth RM9.50 per box, I think it’s worth the price I’m paying for:

Having a Treat at Big Apple Donuts The Curve Mutiara Damansara

The yummy donuts from Big Apple Donuts & Coffee

I guess I’ll be dropping there some other time soon.

In one of my previous job, I was a telemarketer selling a vacation club membership exclusively on through the phone. That was one of my most challenging job that I will never forget. That was also one of the most valuable exposures in the world of direct sales since I had to deal with rejections.

Earlier today, I mysteriously got a phone call by someone who didn’t even bother to introduce himself properly. I think one of the reasons he got my contact detail is because I recently collected my brand new CIMB Petronas Credit Card:

My Brand New Petronas CIMB Bank Credit Card

One of my reasons to apply the card was to enjoy the 2% rebate every time I pump my car with Petronas fuel. One thing that bugs me is I can’t apply my Kad Mesra to collect points at the machine itself. I wonder why? The other thing is, I suspect the credit card collection agent themselves is selling their database to these people. If not, how on earth did these people got my phone number, right? Anyway, back to my story.

The telemarketing guy then kept on talking and talking and talking and selling. I was very skeptical as always since I did this job before asked a few key questions. Since I was online that time, I did a quick search and found out about the company. They seem quite legitimate since at least they got a website eventhough the guy didn’t tell me their URL.

Sri Vacations Club

The most annoying part is, if you try to tell them that you’ll consider about it and get back to them later, they will always insist on the one time offer and you will not be eligible over the offered price later on. It would definitely scare someone who hasn’t been approached by these salespeople but it doesn’t scare me at all because I know that is just one of their persuading techniques.

Another part is they will always assume you are already sold so they keep on asking you to feed all the necessary information right up to your credit card number and ultimately, your 3 digit security number on the back of your credit card. I didn’t even bother to take my credit card out from my wallet and gave the guy a phony expiry number.

In the end, I got fed up with the guy who didn’t even gave me a chance to think for even one second and disconnected the call after almost half an hour on the line. I immediately switched off my handphone to prevent him from calling me back, at least temporarily. I’m sorry, I don’t think I am in need for a discount card or any holiday package which I have to pay RM488 upfront. If I am interested to buy, I’ll find and persuade one of you guys that I really like to give me the same price so that you can earn your commission. A trick I learned after becoming a telemarketer myself.

Update: My brother who holds a CIMB Credit Card earlier than me told me that he also received similar calls like I did twice. This is an indication that the bank themselves are selling leads for these direct sales company to gain more businesses.