Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by MotherOfGandalf

Buying used car from new online companies

MotherOfGandalf — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 22:57:23 +0800

Hey guys, planning to get a used car from those companies with major online presence like Carsome or Mytukar directly. Or, those listed under mudahmvip. The main attraction is that they claim to have 1xx points of inspection and for the car to be free from accident and flood, etc. and also claim to be transparent/upfront with their pricing.

As I'm not a car enthusiast, I'm rather worried about having to visit traditional 2nd hand car dealers with all the hidden charges like admin fees, runner fees, etc. But at the same time having doubts if these Carsome and mytukar can indeed help to improve the local used car scene for buyers.

Hope that anyone with experience buying directly from carsome or mytukar, or buying cars listed under mudahmvip can share your view and advice on dealing with them.
Or may suggest if there's any better source of 2nd hand cars?

Thank you

New B-seg or 2nd hand C-seg sedan

MotherOfGandalf — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 13:33:42 +0800

Hey guys, i'm thinking of replacing my 9 years old fiesta (or maybe just use as a spare car atm since named owner is overseas now and can't sell the car). Reason being i'm afraid that major repair might be needed soon as the gearbox was fixed under warranty about 4~5 years back. Also, ABS module seems to be failing already.

Will probably only purchase the replacement car in Q1 2022 since buying a car at Q4 seems to lose out in terms of value-to-resale value? Or is this a myth?

Anyway, initial plan was to get new Saga as I typically just park at LRT station for work. But with the seemingly never ending COVID, i would rather drive to work these days (WFH is not an option for current job). Hence, the need for more safety features.

Now on the list would be a new Vios 1.5e or City v-spec but i realized that Vios may be lacking in power and city cost 86k to get 6 airbags (while Vios can provide 7 airbags at 83k alongside other safety features, though i doubt i would be using them much since i've been driving with only ABS, hill start assist and traction control for years).

Then, i search a little bit on the 2nd hand market and found that with around 80+k, i could get a 3~4 years old Civic or Altis with less than 50k mileage. Personally i would choose Altis over Civic since there seems to be quite a few complaints about Civic on the internet (however, keeping in mind that Civic's market share is also substantially larger than Altis). My argument for the possible choice of an old Altis/Civic over new a Vios/City is that Altis/Civic should supposedly be built more rigid than Vios & City? Understand that there was an improved Altis launch in 2019, but that's out of my budget for a daily drive. Hence, the Altis in comparison here would be the version launched in 2017~2018.

Personally prefer sedan over SUV for the supposedly lower center of gravity and since i mostly just drive alone or drive my mother to pasar on the weekends. SUV seems a bit too much for me. Plan to stay single and have no kids also.

Hope to get your opinions on this.

New B-seg or 2nd hand C-seg sedan

MotherOfGandalf — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 13:26:56 +0800

Where to buy Philips Fidelio x2hr in Malaysia

MotherOfGandalf — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 13:29:44 +0800

As titled, I've been trying to get a pair of fidelio x2hr but can't seem to find any trustable seller online. Appreciate if anyone could help suggest some trusted seller. Thank you

MASTER OF ECONOMICS (MEc) - Universiti Malaya

MotherOfGandalf — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 21:51:50 +0800

Hey Guys,

I'm currently considering to further my studies (Master of Econs) a few years after graduating from a non-honors degree in Finance, mainly to satisfy my own interest in economics, politics, public policies, etc. and also to pave the way if I decided to go deep into Economics research (PhD) some day. However, due to money constrains, I will only be able to commit myself to a part-time program as I do not feel safe to go full time studying even with a full/partial scholarship (and that itself is a long shot).

After doing some research, I quickly realized that very little "reputable" universities in Malaysia actually offer a Master's degree in Economics. The only one I managed to find is offered by Universiti Malaya, which seems pretty neglected as the info about the said program on their website was last updated years back and they have yet to reply to my inquiry email sent months ago. I can only imagine how much support they will be giving once enrolled. Or, is this the norm for government/semi-government uni?

Anyway, thank you for making this far. Would appreciate any recommendations on any other universities offering Masters of Econs (part-time) or something similar, as well as any comments on doing a Master's at UM.

Thank you for your time and wish you a blessed day.

First Time Rig Building

MotherOfGandalf — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 17:18:40 +0800

Hi guys,

Seeing that my 7 years old laptop is slowly dying while I'm trying to play more demanding PC games, I'm thinking of getting a desktop, mainly due to the lower price to performance ratio and I don't really need that much mobility/convenience nowadays after graduating from uni some years back.

To save cost further, I'm thinking of buying the parts separately, e.g. from whichever seller of a part with the best price or when there's promotion for certain parts, and build the pc myself.
The pc is expected to be switched on 24/7 for FX bot trading on MT4 (demo acc for fun), likely on 2 terminals, and for my casual gaming (will run both simultaneously when gaming).

Currently, I'm aiming for the specs stated below, hoping to achieve everything within a RM 4,000 budget, including a new monitor:

CPU:
RYZEN 5 3600
RM 799

MOBO:
MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AM4 ATX
RM 524

RAM:
KINGSTON HYPER X FURY 3200 2X RGB 16GB
RM 399

SSD:
M.2 PCIE NVME WESTERN DIGITAL BLUE SN550 G3X4, 250GB
RM 239

GPU:
MSI GTX1660 SUPER VENTUS XS OC
RM 1169

PSU:
FSP HYDRO K 500W
RM 199

CASING:
AVF GAMING FREAK XV500G TG
RM 199

WIFI:
TP-LINK ARCHER T6E PCI-E AC1300
RM 119

HDD:
HITACHI HTS545050B7E660 FROM CURRENT LAPTOP
RM 0

MONITOR:
MONITOR FOR 60/75HZ 1080P GAMING

TOTAL:
RM 3647

As I'm very new to all this, would appreciate if you guys can:

1) Read through the specs and see if there's anything that isn't compatible with another parts

2) Give advice if certain parts aren't worth the price and perhaps suggest alternatives

3) Give recommendation on a suitable monitor for gaming, mainly on titles like GTA V, Witcher 3, COD: Warzone, DOTA etc. (i'm a rather casual gamer and super high refresh rates or super good graphics is out of my wallet's capacity, but would pay a slight premium for recognized brands of the same performance over unrecognized ones)

4) Help to bring down the costs on any of the parts, e.g. I'm actually thinking if a monitor on par with GTX 1660S is too expensive, I may very well go for a lower end GPU and monitor to keep the overall budget under 4k.

*The price shown above are from Viewnet's price list as an estimation on the total budget.

Thank you

First Time Rig Building

MotherOfGandalf — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 17:08:45 +0800

Hi guys,

Seeing that my 7 years old laptop is slowly dying while I'm trying to play more demanding PC games, I'm thinking of getting a desktop, mainly due to the lower price to performance ratio and I don't really need that much mobility/convenience nowadays after graduating from uni some years back.

To save cost further, I'm thinking of buying the parts separately, e.g. from whichever seller of a part with the best price or when there's promotion for certain parts, and build the pc myself.
The pc is expected to be switched on 24/7 for FX bot trading on MT4 (demo acc for fun), likely on 2 terminals, and for my casual gaming (will run both simultaneously when gaming).

Currently, I'm aiming for the specs stated below, hoping to achieve everything within a RM 4,000 budget, including a new monitor:

MYR
CPU RYZEN 5 3600 799
MOBO MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AM4 ATX 524
RAM KINGSTON HYPER X FURY 3200 2X RGB 16GB 399
SSD M.2 PCIE NVME WESTERN DIGITAL BLUE SN550 G3X4, 250GB 239
GPU MSI GTX1660 SUPER VENTUS XS OC 1169
PSU FSP HYDRO K 500W 199
CASING AVF GAMING FREAK XV500G TG 199
WIFI TP-LINK ARCHER T6E PCI-E AC1300 119
HDD HITACHI HTS545050B7E660 FROM CURRENT LAPTOP 0
MONITOR MONITOR FOR 60/75HZ 1080P GAMING

TOTAL 3647

As I'm very new to all this, would appreciate if you guys can:

1) Read through the specs and see if there's anything that isn't compatible with another parts

2) Give advice if certain parts aren't worth the price and perhaps suggest alternatives

3) Give recommendation on a suitable monitor for gaming, mainly on titles like GTA V, Witcher 3, COD: Warzone, DOTA etc. (i'm a rather casual gamer and super high refresh rates or super good graphics is out of my wallet's capacity, but would pay a slight premium for recognized brands of the same performance over unrecognized ones)

4) Help to bring down the costs on any of the parts, e.g. I'm actually thinking if a monitor on par with GTX 1660S is too expensive, I may very well go for a lower end GPU and monitor to keep the overall budget under 4k.

*The price shown above are from Viewnet's price list as an estimation on the total budget.

Thank you