Now or Later

So, with my PC finally kicking the bucket - or in a state of a perpetual coma - I've decided to move on. I made my way to Apple's HQ at Hardwicke to meet up my ex-colleague, an old friend and a die-hard-knows-all Mac enthusiast, Mr. Kant. The guy with a English accent but full blown chinese-looking bloke who is half a head taller than me.

He was attending to a customer, who just bought a shiny white Macbook, he glanced up and saw me, "Hey Meng, be with you in a minute," he said.

I placed my bag on one of the sofas and made my way to the shelves, checking out the iPod accessories. But an open-case iMac caught my attention. Man, the insides of an iMac is so bloody intricate and complicated. I bend down a little to examine the interior. His customer left shortly after that. We started nerding about.

After we finish discussing the server problem we have at our office, I admitted, "Actually, that's not why I'm really here," I said to him, since I was coming here, might as well.

I folded my arms and looked up to him, "My PC at home finally exploded last Friday," I tell you, it's so strange looking up to talk to someone...so used to looking down, heh, "It's god-sent that it's finally konked, proper," but at the worst time. My neck is still aching from the Music Fest, so I suggest to him we sit down.

We sat on the sofa and his eyes popped out in disbelief, "Oh what happened?"

I explained to him that the motherboard had a mini Hiroshima, "So I'm in the market looking for a new system. An iMac to be precise," I pick up one of the brochures and pointed out to him, "The exact same one we bought from you earlier this year, but this time it's for myself."

What scared me was when he gave me this look, kinda like a Oh-man-you-should-not-buy-one-now, "Meng, ummm, how badly do you need a computer now?"

"Well, I kinda have to finish my portfolio by the 20th of August," I told him, and I've only have 30% of it done, "I'm desperately running out of time."

Kant took a long sigh, as if thinking of a solution, "You do know Apple recently announced the release date for Leopard (the new OS X) right?"

"Uh huh."

"If, if you can wait for just another 2-months, it'll be better," citing that they're gonna have the iMacs revamped, pre-loaded with the new and improved OS, along with a new keyboard and mighty mouse design, "On top of that, they might also phase out white and introduce a silver iMac!"

Woah! Thats waaay too cool.

I respond, "What about the upcoming PC Fair? I thought if the deals are sweet enough, I might just go for it during the fair." Because the last fair, they gave away free speakers (worth RM499 - RM799 depending on which model), wireless keyboard (worth RM200+) and a wireless mouse (worth just under RM200), which totals up to about RM1K in free gifts.

"Meng, you worked with us before, you know how this works. No promotions will be released or published until at least 3 days before the event itself. Heck, I wish I knew what they are gonna offer."

We discussed further on the possible new iMac, and I ask him to give me a holler the minute he has any information about the PC Fair promotion. I left Hardwicke about 10 minutes later.

Now I'm in a dilemma, should I just risk it and buy it at the fair and end up kicking myself 2-months later when they release a silver Mac - which could be possibly smaller, thinner and sleeker (and silver) or should I just invest in upgrading the RAM in my iBook to finish off my portfolio and get the silver Leopard iMac later.



Oh the predicament.