So Concepts Computer is having another trade-in offer at the moment: get an Acer Aspire One Happy for only B$398. I always love this trade-in offer as it gives people a chance to get rid of their old non-working computers and get discount in return. If you can’t get the trade-in offer, it is still going for B$468 under their Anniversary Special Deal.
I have some notebooks that meet this requirement and am willing to give them to anybody who wants to take advantage of this good offer. Anybody interested leave a comment / email me (tim _AT_ thewheatfield.org) / tweet me @thewheat and we’ll be in touch.
Bring any of your existing notebook or netbook (any brand, working or otherwise*) from now till 31 May 2011, you’re entitled to have Aspire One for $398 only.
*Terms & Conditions apply:-
Old Notebook or Netbook can be in working or non-working condition but all main components inlucding motherboard, HDD, processor, RAM, battery pack, power adapter etc… must be present. We reserver the right to reject any products deemed incomplete. Thank you
P.S. I also have desktops that can be used for the other trade-ins that don’t require laptops. Check Concepts website or visit their store to find out the latest trade-in deals
Have you got old/non-working computers? If you do and want a new computer, Concepts has a deal for you.
Trade in your old computer at get an Acer Aspire X3900 – 353X7 for B$798 (B$818 with card) which is a B$90 discount for your old computer. The monitor has a resolution of 1600×900 and a standalone cost of B$248 (or B$198 bundled price with a computer) and I believe this is a good deal and the computer is ideal for general / family use.
With only an Intel integrated graphics card, it will not be the perfect gaming machine but there is 1 PCI Express X1 slot and One PCI Express X16 slot (low-profile) for expansion. Note: I was told by the staff that there are no expansions slots, however on the specifications in the brochure and online there seems to be PCI Express slots, so I believe the staff was mistaken. However taking a look at the back of the machine, it is fulled with ports and there doesn’t seem to be any space for expansion cards to be placed. I asked to see inside the chassis but they declined my request. (Update 1: managed to get them to open the chassis for me as there are only 2 SATA connectors which are used for the DVD drive and hard drive and there are 2 expansion slots on the back of the case as shown below, I guess I wasn’t remembering things right) Ports on the back of the system (including 2 slots of PCIe expansion)
Also note that this is a mini-tower and thus regular components may not fit in the expansion slots, thus the reason for "low-profile" mentioned in online specifications of this system. Another thing I noticed is that the configuration that Concepts is selling only has 2GB RAM where all the other bundles I’ve seen for the same model X3900-353X7 has 4GB RAM (Acer Malaysia’s product page | QQeStore | Google Search). I will try clarify with them on this (Update 1: seems that the 2GB is a Brunei deal, other computer shops selling Acer products have the same 2GB with monitor configuration as opposed to 4GB without monitor)
The base Acer Aspire X3900 – 353X7 bundle from QQeStore has 4GB RAM but no monitor. QQeStore sells OCZ 2GB DDR3 RAM for $258 which is more or less the price of the monitor (assuming existing 2GB in the system is a single stick). Personally I have enough monitors at home and would prefer 4GB RAM but I guess for the typical home looking to upgrade a computer system, the choice for a monitor is better. While 4GB would be great for any system, I feel 2GB should be sufficient for most and only enthusiast or people with higher requirements from a computer will complain. (Update 2: You can upgrade RAM to 4GB for B$98 – 2 sticks of 2GB)
Acer Aspire X3900 – 353X7 bundle by Concepts Computers, Brunei
9 x USB 2.0, IEEE 3994 port, eSata, HDMI, Dsub VGA, 5 audio jacks, S/PDIF jack & 2 x PS/2
Acer USB Speaker Keyboard & Optical Mouse
Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Update 1: Kudo’s to Concepts for allowing me to tickle my fancy of wanting to know how many SATA connectors there are. I asked if I could transplant the system in an existing chassis and they even offered to do it for free. So if you do transplant the system you can use normal sized components but the next issue that you could run into would insufficient power to the component. Stock power supply is only 220W, so if you put in a power hungry graphics card you will have to spend more on an extra power supply too. Possibly add another $200 – $300 for that.
Update 2: So you can upgrade the RAM to 4GB for B$98. (2 sticks of 2GB which is a added nice touch as it means you can max out the RAM without getting rid of any sticks, if they used 4 sticks of 1GB RAM). Also my brother seems to be having an issue with this brand new system. Monitor detected that the video signal was lost, then the power button kept blinking. Tried moving the mouse, pressing the keyboard, pressing the power button and none of that worked. Had to force shutdown and also during a restore, the restoration got stuck.
So one day I was flipping through the newspapers and I saw that Concept Computers was doing a trade in offer for old monitors to get a $50 discount on a brand new LCD monitor.
It’s great that they were taking both working and non-working monitors and this sort of business practise is not common in Brunei at all. So when I went to exchange 3 old non working monitor’s for LCDs I was happy to see a site of old monitors. Photos of the monitors being hauled away are available at AnakBrunei’s post
So I would assume that they were going to recycle the monitors as they accepted both working and non working monitors, but I had to check with them. Actually I wanted to get the contact of the recycling center they were going to send it to. So I asked the staff there and they informed me that I should as their boss Mr Vincent Pao. He happened to be there at the shop so I approached him and asked whether they were going to recycling the monitors. He told me that he was going to throw them away!! He did mention that they would give some away but that the last time they sent quite a lot of computer equipment to be recycled they only got B$200+ from it. So he tried another method. There were recyclers offering to take the monitors from him but he wanted to sell the monitors to them to at least get a better return on investment I guess. But they didn’t want to pay for them so he said they were better off throwing it away.
After hearing that I thought what a bummer. I’ll go hug a tree to make up for it (actually that reminds me about the ISB‘s Million Trees Project and BIBD‘s commitment to match each tree for every 4000 bought). But at least he did mention that they were giving some away. I will try to follow up on this issue as now they are having a printer/scanner trade-in: any printer/scanner for an All-In-One (Print-Copy-Scan) Epson Stylus TX100 for just B$98 available while stocks last and before 30th September. On a lighter note I have to say that Concepts Computer is the only innovating computer store in Brunei (to my knowledge), from organizing seminars on Windows 7, Panda anti-virus and now offering these trade-in offers. Other computer stores in Brunei, I hope you step up your game plan to exceed the things Concepts are doing!
** Note: This information was gathered on the 25 August 2009 from a discussion between myself and Mr Pao. If they did end up sending it to a recycling center do let me know. Thanks
The Wheat Field 