Here's my complain.
I'm a mac user for a while and a long time pc/sgi user. I'm very familiar with devices or platform issues. Atleast that's what I had told the salesman at mac asia. At that very moment, I was enquiring informations about Macbook pro which I desperately wanting to buy one.
But problem is, due to the one of the salesman which I feels better to talk to not around that day. I have to look for other salesman to ask about the macbook pro. The moment I steps in, I feel I wasn't really attended or they don't really pay attention to ppl who doesn't dress like rich enough to buy their machine.
ok... i can understand that. I know i was dressing up like a low wage designer anyway.
So I took the initiative to ask one of the guy about the laptop i had my eye on. But unfortunately he doesn't really sounds friendly to me at all. No good from the sales and marketing point of view. He sounds a little cocky actually.
What I was trying to find out was the upgrades for ram if i want to tops it up with 2 gigs and see if there's a chance to trade in the 512mb ram comes with it.
I was surprised that they don't willing to do it. This really pissed me off because this is not the way that business suppose to be. and the most pissing thing about it is the way they address the matter. They even said the 2 gig ram going to cost me about RM 1700 - 1800 (800-900 each gig). Which comes to my suprise that kingston also selling those (what they so called custom made ram) PC2-5300 for RM430 each at lowyat. And keep argueing that those ram from lowyat will damage the machine.
Well... he sorta like commented that I didn't do my research b4 visiting them.
At some point, I feel I'm abit offended here.
The ram they were talking about is the exact ram that we are using in our pentium M processors laptop at the moment. And it's the exact ram that we are using for the latest duo core pc laptops. how come it's not compatible with macbook pro?? they are selling it for higher price. i'm ok with it. but wtf they wanna make it sounds like going to void the warranty (that's exactly what he said). I read it from somewhere that mac laptops ram is self-serviceable since a few years ago. I guess our local Mac asia is misleading our local mac users.



anyway, I've got better service from some other shops at lowyat. In fact I've visited 2 shops yesterday. 1 at 2nd floor Cycom which is selling mac at a corner. They willing to trade in back the ram and install the market priced 2 gig ram for me at a reasonable price. While the ground floor mac shop (which is authorised dealer, seems like not Mac asia) does gave me a better feeling. atleast they treat me like a customer and willing to give me quite a few free gifts like Mouse and a carry case.

I guess i'll be back to lowyat for the purchase in this month.

Does anyone out there got the same feeling as I do?

guys.
i didn't say all salesmen are like that. just that particular day and particular time i was attended by that fella that got up to my nerves. well... generally I don want to point finger to the exact shop (in damansara area) because i do feel some other sales person actually serves me quite well. that's why i bought mac in the 1st place.
The things that bug me most in the most case is i feel alot of them are not professional enough to know enough computing (pc part especially the intel stuff) which greatly related to what they are selling now.
They don know what the heck is PC2-5300 or they actually pretend to be not knowing it. But it could be all due to sales target. but being ignorant to potential customer as an "effort" to close the sales... I rather they be a little honest as in the case for the RAM in macbook pro. Even if they really donno what happening in the pc market. fine... atleast don't tell me that the pc2-5300 from pc notebook will "void" the warranty and "damage" ur macbook pro. Atleast I did my research b4 I say this.
I've visited mymug just now. seems like isn't a good place to rant about it but i'll post it anyway.

Actually, I do feel that the experience in buying a mac is different from buying a pc. It's just like comparing to buying a Gen2 (which is not bad) to buying a BMW. Atleast I feel selling a real BMW requires u more knowledge in the car than bullshitting about using fuel other than Shell will "void" ur fuel tank warranty and making ur BMW crawl under it's feet.

Really, I don't mind buying Kingston ram from apple cost 800+ if it's different from the Kingston ram (350-430RM) selling out there. But atleast do some homework to make sure u can convince me that it runs better or show me prove that there's really difference between those rams.

anyway, I'm still going to buy the macbook pro anyway. for sure I won't buy it from the salesman I've mentioned.

Cheers....

xaw5126 : Thanks for the info.
I'll take a look in to this matter and going to find out about this. About the non-apple ram may cause strange errors. I guess that could be a long beep after an standard ram installed in 1st boot. other than that. I guess it shouldn't have any problems.
The thing about mac that i know all this time is they always mislead their consumers. for example, I've got an ibook g3 dual usb version. they claim tiger is not supported but i got it work anyway. They said the hd got to be from mac but i've changed it anyway.
another experience with airport card which is I got an info from their salesman that airport card (non-extreme) is not compatible with ibook but i've double check it from internet. it's compatible with my ibook.
Even the batteries for ibook has got an issue with them. i end up buying it from mail order because the pricing here is crazy (imagine 700 vs 380RM).

at some point.... i'm just a little disapointed with how they handle customers.

I guess for now i can conclude that all i need to find out is whether the standard pc2-5300 really has got that much of difference from apple kingston ram. if it does, is it cheaper to order from kingston dealer than buying from apple? for this, i believe kingston dealer can do it tho.

Cheers and have a nice day.

Jeyadev,
first off, I owe u an apology if i've offended u.
I do appreciate what U've answered me so far.
Reason for posting up here is because I have no idea about channeling thru ur superior. Well... reason why i've posted here is just voicing out my opinion on general feeling from the experience in visiting mac shops.
Honestly, if the salesman mentioned do take the initiative to explain me the details about the purchase. I'd already lay down the cash on the table. Anyway, I'm happy that u take this matter seriously. And I like visiting mac asia at one utama actually, some guys there are quite attentive and willing to answer my questions (not sure whether u are among the good guys i'm talking about).
But still, there's some doubt which delayed my potential purchases.
1) Airport card - http://macasia.com.my/acc/apple.html <--- I saw the list of accessories here in official mac asia website. I've made calls to check with mac asia about this product and they even verified that it's selling "AirPort Card - RM 359". But I've got the different answer at the outlet. They told me that the card has been stoped productions and only 2nd hand card is available and no warranty is available for it. Pricing wise, they said it's 450-490rm for the airport card (which he stressed that it's not extreme card). Now here's another problem... why does the previous phone calls verified that the RM359 card is available? But the wierd part is this guy who told me from phone doesn't know that airport card works with older g3 ibooks.
2) Ram issue about the macbook pro which I hope to hear some input from different ppl out there. I just want to do a smart investment instead of spending money like water.
3) Mighty mouse - Sorry again if I'm being too straight. I find that most of the salesman including those in lowyat doesn't really take much initiative to demostrate the mighty mouse. again.... if more effort has been done. like showing me how it works. I might have already bought it. instead of I have to go to a few websites or get hold on my friends mouse to understand how it works.

btw, I'm a little disapointed in not seeing any macbook pro demo units available in mac store. It has weakened the desire to do the purchase so soon until i see one running. And hope i'll be allowed to have a hands on it b4 i fork out the cash/visa.

Overall, I do hope my rant sounds a little more constructive for ppl who work their ass out for the company they love. I'm not the kind of guys confrontational enough to kick right thru the front door to scold ppl in shop or make ur boss yell at ppl for the complain mail or phone calls. So I hope u don't view me as smearing the image of ur company.

I'm also working in an industry which I have to face alot of critiques and confrontations everyday from clients and even boss. Clients pay us quite a fortune to get a TV commercials done and be aired in tv. they demand for quality out of every penny they spend on us. and deadline is like hell. so when it comes to time I do the purchase, I'm starting to be alot more concerns at the quality of services from seller.

Ppl are dying out there to improve their services and offers to get more sales. why can't u guys do better to make ppl who do the purchase happier? I can tell u i know there's alot of ppl (who doesn't care about legality for softwares licenses) successfully running osx86 in their pc hardware (especially M'sia the pirate heaven). This also means extra works has to be done to convince ppl to buy mac hardware. yeah... xp is install-able in intel mac now (only legit way to have both os). vid drive isn't ready yet but i'm sure it's going to be release soon (one of the reason i buy ur mac, and i own legal winxp). But i guess this is not the case in M'sia where most ppl just take it for granted.

well... i guess it's enuff for now. I'm getting a little tired.

xaw5126 : hey man. Thanks for clearing things up for us. I do find out that KVR and KTA does has a difference. But so far, What I've found out from other forums is there's a few vendors out there that's selling ram which is supporting Macbook pro.
here's the link.
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.c...s=Show+Upgrades

I actually found more along the way but it's a little late now and i've to search thru the web again to post up the links.
Generally, I've read thru some sites for example in mymug forums. Using wrong ram does cause some funny problems. but I've upgraded my old mac myself b4 so i believe I can find the right ram on my own with proper research.

BegRedBarr : thanks for ur support. really, what I was trying to evoke here isn't hatred but to hear some voice from other consumer out there on how they feel about the services they've experienced so far. And I do hope someone can give me a recommendations on the purchase.

ultimately, i'm wasn't trying to spread the informations of how bad the service I've got from certain shop (because I do see there's some nice ppl in that shop too). All I did was just seeking for some answers which possibly better to be answered by users instead making phone calls to the superior and make it a hard day for the salesman.
ok.... Sorry if my move does make the situation worse. But so far I can see some healthy responds from ppl where they even share their experience from buying PDAs.

xaw5126, I seriously love mac very much. and I do hope to meet u to have a chat about the purchase. But seeing http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1584 tells me I better hold up a little until revised version D is out in our local shops. or perhaps u can tell me which version of stock u guys have now?

I'm getting a little busy this month. But I'll definately start the purchase on 15th after I've sort out the dual opteron purchase for my studio. Maybe before this, I hope u willing to answer a few more questions.

1) Is educator (lecturer, teacher) and students got any chance for a discount? atleast this is what I've read from other mac forums. I'm an educator myself as a part time lecturer for local college while working full time in production. I've got quite alot of discount last year when I bought my previous laptop.

2) Is Macbook pro 800/100gig hd with 5400rpm got an optional upgrade to 7200rpm?? (it's written here. http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/whatsinside.html)

3) Is there possible that I upgrade the ram to tops it up to 2 gig if i do the purchase? so far... to me... buying the macbook pro and force me to keep the 512mb came with it (buying 2gig seperately) is a little overkill from consumer point of view. can we be a little flexible?? (sorry, this is the main reason I lose control of my temper)

4) Is there a chance that I can get a later revision model of MBP (refere to the link mentioned for the reason)? or atleast check for me what revision our malaysian market getting at the moment?

5) Last, since I'm being such a b****. Will u still be happy to sell the product to me? (I sure hope I won't get a box full of worms... haha)

"Unless of course, if you buy a Windows notebook, I will personally kick your arse"
Hey... I'm selling off my Ferrari 4k and breaking piggy bank just so I can buy macbook pro. Buying a window notebook? i'm not that nuts.

At the end, I do hope that everybody are still happy with our life. No broken limp or bleeding noses. My action in posting this up may cause some sour feeling for some ppl. So far as we can see, thread like this can be very informative for everybody. Instead of all of us keep the mouth shut all of the sudden and leaving the viewer in wonder (if i stopped and just make the damn complain phone call). What we came thru so far is quite informative and evocative as well. Feed backs so far do shows that they maybe some problems with the marketing model and at some point buying products seems to be lack of flexibility from many aspect.

Remember the guy who protest to Apple in States on apple not providing batteries replacement for the 1st gen Ipod? He succeeded in the campaign he pulled off to sign a petition to ask Apple to improve their flexibility in fixing the matter.

Well, he inspired me alot in standing on our consumer rights.

As for filing a report to consumer society. Not a good idea to me because it might hurt mac asia's reputations even further. So far our discussions here does evoke some positive feedback from a representitive.
So I do hope xaw5126 can take this as an opportunity to clear up the myst.
Thanks in advance for the answers.

p.s. reading my own comment make me hate myself for being such a b**** after all. haha... Now u should see how excited I was for buying a new mac.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

look at this Jeyadev...
this is why i say intel mac is the best selection so far.
it's official that intel mac support window XP.
LOL

Xaw5126 : Jeyadev. good that u gave me quick responds resolve the complications of matter. Thanks and I'm very much appreciate what u did so far. I'm getting my letter from college tomorrow and I'll probably drop by next week because I need to get my work done. Alot of serious deadline coming up and there's another purchase for 2 opteron for studio at the same time.
Since the matter for dual boot with xp is quite steady. I've been wondering if my discount request is still valid for my 2nd purchase of an Intel Imac and Mac mini?
btw, I'm still waiting for ur quotation. Thanks again for ur hospitality.



Coming from experience as technical directing in CG animation business and teaching in college. I really can't "tahan" myself from being nitpick on answers which doesn't sounds right.
We are serious about hardware that we use . So I do agree with BegRedBarr that more indepth knowledge in to what's inside their new shiny Intel processors and devices is quite crucial to make a satisfying sale to former wintel users.
Bare in mind that alot of mac users is not only Office 2004 user for normal documents. Most of us are elite graphic artist or designers. But with Apple putting on war to Pc makers (dell, gateway, sony and etc), I'm sure u'll come across alot of enthusiast like I do. Ppl who throw linux, window and mac together in a box.
I sincerely hope there will be improvements in knowledge atleast from the point of view of ppl who's going to use ur products (artist, designers, 2d/3d animators,office users). Very soon, alot of existing gamers, programmers and etc will seriously look in to the mac hardware. If answers aren't accurate to them, they might feel an uneasy feeling in buying ur hardware.
From a pricing stand point of view. I feel with intel impletations, Mac is as affordable as Pcs now when u include the software licenses (legal ones) that doesn't comes with a pc hardware.
That's just my 2cent. Hope to get ur email soon. Jeyadev.

This post has been edited by kfc: Apr 6 2006, 03:43 PM

Hi Jeyadev,

I was trying to find out the amount of discount i'm going to get.
I did a little research from apple store website.
what i got from apple store is
http://store.apple.com/
<--- $2599 USD with the difference of 100gig 7200rpm hard disk upgrade. compare to 2.0 gig MB pro standard package which comes with 5600rpm hdisk.

Live mid-market rates as of 2006.04.08 12:06:02 UTC.
2,599.00 USD
United States Dollars = 9,541.58 MYR
Malaysia Ringgits
1 USD = 3.67125 MYR 1 MYR = 0.272387 USD

10,199 RM selling in M'sia is considerably reasonable consider with the ilife included (iWork '06 preinstalled [Add $79USD]) and the margin for shipping etc. I've got the quote from Jeyadev which is 10,688RM. I don't think it's over quote. Still happy with this.

Now looking at www.apple.com/education/store/
<--- now this is 2,389.00 USD. which in conversion is

Live mid-market rates as of 2006.04.08 12:19:02 UTC.
2,389.00 USD
United States Dollars = 8,770.62 MYR
Malaysia Ringgits
1 USD = 3.67125 MYR 1 MYR = 0.272387 USD

Judging from the margin (estimated) of buying MBP in malaysia which is roughly 1k difference. I think I might can imagine is about 9,770.62 RM for buying the spec of MBP (with 7200 HDisk upgrade. 2.0gig duocore version) that i've got the quote from Jeyadev.

Now comparing 10,688RM to 9,770.62 RM. There's nearly a 10% discount. So I guess what Jeyadev told me from the phone is quite accurate. So to Jeyadev.
Now questions back to, whether I can successfully get my applications for discount through? I guess fellow educators and students can keep their eye on this thread from now on.

status at the moment is, I'm getting real bz with work. working over night for saturday and sunday. I'll get the letter from school on monday and possibly i'll drop by on tuesday to meet jeyadev to resolve the matter for application.


FaTJ3sT3R aka Th!NjOK3R : Dude, this is basically the kinda feedback i got from my complain. But I guess the reason is because of the steps that we need to take to get the applications approved from Apple seems to be quite complicated. Mac Asia needs supporting documents and to refere to Apple to get our discounts. Mac Studio and some other dealer in Malaysia doesn't provide this. I've comfirmed it by visiting Mac studio in Ikano and Midvalley. Both answered me no. Even the one in lowyat.
I guess Mac Asia can help us to get this done. But again, I hope Mac Asia can make this process a little easier by informing the rest of the Mac Asia salesman regarding the process for the application. Atleast don't just straight answer "No" lar . It's doesn't sound polite for most ppl.

for more info about educational discount. Visit http://www.appletalk.com.au/articles/index.php?article=11309

This post has been edited by kfc: Apr 8 2006, 09:07 PM

For what specs: 2.0 gig MB pro. 1 gig ram,100gig 7200 rpm HD. without Ilife.
From Applestore US (EDU) :8,770.62 MYR (without Ilife)

For what specs: 2.0 gig MB pro. 1 gig ram,100gig 7200 rpm HD. without Ilife.
From Applestore US (normal) : 9,541.58 MYR (without Ilife)

For what specs: 2.0 gig MB pro. 1 gig ram,100gig 7200 rpm HD. with Ilife.
From Macasia : 10,668 (Included Ilife)

p.s. Bare in mind, the 7200rpm hd is an upgrade. default package is 5600rpm hd.

Judging the price for Ilife is for $79USD (non-educational) and $49 (Educational). I guess if we include that for the pricing in mac asia package. Price at Mac Asia is still fair. (roughly 600rm more expensive to buy here, but I still can live with it)

Jayadev, Do we have choice to not include Ilife in Mac Asia? I've checked, it's an option in Apple Store website.

This post has been edited by kfc: Apr 9 2006, 12:22 AM

Here's an article about appl hardware ram purchase guide.
http://hardmac.com/articles/56/
Check it out.