LOST - KLCC and PC Fair Special

The endless soap drama LOST is airing a special edition this weekend. This time, our special guest Melvin Tan is being left in chaos, confusions, and conflicts.

This time, our background is Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), or to be more exact, PIKOM PC Fair 2009 in KLCC.

 

Promotional Poster of LOST Special
(LOST = Getting Lost = Lords of Selling and Trading)

 

 
Crowd ...

 

I had been in PC Fair in Johor Bahru, Penang, and Ipoh. Here is a short list of previous trips.

2004 - JB City Square - My first thumb drive (512MB Transcend which cost RM200)

2005 - JB City Square - Logitech LX7 cordless mouse (RM140)

2006 - (forgotten ...)

2007 - Penang PISA - Sony NW-E013F MP3 Player (1GB, RM300)

2008 - Ipoh Indera Mahkota - WesternDigital External Hard Disk (160GB, RM200)

 

 

Many people told me that KL PC Fair is much larger than expected. That's why I was in the crowd this weekend. VIsiting PC Fair in KLCC.

Tee Hooi bought two thumb drives, FXuan bought Cyber Clean Cloth, Jiamin walked around (didn't ask what she bought).

So how about me?

I bought power adaptor for my 3-year Compaq Presario. RM145 being sucked off because of that. It was RM150 at first place. I rejected the power cord for RM5 rebate. (Yeah, I know that the cord is much more than RM5. But I don't want something extra with me.)

 

 

Usually, we can see the trend of IT market by touring around PC Fair. So let's see how it goes for this year.

1. PDA Phones (or touch-screen phones) emerge
   Credit to Apple which releases iPhone. Because of this, we also see HTC and pdaexpert in the hall (and iPhone, of course). One of my dream phones, HTC Diamond Touch, is at RM1999 each.
2. External Storage still rules
   Thumb drives are getting cheaper and cheaper (4GB at RM20?!), and you can even see 64GB thumb drive selling. If you don't mind having a heavier one, a 1TB desktop MyBook (RM330++) suits you also. And not to forget the portable external hard disks, although the prices seem to stabilize (eg. 160GB WD at RM169).
3. Lighter, lighter, and lighter
   I refer to netbooks and light laptops, not igniting PC Fair (lame joke ~~~). Can be expensive Sony and Toshiba, or budget Atom-powered. One of the irresistible offers is Mac AirBook (NP RM7000++) which cost only RM5000 (plus an iPod Shuffle)! But too bad that I don't like an external DVD burner, and too bad that I'm broke.
4. PC Fair with Mobile Broadband Fair hybrid
   Name any mobile broadband providers that you know. Celcom? Maxis? Digi? P1 WiMax? Izzi? ... You are right. They are all there, competing on who can seduce most new users. While puzzled over countless issues on speeds, contracts, capacity limit, payments, and also budget, I decided to KIV.

 

Now, let's get back to topic. LOST in the maze and LOST in so-called "promotions".

 

KLCC PC Fair is not a comfortable place to walk. FIrst, you need to take lift / staircases to Level 3. After getting into Hall 1, you do a hairpin reverse (Initial D?) to Hall 2. After that, get back to Hall 3 to Hall 5 in ground floor. First few halls are selling itemized products (PC, lappie, camera, phones, printers ...) while the accessories are cramped in the later halls. For my case, I need to go upstairs, squeeze with people, go downstairs, get rid of rows of mobile broadband promoters, and finally reach Hall 5 to get just a power adapter. Tiring and long journey, indeed.

And next, I am quite disappointed while some well-known brands are just disappeared from PC Fair, especially for speakers and headphones. Creative? Altec Lansing? Logitech (I saw mouse and keyboards in SEPARATED stalls, but no speakers)? Not being invited or something goes wrong? Only heaven knows.

Furthermore, as I mentioned above, mobile broadband promotions. In fact, I do not wish to blame the promoters (their job, anyway). But somehow, could it be just too annoying? A row of red shirts mumbling "Free Modem" around your ears, a row of blue shirts shouting "Mobile Broadband with no contract" (but with handling fee or penalty), a group of people surrounding you with brochures and comparison tables ... Well, I am having headache after walking out of PC Fair.

 
I like the design of the Maxis USB Modem, actually. Nuffnang's Music Bash?

Those in red are mobile broadband promoters. Try and count how many are there.

 

Frankly speaking, PC Fair is always noisy, chaotic, crowded, tempting, and confusing. However, this PC Fair in Kuala Lumpur tells me something.
KL PC Fair is not always full equipped. And over-promotion make people nausea.

Crowd again ...

 

P/S: As a broke technosexual, I had to suppress my desire to get the toys so hard in the hall. Alas ~

Another P/S: Sharing two of my favourite booths here.
The spaceship-like P1 WiMax, and the sophisticated pdaexpert "purple prisms".