Category Archives: Tech Zone

MacBook零售價普查

Tech Zone

隨著新款Macbook相繼登場，筆者週二和週六將走訪各銷售點，提供最新報價！

(截至 3:30pm)

Apple Store
卡價。學生/教學人員送iPod Touch
新13″白 – $7788，教育價$7388。
新13″ unibody  – $9288，教育價$8488。有貨，週二買週五送貨。

旺角

西洋菜街 百老匯
卡、現金、分期同價
新13″白 – $7800
舊13″白 – $7000
新13″ unibody – 未有消息
舊13″ unibody – $10200, 未有減價打算

西洋菜街 鐳射
現金「平少少」
新13″白 – $7800
舊13″白 – $7400
新13″ unibody – 未有消息
舊13″ unibody – $10200, 未有減價打算

西洋菜街 豐澤
卡、現金、分期同價
新13″白 – $7800
舊13″白 – 無
新13″ unibody – 約一週
舊13″ unibody – $10200, 未有減價打算

西洋菜街 New Vision
卡、現金同價
新13″白 – $7800
舊13″白 – $7500 Display Unit
新13″ unibody – 約兩週
舊13″ unibody – $8488
*New Vision是眾多商號中唯一有員工知道13″ Unibody出左新機。不過位哥哥都唔知部機已經係’Pro’，令筆者有點失望。

旺電 Protech (113號)
現金減約5%
新13″白 – $7800
舊13″白 – $7400
新13″ unibody – 無
舊13″ unibody – $10200, 未有減價打算

旺電 Ultimate (205號)
現金、EPS減約4%
新13″白 – $7800
舊13″白 – 無
新13″ unibody – 月尾
舊13″ unibody – $10200, 未有減價打算

旺電 Inconix (318號)
現金95折、卡97折
新13″白 – $7800
舊13″白 – $7400 (Cash $7200)
新13″ unibody – 一週以上
舊13″ unibody – $10200, 可能減價

Note:
新13″白 – MB240ZP/A
舊13″白 – MB881ZP/A
舊13″ unibody – MB466ZP/A
新13″ unibody – MB990ZP/A

Who Wants to Buy a Mac through Retail?

Project n, Tech Zone, , ,

Is there even one reason to buy a Mac through a retail outlet in Hong Kong? Let’s see what you get if you buy retail instead of online,

– Not the newest model
– No free iPod Touch
– No educational discount. Even worse,
– Might not even get the retail price unless one pays cash

So unless one needs a Mac immediately–and mind you, WWDC is tomorrow–it’s almost certainly a better idea to buy online.

That said, if you really need to buy a Mac from retail, here is my very limiting recommendation,

Great – New Vision. Friendly staff and most importantly, there are currently offering the old White MacBook for HK$7000!

Poor – The computer store at the back of Mongkok Computer Center. Not only do they charge the retail price for the old White Macbook–and only when you pay cash–the staff is rude and ignorant. Don’t expect them to enlighten you on what’s new with Mac.

Random Thoughts

General, Tech Zone

24
Alright let’s not pretend we couldn’t have guessed how the story would end. Silly politics. Unrealistic travel time. Bullet-speed conversations. And of course, Jack Bauer is always right, particularly when it comes to torturing for information. Still the gunfights are second to none, which is really the only reason why I continue watching the show.

American Idol
I did my part–voted twenty times with 5 different phones for Adam Lambert–but in the end Kris Allen triumphed over Adam. Personally I really like Adam’s final performances more than Kris’, particularly the last song “No Boundaries”. Now on the song, I actually like it somewhat. The lyrics are terrible–e.g. “Just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams”–but I do enjoy the melody.

CSI:NY
I longer I watch this show I more I adore Gary Sinise, great acting. It is unfortunately that Emmanuelle Vaugier (Jessica Angell) is leaving the show, but at least fans will have the comfort that all the regular cast are staying, for now.

Storm Rider II (風雲II)
Due at the end of the year, this movies feels like one of Frank Miller’s, but made 10 years back. Seriously, these guys need to work more on the keying (aka “blue-screening”).



VirtualBox

Tech Zone

virtualbox

With my research on MMOPRG players comes the need to support multiple generations of Windows. I was getting so annoyed with quadruple-booting that I decided to virtualize everything instead. I hit on VirtualBox, a open source, cross-platform virtualization application. I have pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to setup virtualized, or guest, OS. It is really as simple as going through the normal setup of an OS, just within the window created by VirtualBox. Great.

That said, by giving out all these goodies for free no wonder Sun is in trouble financially…

Windows 7 on Tablet = Great!

Tech Zone, , , ,

Windows 7 on P1610

Windows has been so favorable in my sight for the past few days that I have decided to install it on my Fujitsu P1610 Tablet as well, and now I can say they are simply a match. Superbar works great, better tablet input panel (TIP) than Vista, and better still, runs way much faster than Vista. Ever since I went back to XP Tablet edition I mourned of losing all of Vista’s tablet-friendly features, but back then the trade-off on speed was simply too much to bear. Now comes Windows 7, which has all the perks of Vista but runs almost as fast as, if not faster, than XP. Dream come true!

This is what Vista should have been all along. Given the level of favorable opinions out on the street the migration to Windows 7 should be much faster than the one to Vista. And that hasn’t considered Virtual XP on Windows 7 yet.

Windows 7

Tech Zone, ,

Given all the positive feedback Windows 7 is getting–relative to Vista at least–I decided I should give it a try. So after a 3GB download and a surprisingly speedy installation, here I am blogging on Windows 7 64-bit RC 1!

So how’s it?
–It feel snappier. Now granted Vista 64-bit wasn’t that bad to start with on my desktop, but the difference with Vista 32-bit is night-and-day. Yes I know, I am comparing apples or oranges here.
–Aero overload. The whole glassy interface is a bit too much even for me, so this surely won’t please someone who appreciate simplicity, such as my ex-girlfriend. Aero peek is a nice feature though–it allows you to see small snapshots of all instances of the same application together.
–Smaller Footprint. A vanilla Vista installation with updates takes 20GB. Windows 7 is only taking 15 so far. Now the Beta was even smaller at ~10GB, but well…
–Better Internet Explorer. Finally it no longer takes ages to open a new tab. That said, Microsoft, as much as I thank you on this, I am still sticking with Firefox.
–Artistic/Silly/Un-Microsoft Wallpapers. Pick your word, but it is a break from scenery photos.