Thule Gauntlet 3.0 15" Macbook Attache

Recently, I had the urge to buy a laptop bag for my old 2011 Macbook Pro after doing some hardware upgrade on it. And I am looking for a more special kind of hand carry bag rather than those typical laptop bag.

Also, it must be the kind of simple hard-case type and similar to a briefcase (weird preference) and open fully like a luggage if possible. After searching for some time, I came across this Thule Gauntlet 3.0 semi-hard case briefcase type of laptop bag. It also seems to withstand a certain degree of shock and the design is pretty modern to me (not those typical leather type of uncle briefcase).

They do have re-seller locally and I managed to find it. It cost $126 locally. Here are the pictures:

Top view

Laptop area

Pockets for misc stuff

Mini Review: The feel of the protective shell has a rubberized feel. And it seems to be able to absorb some sort of impact. It can't open up to 180 degrees. It also has the pockets to store some documents, charger or maybe even a jacket if folded nicely.

Holiday Inn Kemayoran

Recently, I had a business trip to Indonesia and I stayed in Holiday Inn booked by my colleague. From first impression, it looks like a new hotel to me and all the facilities is pretty new and clean which is important to me. I stayed in a Junior suite which has a mini hall, 1 bedroom and 2 toilets.

For surrounding facilities, it has a small shopping mall behind the hotel and can be accessed conveniently via the link way at the lobby area. It is basically a food mall with 80% selling different foods from local to international cuisines. Most of them are cafe concept stalls and the pricing is only slightly cheaper compared to my country.

Overall, it is a pleasant stay to me. Here are the pics:

Hall

Hall

Dining table

Toilet 1

Bedroom

Toilet 2

Toilet 2

Olympus HLD-6

Recently, I bought this accessory for my EM-5 since I have discount on the local Olympus web store. It didn't cross my mind to get this initially. But after pondering for a while, I decided to get it since it has a extended hand grip and the battery holder together which I feel it is more convenient but slightly heavier. Also, I bought a wrist strap as well.  

It is not some new accessory for this camera, it is couple of years old now and there ares reviews online. So here are the pics.

Box

Contents

Contents 2

Battery holder 1

Battery holder 2

Wrist strap 1

Wrist strap 2

Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD

I was browsing through some online retailers recently and came across a good offer for SSD. As my old Lenovo laptop Y460 is a couple of years old now, it is getting so slow in booting up. It has a faulty keyboard and a dead battery as well.

I was thinking if i can solve these small issues, my laptop still can service me for a couple of years more without getting a new one. As I seldom play games these days, it will mostly used as a spare backup to my desktop. Moreover, the ATI 5650m GPU can still be used to play non demanding games in lower resolution.

So I bought a SSD, keyboard and a new 3rd battery and cost less than 200SGD. And my laptop is energized again. With the new SSD, it is so much faster in operation and booting up. It is almost the same speed as my desktop. I am happy about it and hope it can last me few years before my laptop specs is really obsolete.

Here are the pics:

Box

Contents

Logitech Z120 stereo speakers

Bought a budget laptop speaker for personal use with my work laptop as the inbuilt speaker sounds muffled. I was looking for something budget with reasonable sound and I came across logitech z120. From people who have already bought it, they commented it sounds good for its price.

Therefore, I decided to get one locally. It retails at around 19.90 SGD locally. It can be found in major electrical stores. It is just a set of stereo speakers, if you are looking for good bass. You will have to look elsewhere.

It is no frills speaker with just a volume button and uses a USB and 3.5mm jack. USB is for power and the jack is to plug into any standard 3.5mm port. It also has a cable management function found at the back of both speakers. Pretty useful I would say.

Here are the pics:

Box

Package

 Back view

Resort world S.E.A aquarium

It has been a long time since I went Sentosa. I was given a free ticket to S.E.A aquarium. It is the world's largest aquarium and maritime museum. My wife suggested to bring the whole family along as we only need to purchased another 2 adult tickets. The kids entry will be free due to their age.

And so here we are at the aquarium. Pretty big place and it has a huge varieties of marine life species. I recommend going in weekdays due to lesser crowd as this is one of the tourist destination locally. I believe weekend will be very crowded. Personally, I find it more comfortable than Universal Studios due to the fact that the whole place air-conditioned. I had a more comfortable walk at the area. 

I had take quite a number of pictures there. Below are the pics resized.

Entrance

Entrance

Entrance

Entrance preview species

 Entrance preview species

Entrance preview species

Entrance preview species

Entrance preview species

Entrance preview species

Horseshoe crab

Internal

Internal

Internal

Internal

Internal

Internal

A kind of shark I think

Nice fishes

Live corals and "Nemo"

Biggest aquarium in there

Biggest aquarium in there

More fishes

Small jellyfish. Kinda cute

Big Jellyfish

 I think is pacific octopus

 Alaska king crab I think

Alaska king crab

Nikon P900

My old Panasonic FZ35 bridge camera has died some time ago. I do not have any replacement. However, my family has decided to get a bridge camera after hearing about its amazing zoom capabilities. So it will be shared among us.

And the camera in question is the 2015 Nikon P900. It has a amazing 83x zoom which is equivalent to 2000mm in 35mm terms. That is really far. For its detailed review and zooming powers, there is a number of reviews online. One particular photos stands out is the moonshot which is able to see the craters.

Locally, the retail price is 889 SGD. After discounts at our favorite camera store, we got it around 750++ with some free gifts thrown in.

Here are the pics:

Package

Front view

Side view

 Articulating LCD

Side view 2

Mini Review: Holding it in my hand, the body is pretty light. The lens part is the heaviest which is understandable for that kind of zoom range. Overall, it feels more like a DSLR handling and of course the image quality can't be compared to it. 

But the pictures give reasonable quality and for its price as a "do it all" camera. A DSLR with a super telephoto lens will be super expensive and therefore I feel it is a value for money camera.