Sink or Swim

I almost had an iMac. Last week when we went to the mall, I noticed that my husband looked pretty excited. When we reached Glorietta, I realized why. There was a BPI madness again on all computers and accessories. We were in search for a cheap 22″ LCD monitor so we jumped from one booth to another, hoping we can find a good deal. And what did I see?

This.

20-inch: 2.4GHz iMac. My dream machine. Well, next to 24-inch: 3.06GHz of course. It’s still pretty huge and the best part is, the store is offering it at a 0% interest. For only Php5,800 ($128++) a month, I can have an iMac. My own iMac. The one that I’ve been saving up for so long but no matter what I do, I just kept on spending on other trivial things. My husband said the monthly payment is even lower than what I used to pay for my notebook. So it’s all good. Great deal, awesome machine. The thing is I had second thoughts. I haven’t played with Mac before and know it will take me months before I get used to it. And then I’ll need to buy new graphic software, accessories, etc. Okay so I’m just making excuses, I know. While writing this, I wonder if I made a mistake on not getting one?

I came across an old post of mine about Nokia N96. Now that N97 and N98 have been launched, I’m hoping that I will now be able to afford this.

Nokia N96

Just like any other smartphones in the market, this is a multi-functional phone designed to integrate mobile communication with complete entertainment features. I’ve always been a fan of smartphones ever since I found out I can browse the net using these small gadgets. This particular smartphone is different from its predecessors because of advanced video and camera capabilities. The 5MP camera lets you take high resolution photos and record great videos with the help of stabilization feature. With a large 2.8″ screen, you would enjoy watching your TV shows, thanks to advanced television viewing feature (network-dependent). It stores up to 16GB of internal memory and can be expanded with an optional microSD card.

A quick look on the features:
Quad band GSM / GPRS / EDGE: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G and WLAN access.
Mobile TV (network-dependent feature).
GPS Navigation.
Instant upload to Flickr, Vox, Yahoo! and Google.
Full-HTML browser.
5-megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss optics.
High quality VGA camera in front of the phone, for video calling and self-portrait use.
Plays music files, and lets you download easily via Nokia Web.
Allows high-quality video calling using 3G
A built-in motion sensor that automatically rotates the screen when tilted as on the Nokia N82.

*photo from http://news.ecoustics.com

Welcome the latest Go Green gadget.

At only $699 with monitor, this latest piece of technology uses Intel’s latest mobile processor, is 80% smaller than a traditional PC and comes in seven different colors. Dell markets this as an environmentally friendly PC. It will use 70 % less energy than any mini-tower desktops and the packaging totally recycled. Dell is known to push out green initiatives and no better way to do it than on a mini-desktop.

More on CNET blog

Let me share with you our most cherished and useful purchase so far.

It’s the Coby 7″ Widescreen TFT Portable DVD Player.

Compact portable design
Swivel screen with 180-degree display
7″ Widescreen (16:9) TFT color display
DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD±R/RW, JPEG, and MP3 Compatible
Anti-Skip Circuitry
Dolby Digital Decoder
Digital and Analog AV outputs allow for use with home theater systems
Audio/Video input jack for video games, VCRs, or other AV sources
Headphone jacks for private listening (x2)
Multiple language, subtitle, and camera angle support
Parental lock control

This was just a last minute purchase, a couple of days before we went on a trip. I figured I’d need all the help I could get when entertaining a toddler on a two-hour trip. We didn’t have a budget for this but we bought one anyway. And because we paid for it in cash, they gave it to us for $130 instead of the original price of $142. Not that big but it was enough to pay for our dinner in a restaurant that day. The graphics quality is good for the price and although the video stops once or twice on bumpy roads, I am perfectly satisfied with it.

I was hesitant to buy this at first because what I really wanted was to buy those DVD players that can be mounted inside the car. Those types were a bit more expensive so we bought the laptop-type instead. To my relief, the monitor swivels so you can fold it and put it in a bag that you can latch on your car seat’s headrest. And when were not in the car, my daughter watched her DVDs inside the hotel room while my husband and I watched on the big TV. No competition / fighting on whose turn is it to watch. We we’re nothing but happy and peaceful vacationers.