Technology at War

This week, I have to complete my Research Project (30% of my Statistics final paper) and prepare a training material for my training end of next week. Both has been put on hold ever since my laptop started acting up again. I cannot take anymore chances. Not in my line of work where I rely on presentation slides for my training. I can totally make my training slides free but we have to manage client's perception too. For most participants, they expected to see PowerPoint slides as visuals. Even though visuals can also be in other written forms like flipcharts and posters, some would perceive the low-tech technique as not equally good compared to others.

Despite not being under warranty anymore, I gave Dell a call and they put me through to the technician. After some guided troubleshooting, the verdict is I have a faulty hard disk that has to be replaced. They need my original CD for OS installation in the new hard disk but for the life of me, I can't remember where on earth have I hid the CD. They can replace the CD for free and all that inclusive of another year warranty would cost me $900++. A brand new laptop from Dell starts from RM999. So, what would you do?

I opted for new laptop. I know no way would the final price of my laptop be RM999. I learnt my lesson that any purchase from Dell, might as well take up the 3 years warranty. It is much cheaper than activating the warranty after it has expired. So I spent few hours going through several model and comparing specs. The price of the few options I have customized ranged around RM2K - RM2.5K. Before placing the order, I wanted to sleep it over first. That was last night. This morning I feel totally in the mood to bring my laptop to Lowyat and fixed it once and for all.

I asked them to replace the hard disk, install XP and check the fan. It may have caused the system auto-shutting down. They fixed the fan for me. Cheaper than replacing it of course. All that costs me RM407. A lot cheaper than Dell warranty. Dell's salesperson is supposed to give me a call yesterday but they never did. Now I'm still in the process of updating and transferring files. One external hard disk backup done. One more to go. Now I have 320GB space so no problem storing all my backup files.

I spent about 3 hours lingering in Lowyat while waiting for them to repair my laptop. Lowyat is not a place for you to window shop if you can't resist gizmos and gadgets temptations. I saw Samsung Galaxy Tab few days ago while iPhone 4 hunting with hubby. Now I can't get it out of my mind. It would definitely be better for reading as compared to my iPod Touch. iPad would be too big for me. At RM2699, it certainly is pricier than few of my Dell options. The screen resolution is brilliant. It can replace my handphone. I think I've had my N73 for almost 5 years already. But then, the thought of putting 7" screen near my face like a phone sure is funny. If I go on a holiday, diving, I'd definitely need a smaller phone. That thought kills my desire for Galaxy Tab altogether.

However, Galaxy S has similar feature with Tab, with an even more brilliant screen and a nice phone size. The price is the same. Now, I'm salivating over S. Sigh! I offered to survey for price for Kak Na while I'm at Lowyat. That brings me to Canon shop for some lesson on EOS. Then I saw it... Powershot SX30IS. Yummyyy... Last time I was considering SX20IS with 20X zoom. SX30IS can give 35X wide zoom with 14.1MP. Wowww... wowwww... wowwww...Priced at RM1599, it certainly is very tempting. Sigh!

If I really want to squeeze my budget, I can certainly get both but I'm a very, very rational person. Do I NEED another camera? Is it urgent? Do I need a really expensive phone? All this while my handphone budget has never exceeded RM1500. But since I can use it for 5 years, it certainly is very worth it. Even laptops won't have that long a lifespan and not give any problem. But my N73 and iPod Touch has served me well so far. Hmmm... I guess I can wait a while longer before making any new purchases. If canon can give 35X zoom now, who knows how much more it can improve in future.

So here I am at home, still updating my Windows and installing applications and transferring backups. Nothing done on Research Project and training material yet. Sigh! Sigh! And double more Sigh! I hope I can get something done tomorrow before going to MIL's place. I promised to send my training material on Tuesday. I really hope that would give me enough time. For now, I'm so tired already. Bed has been calling me since about an hour ago. So Good Nite!