Chong Wei Sheng
11 hours ago
SNS Network and Intel are running a year-end PC sale at the concourse of Plaza Low Yat from 26 October to 8 November 2026, open daily from 10am to 10pm. Acer, ASUS, HP, JOI and Lenovo are all on the floor and the advertised starting price is RM399. Every year that RM399 line turns out to be a machine from an older generation with the smallest memory and storage the brand could get away with. For browsing, email and a couple of documents that is genuinely fine. The trouble starts the moment you open more than three browser tabs with a video call running, and by then the counter staff have already offered the upgrade path. I am looking for something my mother can use for WhatsApp Web, some light photo sorting and paying bills, so the cheap tier might actually be the honest answer rather than a compromise. The question is what the RM399 machine really is this year: last year's stock being cleared, or a current model built down to a price. If you have bought from one of these roadshows before, what did the cheap tier turn out to be, and what would you check on the display unit before handing over the card?
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Go on a weekday morning if you can. The concourse gets shoulder to shoulder by lunchtime and the display units lose their chargers, so you end up judging a laptop that is running on battery saver.
Ask what the warranty covers and who honours it, the roadshow reseller or the brand service centre. Two years of cover means nothing if the only drop-off point is a shop that closes when the roadshow ends.
Open the settings page on the display unit and read the exact processor model, not just the sticker name. The sticker says one family and the system information shows the slower part of it, which is usually where these roadshow prices come from.
For WhatsApp Web and paying bills, the cheap tier is honestly enough. I got a similar model three years ago for my parents and the only thing that has degraded is the battery, everything else still opens fine.
Compare it against a refurbished business laptop from the shops upstairs before you commit. A three-year-old ThinkPad with a proper keyboard and a matte screen does the same job and is easier to repair later.
Watch the upsell at the counter. They will offer extra memory and a bigger drive on the spot, and that is where the price quietly doubles. Decide your ceiling before you sit down, or you will leave with a different machine than the one you came for.