My 2nd hoot from SITEX 2010 is the A.C. Ryan Playon! HD (SGD$349). It comes with a 2TB Samsung harddisk (Spinpoint F4EG) and free Wireless N Dongle. The reason I chose A.C. Ryan instead of other brands is because it can play almost all formats including RM & RMVB. I know Western Digital Live TV can’t play those formats.

The A.C. Ryan Playon! HD also supports NAS functionality and hence I will be off loading all my media stuffs into it from my NAS.

In terms of UI, it is simple and easy to use but I think the graphics element within the UI can be improved to make it more visually appealing.

The only complain I have so far with the Playon HD is the network only supports 10/100Mbps which makes transferring files to it extremely slow. The speed I am getting for transferring files to Playon HD is only 5MB/s. I may switch to using the free Wireless N Dongle that comes with the Playon HD, at least it supports up to 300Mbps which is 3x faster than the wired option.

Box Front

Box Back

Box Contents

Playon HD Front View

Playon HD Back View

Samsung HDD

UI

Hooted the My Passport Essential SE (1TB) (USB 3.0) from SITEX 2010 for SGD$189.90 (usual price is SGD$209.90). This is my first USB 3.0 device despite not having any computers that support USB 3.0. It is all about future proofing!

Since this portal harddrive supports USB 3.0, the connector on the harddrive itself is a USB 3.0 MicroUSB Port (which looks weird, see picture below) instead of the usual USB 2.0 MiniUSB port. But it is backward compatible meaning your USB 2.0 MicroUSB (NOT miniUSB) still can fit into the port.

USB 2.0 is called Hi-Speed, and now USB 3.0 is called Super Speed (SS).

Box Front

Box Contents

My Passport Essential SE (Silver)

USB 3.0 MicroUSB Female Port

USB 3.0 Cable

USB 3.0 MicroUSB Male Connector

Here are the following promotions for SingTel’s Singnet Broadband for Sitex 2009 available at all SingTel Retail shops or SingTel exclusive retailers, SingTel will not have any booth at Sitex 2009 this year.

SingTel’s promotion at Sitex 2009.

• Apple MacBook 13″ (White) worth $1,588 with 10Mbps Premium Plan @ $88/mth. Upgrade to 15Mbps for just $10/mth more.
• Free Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium Upgrade worth $219 @ with 10Mbps Premium Plan @ $49.90/mth OR 15Mbps Premium Plan @ $62.90/mth
• 15% off 6Mbps No-Frills Plan with free wireless modem @ $33.92/mth (U.P. $39.90)
• Receive free 2 months subscription for a new 10/15Mbps mio Home plan by signing up for Barclays Premier League or Barclays Premier League + ESPN Star Sports Channels.

SingTel’s Partner promotion at Sitex 2009. The partners are located in Sitex.

• Free Acer Aspire one 10.1″ UItra Slim Netbook (AO531h) worth $999 with 10Mbps Premium Plan @ $56/mth. Upgrade to 15Mbps for just $10/mth more. (SITEX 2009, Singapore Expo Hall 6, Foyer 2, Booth 6C20)
• Exclusive 500GB Hard Disk Drive: Free Acer Aspire Touch and Rotate Notebook (AS1820PTZ) worth $1,498 with 10Mbps Premium Plan @ $69.29/mth (SITEX 2009: Booth 6C20).
• Exclusive Model: Free Lenovo IdeaPad U150 Notebook (Black) worth $1,299 with 10Mbps Premium Plan @ $69.29/mth. (SITEX 2009: Booth 6A20).

Scanned Singnet Promotion Brochure By Boot Strike: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | More

There are no promotions for SingTel mobile because they just have that during the Suntec Christmas Fair which took place on the 21st and 22nd November 2009.

Sitex 2009 is happening at Singapore Expo on the 26th to 29th November 2009 at Hall 5 and 6. Check out all the scanned price lists of Sitex 2009 by Boot Strike.

• IT Show 2009
  • Date: 12th March 2009 to 15th March 2009
  • Venue: Suntec City (Level 1,2,3,4,6)
  • Website: http://www.itshow.com.sg/
• PC Show 2009
  • Date: 11th June 2009 to 14th June 2009
  • Venue: Suntec City
  • Website: http://www.thepcshow.com.sg/
• Comex 2009
  • Date: 10th September 2009 to 13th September 2009
  • Venue: Suntec City
  • Website: http://www.comexshow.com.sg/
• Sitex 2009
  • Date: 26th November 2009 to 29th November 2009
  • Venue: Singapore Expo (Hall 5, 6)
  • Website: http://www.sitex.com.sg/

Went to Sitex 2008 yesterday with Julian, Kelvin and Weiquan. Surprising it was not very crowded. Now I am starting to dislike exhibitions at Sitex because it is so far! This year Sitex is quite a disappointment, Ban Leong did not take part and hence no Razer products. After walking Hall 5 and 6 of Singapore Expo, it makes me feel that this exhibition is selling TV instead of computer! The prices for some of the stuffs are not that cheap at all. I got my D-Link DNS-323 at SGD$199 from Comex 2008 back in August 2008 but now they are selling at SGD$209? Prices should drop and not increase!

I think the most value for money are the memory cards, thumbdrives and portable hardisk. Kelvin and I got the SanDisk Ultra II (Class 4) 8GB SDHC for just SGD$33. Julian got the SanDisk Cruzer Micro Skin 4GB Thumbdrive for just SGD$12! I bought the exact same thumbdrive for SGD$19.90 at Giant Hypermarket a few months back!

I also got my brother a TravelPac Memory/SIM Card Reader for SGD$26.90.

I did not get for Li Xiang the Samsung 2233SW 22” widescreen LCD monitor because the images look squashed on the monitor perhaps due to the long width and short height and a weird resolution of 1920×1080 and an aspect ratio of 16:9 whereas widescreen monitors all have an aspect ratio of 16:10.

After Sitex 2008, we proceed on to Bugis to have lunch and then went to Sim Lim Square! Julian bought Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir for SGD$39.90, Weiquan bought the X-Mini Capsule Speakers for SGD$35 and Kelvin bought a memory card reader for SGD$12.

Judging from what we buy at Sim Lim Square, there is nothing much to buy at Sitex 2008 actually.

I am aiming for the D-Link DIR-655 wireless N router to upgrade my home network “infrastructure”, it is selling at SGD$139 during the special promotion but it is limited to the first 30 customers at 6.30pm yesterday. The usual price is SGD$229. Hopefully the next IT exhibition (IT Show 2009) on the 12th March 2009 will have better promotions for it.

Schedules for 2009 IT exhibitions:

• IT Show 2009: 12th March 2009 to 15th March 2009 (Suntec City)
• The PC Show 2009: 11th June 2009 to 14th June 2009 (Suntec City)
• Comex 2009: 10th September 2009 to 13th September 2009 (Suntec City)
• Sitex 2009: 26th November 2009 to 29th November 2009 (Singapore Expo)