Archive for August, 2007

$150 laptop – ordered and waiting

General | Posted by Terence
Aug 15 2007

I have just put an order through for the USD $150 Medison Celebrity notebook. If not a scam, this would be the first successful attempt at creating a budget laptop; OLPC‘s original attempt at a $100 laptop is now estimated to cost around $200, and delays have meant it won’t be released till later this year.

The specs are reasonable – a Celeron 1.5GHz with 256mb RAM and 40gb HDD. Wireless LAN and 14″ WXGA screen included. Although shipping and service charge (2checkout.com will charge approx. $15 for processing) are not included, this will still turn out to be a very cheap laptop.

If it exists.

I won’t join the speculation on whether this is a scam or not (I will find out sooner or later) – but in any case 2checkout.com withhold payment from Medison pending my satisfactory reception of goods. At this point, I don’t see how I can lose out, but with a price tag that low it’s a gamble worth going for.

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ATM Withdrawal Limits Raised

China | Posted by Terence
Aug 05 2007

Apparently in mid-May the Central Bank in China quietly raised withdrawal limits for ATM machines from the previous 5,000RMB to 20,000RMB daily. This happened with very little fanfare and indeed it took me two months to find out about it! Like most policies in China, they are enacted behind closed doors and come into effect silently in the night.

This new limit is good news – it would make banking much easier for many people, although most banks will still retain a per-transaction limit (of 2,000 or 5,000 RMB) meaning having to use the ATM several times. Nonetheless, this is quicker than queueing at the bank and the news is welcomed by many. However, some fear they will suffer heavier losses if their bank cards are stolen or lost.

Regardless, banking in China is still extremely mah fan!

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