On Monday, he brought back a new Lenovo laptop. He got a colleague to buy the laptop from Malaysia. The next day, I found out the PC show 2007 starts on Thurday and I ask him why didn't he get it from there instead. But I'll come to that later.
I've been wanting to get a photo printer myself. The last IT show in March, fellow scrapbookers mentioned in the forum of the good deals they got from the IT show and since then, I've been waiting for the PC show in June to get my hands on the printer, praying that I can get the same good deals as them. On top of that, I wanted to get a graphic tablet as well as a mini optical mouse for the new laptop.
So this afternoon, I went to the PC show.
As expected, it was very crowded!
I managed to get the Epson printer, a set of ink cartridges, 2 packs of semi gloss photo paper, 1 really cute mini optical mouse and 1 spindle of printable DVD roms. Spent quite a bit, but was really happy to have finally got the printer.
Oh, back to the laptop. Bob bought the laptop from Malaysia and after conversion to Singapore dollars, he only paid S$1,100. And just now I went to the PC show, Lenovo booth was selling the same model at $1,599! Imagine the amount of money he saved! And imagine his proud face when I told him about it! One thing about the laptop that I'm really frustrated about is the "invisible" touch pad. Meaning to say, the touch pad, unlike the normal visible pad of black, is incorporated into the palm rest for a sleek look. But sleek doesn't mean good. Since I need to rest my palm on the palm rest (obviously!), I always accidentally brushed my hand on the touch pad and it either moved the cursor to another line of words while I'm typing halfway, or like what had happened just now, I published the post even though I'm not done with the typing. It really gets on my nerves! Other than that, I don't have any other complaints, yet! But one thing I noticed is the graphics, I realised my pictures actually look so much nicer on this laptop screen as compared to my good old LCD monitor.
And on my printer! The R270 uses ink technology that allows prints to last for 200 years and for a scrapbooker, it just makes sense that I should own one. I mean, what's the point of spending a fortune on acid-free papers and embellishments but using a photo that doesn't last as long? Maybe after 50 years, the scrap pages will still look as new, but the photos have already faded? It won't complete the "story" I meant to tell through the scrap pages I painstakingly made, right? After discussing with my fellow scrapbookers friends on the forum, I've decided to get this Epson R270. Actually I also wanted a printer that print better quality photos. The HP all-in-one printer that I have just doesn't print the right shade of colours. Since then, I've been set on getting a printer that prints photos in fabulous colours! So far, my fellow scrapbooker friends have all said they have no regrets getting this printer. I can't say yet, since the printer is still strapped onto the trolley in my hall now, I guess I will only set up the printer this weekend. I can't wait to print my first photo!
And at the PC show just now, I had a really frustrating encounter. I had to buy a set of ink cartridges for my new printer but I have to queue at a separate counter to make my purchase. And there are only 2 cashiers, one is for cash/nets and the other is for visa. I got a young boy to get me the set of inks and I went on to queue. And guess what, I actually stood at the same spot for at least 15 mins! The line did not move an inch! The stuffy air and shoving crowd worsen it further. I also realised that my full set of ink should consist of 6 cartridges instead of the 4 that the young boy gave to me, so I asked him about it, he told me there are only 4. Not convinced at all, since I remembered someone told me there were 6, I checked with another young girl, and guess what, she had to read the brochure I was holding to confirm that there are indeed 6 cartridges! I mean, she was wearing an Epson t-shirt so she has to at least know her products better that the young boy donned in Harvey Norman tee, right? The young boy saw me talking to the young girl, came up to me and further insisted there are only 4 cartridges, and he only saw 4!
By this time, the queue had started moving and I was standing just beside the shelves of cartridges. I read my brochure and found that I'm short of a light cyan and light magenta ink. Straining my eyes, I saw 2 full rows of both inks on the rack! I'm not going to leave the queue after having been in it for 20 mins. So I quickly got the young girl to take for me. And you know what young girl said? She passed me the inks and asked me am I SURE those are the correct ones. Oh hello, is she sure she's from Epson! This incident just further added fuel to already burning coals.
Slowly, I got nearer and nearer to the cashier and I realised the reason for the slow moving queue. The computer was down and staff had to do everything manually. Which means writing cash receipts by hand. Then this young girl was going down the queue taking the cartridges from us to "write down the price". I thought she was helping to write the cash receipts, but no! She just wrote some prices on the box and handed them back to us. And at the cashier, the lady manning the till had to write the cash receipt herself, causing further delay. Isn't it stupid? Since this young girl was already holding on the cartridges and stuff, why can't she just write the cash receipts at the same time, pack the cartridges into bags and passed the receipts to us for payment? And the cashier just need to process payment. Queue will move faster and customers will be happier! All in all, I queued for half an hour or 40 mins at least! It's such a waste of time! Even afterwards, 3 staff helped out in writing the receipts, it did nothing to appease my anger. But I just kept quiet of course lah, showing my blackest face and only rant and rave afterwards.
Hah.. Enough of ranting. I'm just glad that I finally got everything I've wished for. And that makes me happy at the end of the day. Besides, I've finally got to surf the net in the comfort of my bed, and I get to watch over Tara while she slept, as well as watch TV at the same time. So convenient! So contented!
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