My new Acer Aspire 4930G

I was spending the long weekend at my bro's house in Shah Alam last week when my cousins and I decided to go to Digital Mall PJ to buy some ahem DVDs. Little did I know that the supposedly less-than-50-ringgit trip ended up with a boom, and a big hole in my pocket.

Since none of the titles excites me, I decided to browse around one of the laptop shops. The need for a new laptop surfaced because my 3 years old Asus failed me and the cost of replacing the mother board is equavalent to any of those 10" netbook like Asus EEE pc and Acer Aspire One.

My first option when buying a new laptop will always be Asus but it usually costs more than any other brand with the same spec (putting Sony Viao and anything in the same class aside). When I laid my hand on the Acer Aspire 4930G, I immediately fell in love with it because of the Nvidia 9300M GS (256 MB of dedicated DDR2 VRAM) and the HDMI port. Yup, I don't have such high expectation but I guess the processor will do me just fine for basic Photoshop and killing the time playing Command & Conquer and DOTA. So now I can't wait to play CnC on my 32" Samsung LCD TV hehehe.

Apart from the HDMI port that attracts me, the price is also quite reasonable. For RM2999 (recommended retail price, how much the final price will depend on your negotiation skill), it is almost the same price for the Dell Studio Hybrid (with Bluray drive) that I almost ordered 2 weeks ago. But with the Dell I will need to connect it to my LCD TV since it doesn't come with a monitor. Plus, the Dell also doesn't have any dedicated graphic card for reasonable 3D gaming (even my Aspire 4930G could not handle Crysis and Call of Duty). However, the asthetic value of the Dell is so high that it will blend in perfectly with your LCD TV. Sigh.. I almost get carried away with it's cool factor that I was blinded by it's disabilities. Yes, I am a sucker for cool gadgets.

Now, the first big task for the new laptop is the post production job for my first High Definition movie from the Bali trip. I am not sure if the 2.0Ghz processor with 2GB RAM is capable of HD video processing but I guess I have to try to find out. If it's too hard for the laptop, maybe I will have to convert the video files to a more manageable format. But that does defeat the whole purpose of me having a HD camcorder haha. Yeap.. I am such a sucker for cool gadgets

My Balinese Adventure

What more to blog about Bali? I guess if i were to get 1 cent for every blog on Bali I would be a millionaire.

Lucky for me, the trip to Bali was accompanied by friends who are on the same frequency. The 5d4n trip seemed so short even though we barely wasted any time near Kuta. To us, to enjoy Bali is to stay away from Kuta during the day and enjoy the beautiful Bali landscape. Kuta really shines during the night where you can get to see all the colors of people getting wasted with all the cheap booze.

The best way to indulge in true Bali adventure is to rent a motorcycle. Nope you don't need any international license, just flash any license you have and the police will be more than happy to let you go. Just like what happened to me on our way to Kintamani :p

The cool mountain breeze of Kintamani, the green paddy field around Ubud and the majestic seaside temple of Tanah Lot is just a few of the things not to be missed when you are in Bali. However, I was kinda disappointed for not able to watch any of the Balinese dance and the Barongan. Maybe on future trip I will make that as my top priority.

Me, Anton, Shamsul and Risna painting shopping at Ubud. I bought the drawing next to me hehe

Truly, any trip to Bali will be unforgettable and I am having a hard time to forget how the scorching sun was burning my hands during the motorcycle ride.

The Real harfad Blog?

Yeah.. I know, this is not the first time I started a blog. I've always wanted my blog to be harfad.blogspot but I assumed it's already taken just like on the gmail account. Seems like the other harfad aren't a blogger anyway haha..