Is technology supposed to help us? Well, it doesn’t seem to help me at the moment. I am torn between choices and options and I know that I will keep thinking about it until I have actually purchased it. This is all MacBook Air’s fault.

So, Mee and I went to the local iStore yesterday to look at the MacBook Air 13” and the MacBook Air 11” as I said I would. The MBA 13” looked huge when placed beside MBA 11”. And we both agreed that MBA 11” will be our choice but we still find it a bit difficult to justify the full specification’s price against our needs or should I say my needs. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to regret for not getting the full specification MBA 11” and I think that I should sell my Samsung NC10. There is no point keeping two notebook of similar size even though I really like to keep my Samsung NC10 for testing purposes. It’s not like I have a lot of things to test but it’s always nice to have something there whenever you need it. By the way, I will probably get a lot less than half of the price that I paid about two years ago. Decisions, decisions. For my record, I still have a Pentium 4 computer sitting in the cupboard.

One of my favourite gadgets to watch is the next generation of PSP. I have never been so excited about the previous models of PSP, which is why I still have the “Phat PSP”. But this PSP2 attracted me in a way that it is a completely new PSP rather than an improve version of PSP. Previous PSPs are prone to the analog joystick failure. PSP2 seems to have addressed the issue and it even has two analog joysticks for better gaming experience. It has a touch screen, cameras (front and back), 3G, Bluetooth, wifi and the list doesn’t end here. Even the back panel is a multi-touch pad that can be used to control the movement of the game.

Size is a concern for some people and PSP2 is like the biggest handheld game console you will see in the market today. Honestly, when I choose my mobile phone, I will look at the size first. The reason that I am eyeing MBA 11” is also because of the size. But if I were going to choose a handheld console, I will not think twice but choose PSP2. Sony mentioned that consumers will not see a heavy price tag but I doubt it. On average, high specification mobile phones cost about £500. We shall see.

Yes, I have decided. Well, not totally. 70% of me have decided to go for the full specification of MacBook Air 11-inch while the rest thinks that MacBook Air 13-inch should still be in the equation. The full specification of MacBook Air 11-inch will include three upgrades from the base model; processor upgrades from 1.4GHz to 1.6GHz, memory module upgrades from 2GB to 4GB and 128GB flash drive. Honestly, I have been reading lots of user comments and some of them were quite satisfied with the base model for normal usage such as working on word documents, browsing, listening to music and watching movies. Some of them, on the other hand preferred to have the full specification MacBook Air as you will not be able to upgrade it afterwards. I guess I don’t want to be in the group of people where I might blame myself for not going for the upgrades at the end of the day.

I must say that my current Samsung NC10 serves me well and I wish it could be thinner. And it has a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB RAM and 160GB hard disk. So, you might say why do I need those upgrades if I were going to buy MacBook Air? I suppose I can do more if I have a more powerful machine.

Well, I have spoken to Mee a lot of times about MacBook Air and she is definitely frustrated by my un-deciding mind. The concerns that I have with MacBook Air 11-inch over MacBook Air 13-inch are the screen size and SD card slot. I have managed to convince myself that I don’t need the SD card reader which is only available on the MacBook Air 13-inch. It is a nice thing to have and considering that we just bought a Canon Powershot S95 which uses SD card, it will be a lot easier to do some backup on the go. However, imagine that I am using a camera that is using some other form of memory cards. Then to me, the SD card reader is not as useful as I thought it would be.

As for the screen size, I have to revisit the local iStore and check out both. Both Mee and I had briefly used the MacBook Air 11-inch when we were in Westfield, London and we were not bothered by the screen size; crystal clear and responsive machine. Or maybe I was too excited to have found out that there is a MacBook Air 11-inch in the market. Since then, I have been into the local iStore many times and I believe a few more visits should make my choice clearer.

About a week ago, I mentioned about HSBC sale. Apparently, most of the banks are offering great interest rates on insurance, personal loan and mortgage according to Yahoo! Finance. Well, I have personally never taken one of those but someday, I might. I wonder if you had ever noticed. In the afternoon, the advertisements on the TV are mostly about loans, insurance claiming, social security disability entitlement, injury and the likes. And most of them are not from renowned organisations. Imagine that current personal loan interest rate from bank is about 7.5%. One of the advertisements has an annual percentage of rates of more than 2000% written in small letter wordings at the bottom of the screen. In Malaysia, my friends and I would brand them as licensed loan sharks. “No win no fee” is also one of the terms that can be heard frequently. Is that true or are there any unknown charges until you actually contact them? Sometimes, things are just too good to be true.

Days have been quite normal. Work, eat and sleep describe it all. Well, of course there are more than that. I did not find myself playing any games or even fiddling around my HTC Desire. I have been reading reviews; MacBook Air reviews as mentioned in my previous post. In the end, I believe that I will select the 128GB model and upgrade the RAM to 4GB. For me, it’s a little bit sad as it is quite impossible to upgrade it once you ordered it. However, a close casing with non removable enclosures makes it looks tidy and feels sturdy. The questions for now are where and when I should buy it.

Enough said for MacBook Air. Mee and I went to town centre on Sunday and bought ourselves two inexpensive funky looking watches. As they were on promotion, we would normally think that they would be the last two available. However, we tried our luck and asked whether or not they had any new ones in stock. The answer was no. Today, Mee went to town centre and she saw that they have two new ones on the display. Now, are they being dishonest to us? Even though those two watches were on sale, but we would expect that our transaction was handled professionally. Just because of the unreliable staff, we had to go back to the shop tomorrow to ask for an explanation.

While at the town centre on Sunday, we managed to grab a thing and two at TKMaxx as they were having final clearance on some of their stocks. There were not many items to choose from as I believe that the sale has started long ago. Anyway, while we were queuing to pay, we saw some old design ash trays and humidor on display. Whenever I see those types of ash trays, I will think of the ash tray that my father used when he used to smoke. If I were a smoker, I will prefer those types of ash tray rather than nowadays’ glass ash tray that looks like a small plate.

Ever since MacBook Air 11-inch was announced, I have been paying a lot of attention on Apple products. Beforehand, I was tempted to buy an entry level MacBook which was priced at £849. The size and the weight were a concern as I will only be using it for travelling and light weight usage. Instead, I got myself a Samsung NC10 netbook. It serves me well and it only costs me £289 at that time. I think it was a lot easier to choose a netbook then compared to now. Every now and then, manufacturers would come up with a newer model of netbook but the specifications as I see it are not much difference from the rest. I am quite glad that I have bought a netbook myself because if I were to choose one now, I will have sleepless nights.

Right now, I have the MacBook Air 11-inch in mind to replace my Samsung NC10 netbook. I suppose I have maxed the potential of my Samsung NC10 but some of the things are hardware limitation. I have installed and tested several OS and found out that Linux is the most suitable OS on netbook. It’s free and it’s fast. Well, it’s fast for my usage. I have not gone to the trouble of upgrading the RAM from 1GB to 2GB which I believe it will make some difference, though not much. The screen resolution is something that I would love to be able to modify myself. At 1024X600, it is not ideal for me. It doesn’t do any good most of the webpages that I browse frequently. I have since refrained myself from anything which has a screen resolution of 1024X600. The touchpad is incredibly small. It wasn’t a real problem, at least not until you see MacBook Air’s touchpad.

Now, as soon as I saw the MacBook Air 11-inch, I started to plan, research, compare and think. Lots of people would say Apple products are expensive. If you ask who think Apple products are expensive, I would be the first one to put my hand up. Not anymore. I felt I was ignorant in the past even though I have considerable amount of IT knowledge. I have since went into every laptop manufacturers website; Dell, HP, Samsung, Lenovo and whatever brands you can think of and I couldn’t quite get something that matches MacBook Air.

Sony TZ series have impressive specifications sheet but the price alone can buy me a MacBook Air 11-inch, an iPhone 4 and an iPad altogether. Dell Adamo starts from £999 while Dell Vostro V130 starts from £539. Dell Vostro V130 seems like a good deal especially after personalised it to a specification near MacBook Air 11-inch, the price is around £730. For less than £100, you get a 13.3-inch screen and a bigger SSD size. However, the battery only lasts about 2 hours and it is half a kilo heavier. Lenovo U260 is also another one to watch out. US is selling the Lenovo U260 from $899 and by the time it reaches UK, I think it would be about the same price as MacBook Air 11-inch. However, the battery life is disappointing and there is no SSD storage option.

After comparing and reading reviews about various laptops, I came to realise that the number on the price tag is there for a reason. I may not be able to justify it previously, but I understand it now. I can’t even say Sony TZ series are expensive because for someone who needs to rely on Sony TZ series’ technology will think that it is worth every penny. Dell Vostro V130 may have a short battery life but for the price and specification, it will suit someone who is always near a power source. Even Samsung NC10 has served me well but I thought it is time to move on to have a machine that suits my needs. That’s when MacBook Air 11-inch comes in to my mind.

As expected, my mailboxes are getting less spammed as Christmas and New Year are over now. The sale had not been great this year compared to previous years. Not many online retailers are able to keep their prices low for too long especially with the increase of VAT and everything. On the other hand, health products and diet supplements are doing very well. I received emails almost daily from my favourite supplement drink, Maximuscle, articles about cheap phenphedrine, low prices on vitamin supplements and the likes. I think I had mentioned this before, receiving these types of mails is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, the offers are too much to miss and I might find myself buying things from them.

Gosh, I am so sleepy now and it’s not even midnight. I can barely open my eyes. I haven’t had coffee in the office for weeks and I almost had one today. I would probably have one tomorrow. I was sleepy in the office and the only thing that was keeping me awake was the tasks that I have been handed to do. Most of the are urgent and they are all lining up very closely. My prediction is, I will be busy until the day my holiday starts. I am almost like my other colleagues where busy is the word.