A Mom’s Guide to Technology

Ok, so I’ve just learnt that the Apple iMac is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slim that it is completely slick and space saving. Look at it’s image. That’s it. No bulky CPU unit to think about. Everything is within the monitor - can you freaking believe it???

I really kid you not!

Just imagine, the above is ALL that you will have on your workspace desk. I’m almost tempted to buy one now. It is costing about RM5,600 for the lot. That’s at least 2.5k more costlier than the standard CPU packages in the market. Do you think it’s worth it? I do. I certainly do. All for aesthetics and function.

This will be my next phone :-))))))))

It costs almost the same as my Motorola right now and although this will possibly be heavier to carry around, it has a WIFI feature, which means I get to surf for free at WIFI locations.

It also has a GPS feature which means I will never get lost (very important!) and has a larger screen than my current phone. Also, this means the Hubs and I can know each others whereabouts, not that we don’t trust each other but for super romantic and safety reasons.

Now the question is……do we get it from our dear friends at Celcom or do we remain loyal to Maxis??? Jeng-jeng-jeng!!!

Did you know??? That renovation works are about to begin in THE place for buying everything and anything you need to do with Information Technology???

Yes, Low Yat Plaza is about to undergo a multi-million dollar renovation this June lasting almost 2 years of their 500 retail space to make it Malaysia’s choice IT Lifestyle Mall. I hardly go there because I don’t need IT stuff very often but everytime I do, the place never fails to impress me with all the new gadgets that their retailers are selling. If you have never visited Low Yat Plaza, go……it is a very interesting experience!

We saw the new HP monitor yesterday at Mid Valley Megamall and although I was impressed with it’s ability to move into a vertical position, again I didn’t like it’s design. It had a very sharp screen and looked beautiful but I just didn’t like the surface look of it.

At the end of the day, most monitors of the same range are probably very similar so you really need to decide what it is exactly that is important to you and for us, Dell gives a 3 year warranty AND we like everything else about it so it becomes an easy decision. I wonder why I’m so governed by aesthetics? Has it anything to do with the fact that I’m an architect? It can’t be or I’d be looking at an Apple monitor then! For some reason, I think Apple is so gay…….like the I-Phone? It’s totally gay!!! Not that I have anything against gayness. Some of my best friends ARE gay.

I’ve had a Dell laptop that has been serving me very well for the last SIX years. OK, so it may not be the schmoozy Apple but hey, Dell works. For it’s price, it has been great! It’s small enough to carry anywhere and has enough memory to do the things I want to do and did I even mention Dell’s support? Swoon…..

This almost influences us to get the Dell 24 inch monitor, not only because it suits our purpose perfectly and even has an energy saving function but because it simply looks great. To us, great means simple without trying too hard. That’s what the above monitor does for me. I think I’m going to get it soon.

The Hubs has been searching for a new desktop monitor for our home since he believes I am quite serious with my work. I can’t wait to have a giant 24 inch monitor in front of me!

The Samsung is supposed to be a stylish monitor with a slim floating design and a translucent stand but it is a bit unstable and I don’t like the oval base together with the rectangle screen and the blending between curved surfaces versus straight edged surfaces; so although we only need a very basic monitor (meaning cheap too!), we probably won’t go for the Samsung because of it’s aesthetics!

We subscribe to the above for our home use which costs us RM88 per month inclusive of the phone line rental. It is supposed to give us at least 75% of the 1MB speed. Does it?

Absolutely not. This 1MB line that we have is probably shared between SOOOOOOOOOOO many users that at the end of the day, it takes forever to download or upload information. Perhaps if I use it in the wee hours of the morning, then it is faster since everyone else is asleep. It is really rubbish after testing out lines abroad, but what options do we have? Practically all vendors in Malaysia have rubbish lines. *sigh*

The Hubs and I, after doing some research, bought a pair of this nifty little gadget from Motorola KLCC for RM1,600 (I believe it was!! My memory fails me!) and up till today, we are both very happy with it.

We had spoken to a friend who was selling Blackberries and he recommended the Motorola as opposed to the I-phone or the older Blackberries. At that time, the latest Blackberry hadn’t come out yet and the I-phone wasn’t yet legal. Plus, the Motorola was a 3.5G phone. His only complaint was that it had a weaker battery but this is why Motorola gave us both a free car cable so that we could charge the phone if ever we ran out of battery in the car.

In all this time that we’ve had the phone, only in very rare instances (after heavy usage) did we need to charge the phone in the car. It has never been a problem.

Everything about the phone is just like a Blackberry, except that it’s faster and slimmer. There is touch email, Qwerty keyboard, you name it. Only the battery doesn’t last as long. And it looks pretty slick!