Mac City@Warehouse Sales (Up to 70% OFF)*!

*PROMOTION : Mac City@Warehouse Sales (Up to 70% OFF)*!

Mac City Warehouse Clearance Sale is located at Bargain Corner, Ground Floor ( Rainforest ), 1 Utama Shopping Center. Special clearance price for iPad, MacBook, iPhone and many more.
Other clearance items has been included speakers, car charger, casing, headphone, Macbook sleeve, iPad folding stand and many more.

You may present your ONECARD to get RM10 cash voucher to buy any items within the clearance sale.

iPad Air & iPad Mini with Retina Display

iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display were officially announced two days ago by Apple after almost one year the previous generations of iPad were launched.

The 5th generation iPad is called iPad Air as it is redesigned to be much lighter and thinner than the previous generation. iPad Air looks exactly like iPad mini and the only difference is the screen size. On the other hand, the new iPad mini now comes in Retina Display just as its model name tells. Both iPads come in two colours, space gray (black) and silver (white).

Both iPads are powered by 64-bit architecture A7 chip and M7 motion coprocessor. The A7 chip makes iPad Air up to 2x faster than the previous generation in both CPU and graphics performance. M7's function is to measure the motion of iPad by collecting data from the gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass. It offloads work from the A7 chip and uses lesser power than A7.

Just like the previous generations, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display let you enjoy up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music and up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network. There is no upgrade on the front and back cameras. For 1080p HD video recording, both iPads can have up to 3x video zoom.

Let's a have quick comparison on the spec and selling price of new iPads with iPad 4th gen:

Category	iPad Air	iPad 4th Gen	iPad mini with Retina Display
Processor	A7 chip	A6X chip	A7 chip
Dimension	Height: 240 mm Width: 169.5 mm Depth: 7.5 mm	Height: 241.2 mm Width: 185.7 mm Depth: 9.4 mm	Height: 200.0 mm Width: 134.7 mm Depth: 7.5 mm
Weight	469g (Wi-Fi)	652g (Wi-Fi)	331g
Display	9.7” Retina display	9.7” Retina display	7.9” Retina display
Resolution	2048 * 1536	2048 * 1536	2048 * 1536
Price	Wi-Fi (est) 16GB: RM 1499 32GB: RM 1799 64GB: RM 2099 128GB: RM 2399	Wi-Fi 16GB: RM 1449 32GB: RM 1699 64GB: RM 2029 128GB: RM 2349	Wi-Fi (est) 16GB: RM 1199 32GB: RM 1499 64GB: RM 1799 128GB: RM 2099

The iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display will be on sale from November onwards in the US. Not sure when the new iPads will be available in Malaysia. Could be next year?

Free OldTown White Coffee with RHB Cards

Other than the Fridays' Special, RHB has another ongoing promotion for its Credit and Debit cardmembers, Complimentary OldTown White Coffee, from 15th May to 31st December 2013.

 

 

With minimum spend of RM 30 and above in a single receipt, RHB Credit and Debit cardmembers are eligible to enjoy a cup of hot/ cold OldTown white coffee in all OldTown White Coffee outlets except except for all Airports, Legoland, KLCC, Menara MBC, BU8 and Genting Highlands.

 

Besides that, all existing RHB Credit/ Debit cardmembers (Principal and Supplementary/ Joint)  and new-to-bank approved Credit cardmembers (approved Principal Cardmembers and Supplementary/ Joint) are eligible to enrol in the iPad Mini Giveaway Contest. An iPad Mini will be given away weekly from 15th May to 14th August 2013 via computerized random selection system.

 

Minimum spend of RM 30 in a single receipt will earn 1 contest entry. Shortlisted participant will be contacted via phone and required to answer 1 question correctly in order to win. Total 12pcs iPad Mini will be given away in the contest. Each participant is only eligible to 1 prize.

 

So, start spending in OldTown White Coffee with your RHB Cards now, get a free cup of white coffee and stand a chance to win an iPad Mini!

 

 

Apple's Red Friday Sale

Similar to Black Friday in the United States, Apple will be having Red Friday Sale on this coming Friday 25th January 2013 to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Same as the Black Friday Sale, Apple will be offering one day discounts on Macs, iPads, iPods and accessories but not on iPhones. This Red Friday Sale is only available in Asia countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

There is no details on the deal but it should be same as previous year with discounts of up to 8% on iPads, 10% on iPod Touch, and a flat discount of RM 311 on all models of MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac. Free shipping will be offered as well.

If you're planning to get an iPad or other Apple products, remember to logon to Apple Store on this coming Friday to enjoy the discount. Happy shopping!

Income Tax Rebates

In Malaysia Budget 2013, individual income tax rate will be reduced by 1% for each grouped annual income tax exceeding RM2,500 to RM50,000.  It's already end of Year 2012 and we still have only 2 weeks left to prepare for the income tax rebates on Tax Assessment Year 2012.

Below is the list of individual relief types which are still in time to be done in these 2 weeks:

No.	Individual Relief Types	Amount (RM)
1	Medical expenses for parents	5,000 (Limited)
2	Education Fees (Individual)	5,000 (Limited)
3	Complete medical examination	500 (Limited)
4	Purchase of books, journals, magazines and publications	1,000 (Limited)
5	Purchase of personal computer	3,000 (Limited)
6	Net saving in SSPN's scheme	6,000 (Limited)
7	Purchase of sport equipment for sport activities	300 (Limited)
8	Subscription fees for broadband registered in the name of the individual	500 (Limited)
9	Life insurance dan EPF	6,000 (Limited)
10	Private Retirement Scheme	3,000 (Limited)

For purchase of personal computer, are tablets included in that category? If the tablet does not have the features of making phone calls and sending SMS/ MMS via telco service, then it is eligible for income tax rebate. In this case, iPad4 and iPad mini are entitled for the income tax rebate.

For verification or confirmation, you can always contact LHDN by phone 1-800-88-LHDN (5436) or email .

iPhone 5 Available in Malaysia on 14 December

In my previous post, I mentioned about the difficulties of supply chain that Apple was facing and iPhone 5 would only be available in Malaysia next year. Surprisingly, Apple managed to overcome this issue and is going to introduce iPhone 5 to more than 50 countries in December.

According to press info from Apple, below is the list of countries that are able to get iPhone 5 this month:


Dec 7: South Korea

Dec 14: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Dec 21: Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam.

What about the iPad with Retina Display (iPad 4) and iPad Mini? It is available in China starting today (7 December) and the good news is it is also available in Apple Store Malaysia now!

The selling price for iPad mini starts from RM 999, while the iPad with Retina Display starts from RM 1499. The iPad mini is selling cheaper than iPod Touch 5G (RM 1049) in Malaysia. Start shopping for your new gadgets now through Apple Store Online!

iPhone 5, iPad Mini & iPad 4 Launch Date

It is already 2 months since iPhone 5 was officially launched. Many of us are guessing when the Apple's latest product line up of iPhone 5, iPad Mini & iPad 4 will be officially available in Malaysia.

According to the news report of the Malay Mail, iPhone 5, iPad Mini & iPad 4 are very likely to be released in Malaysia after 2nd January 2013 due to 3 main reasons:

1. Apple is focusing to fulfill orders for Christmas sales in its key markets.
2. Apple may be facing constraints in the supply of its retina display touchscreens.
3. Foxconn, the manufacturer for Apple's products, is having difficulty to keep up with the demand.

If you are interested in Apple smartphone or tablet, should you just go ahead and purchase the current models this year or wait for the new models next year? Let's look at the performance benchmark of Apple iOS products done by Geekbench.

Based on the graph above, it's definitely worth to wait for the new models to arrive as both iPhone 5 and iPad 4 are more than 2 times more powerful than their predecessors. While for iPad Mini, its performance is slower than iPad 2.

A6 chip designed by Apple is a great success until there are rumours spreading around that Apple is looking to implement similar chips for its Mac and MacBook products to replace Intel chips.

iPod Touch 5th Generation

Apple has launched iPod Touch 5th generation in October and it is already available in Malaysia. This is the most iPhone like iPod Touch ever made by Apple.The iPod Touch 5G comes in a 4-inch Retina display that is exactly the same with iPhone 5 and it is even thinner than iPhone 5 by 1.5 mm.

iPod Touch 5G is powered by A5 chip, the same chip that is used to drive iPhone 4S. The front & back camera are also major upgrades as compared to the previous generation of iPod Touch. It seems that Apple is intending to make iPod Touch 5G as an alternative to Point-and-Shoot camera. Every iPod Touch 5G comes with a strap that Apple calls the loop to let you take the iPod just like a camera.

This is a quick comparison for the 3 new products of Apple:

Category	iPod Touch 5G	iPad Mini (Wifi)	iPhone 5
Processor	A5 chip	A5 chip	A6 chip
Dimension	Height: 123.4 mm Width: 58.6 mm Depth: 6.1 mm	Height: 200.0 mm Width: 134.7 mm Depth: 7.2 mm	Height: 123.8 mm Width: 58.6 mm Depth: 7.6 mm
Weight	88 g	308g	112 g
Display	4-inch Retina display	7.9-inch	4-inch Retina display
Resolution	1136 * 640	1024 * 768	1136 * 640
Back Camera	5 MP	5 MP	8 MP
Front Camera	1.2MP photos 720p HD video Backside illumination	1.2MP photos 720p HD video Backside illumination	1.2MP photos 720p HD video Backside illumination
Video Recording	1080p HD video recording	1080p HD video recording	1080p HD video recording
Earphones	Apple EarPods	N/A	Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic Storage and travel case
Talk Time	Music playback time: Up to 40 hours Video playback time: Up to 8 hours Charging times: Fast charge 2 hours (80% capacity), full charge 4 hours	Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi, watching video, or listening to music	Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G Browsing time: Up to 8 hours on LTE Up to 8 hours on 3G Up to 10 hours on Wifi Standby time: Up to 225 hours
Price	32GB RM1049 64GB RM1399	16GB RM1099 (est) 32GB RM1399 (est) 64GB RM1699 (est)	16GB RM2199 (est) 32GB RM2499 (est) 64GB RM2799 (est)

You can see from the table that iPod Touch 5G has almost all the features like iPhone 5 except it only has Wifi connection and unable to make phone calls but the price of iPod Touch 5G is 58% cheaper. If you compare iPod Touch 5G with iPad Mini, you would notice that iPad Mini is actually overpriced with a screen that is not Retina display.

The selling price of iPod Touch 5G in the US is USD 299 (RM 900) but it is selling at RM 1049 in Apple Store. Since iPad 2 is selling for RM 1199 now,  if the upcoming iPad Mini is priced at RM 1099, it will affect both iPad Mini and iPod Touch sales. I hope that by the time iPad Mini is launched in Malaysia, the iPod Touch 5G price would be revised to RM 900.

iPad mini & 4th iPad

Few months before, third generation iPad was launched "The New iPad" which they called it. Now Apple was unveiled officially about iPad Mini and fourth generation of new iPad.

However, there are a lot of rumors talking about iPad mini processor will be upgrade from A5X to A6X, data transmission of 8 pin lightning spec, 12 mega pixel camera, 720p video recording, and 7 inch screen size.

But come to the end iPad Mini will only have a 1024 x 768 resolution, CPU is using A5 duo core (same as iPhone 4S), while many were expecting a 7-inch screen, but Apply has gone for a 7.9-inch IPS display.  Today we will focus on reviewing iPad mini.

 

Timothy D.Cook, Apple CEO told in the press that IPad sales already been hit 100 Million units.

In PC tablet network web traffic share, iPad has occupied 91% share in the market while others 9% will be between Android and Windows.

Let see a simple comparison between iPad mini and New iPad,

Apple emphasis that new generation of A6X CPU & GPU also 2X times faster A5X.

New generation of iPad and iPhone 5 are looking forward of co-operation with global LTE telecommunication company for selling iPad. Estimate time to market will be around 2th Nov 2012.

Minimize of iPad tablet of iPad mini, which borrowing design inspirations from the new iPod Touch and iPhone 5, at only 7.2mm thick and weighing a mere 0.68 pounds (308g). 

iPad mini is 23% thinner than iPad.

 
Apple highlight that iPad mini thickness was as thin as a pencil.

When you hold iPad mini will have same feeling of as light as a pad of paper.

 
 
It runs on a last-gen A5 dual-core processor, but has improved Wi-Fi and also LTE connectivity right out of the box. At the back there is a 5MP iSight camera, and a FaceTime HD front-facing camera.

 Long press on Home button will activate Siri assistant app, of course it's along with iOS6.

Besides that, new change of iPad also using same 8 pin connector as iPhone 5 with lightning spec. which mean new generation of Apple product will use 8 pin spec.

In the press conference, Apple specially took Nexus 7 and iPad mini for comparison.

However, those who were expecting a Retina display will be a little disappointed, because the iPad Mini will only have a 1024 x 768 resolution – the same in the two-generations-old iPad 2. Also, while many were expecting a 7-inch screen, Apple has gone for a 7.9-inch IPS display, making it bigger than both the current 7-inch tablets available (and, therefore, its immediate competition): the Google Galaxy Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD.  

Apple has opinion of iPad mini has 4:3 screen size ratio, which viewing web page will be revealing more details and info. 

  In addition, Apple is also introducing the Smart Cover for the iPad Mini which will be available in five colours. 

 It's so surprising that third generation of New iPad was so fast disappeared in product line up. Even faster than iPad 2. but iPad 2 only left 16GB version. It mean that Apple will focus on 9.7 inch iPad and 7.9 inch iPad mini.

 Finally, Apple announce product launch for iPad mini and 4th iPad released countries. of course, they has not in Malaysia. But the nearest country will be Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore. Maybe you can buy one with a AA flight to there.

(image from: Apple)