Sitex: A place to meet all your digital needs

It is almost two weeks into the year-end school holidays, the PSLE results are out and Christmas is coming. It is time to get a camera for your vacation, gadgets to reward your kids and tech gifts for the family.

The Sitex 2014 at Singapore Expo provides the perfect opportunity for you to do so. The 26th edition of this annual consumer technology fair opens today and ends on Sunday. It is open from 11am to 9pm and admission is free.

Organised by the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation and managed by Singex Exhibition Ventures, this year's show takes up more than 20,000 sq m of Singapore Expo's Halls 5 and 6 - the size of 21/2 football fields.

Around 850,000 visitors are expected to visit the show over four days. Major brands, such as Acer, Asus, Casio, Canon, Dell and Lenovo, are among the 500 brands at the show to meet your technology needs and cravings.

In addition, there are plenty of events to keep you entertained. You can pit your skills against professional gamers by signing up for the challenges at the show.

Or you can attend workshops about travel and food photography conducted by the Photographic Society of Singapore.

But buying gadgets is what you are there for and the good news is that you will be rewarded for it. For every $50 spent in a single receipt, you get a lucky draw coupon and stand to win more than $40,000 worth of cash and prizes.

The Grand Lucky Draw prize: Vespa LX150 scooter worth $6,900 (price without COE, insurance and road tax).

The popular Ladies Go Tech Instant Lucky Dip promotion is back this year.

Women who spend $100 or more in a single receipt get a chance to win instant prizes, such as a BlackBerry smartphone and Synology Cloud Drive. There are $30,000 worth of prices to be won.

So what are you waiting for? Just remember to wear comfortable shoes, pack your credit cards and get ready to pound the floors for the best buys.

For more information, visit www.sitex.com.sg.

Getting there
Bus: Services 12, 24, 35 and 38.
Shuttle bus: Operates from Tampines MRT Station (Nov 27 to 30, noon to 8pm daily) and The Signature (Nov 29 to 30, noon to 9pm daily) to Singapore Expo.
MRT: Take the East West line to Expo Station (you need to change trains at Tanah Merah Station).
Car: If you are driving, park at Carparks A to H and J at the Singapore Expo or at The Signature in nearby Changi Business Park.

trevtan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Nov 27, 2014.
Get a copy of Digital Life, The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Picks of the show

Aftershock S-17

$2,278 (usual price $2,595)
Booth: 6E65

If you are going to buy a gaming laptop, do not miss out the latest release from locally born-and-bred PC maker Aftershock.

The new Aftershock S-17 gaming laptop (above) has an aluminium chassis with a 17.3-inch matte full high-definition display.

It is powered by an Intel i7 4710HQ processor, an Nvidia GeForce 970M GTX graphics processing unit with 3GB of video memory, 8GB of system memory and a 750GB hybrid drive.

Unlike some monstrous gaming laptops on the market, the S-17 is only 3cm thick and weighs 3.1kg.

Creative Sound BlasterAxx AXX 200 Wireless Sound System

$195 (usual price $375); freebies include a docking base (worth $75) and a Creative Woof Micro Wireless Speaker (worth $88)
Booth: 5H20

Creative's Sound BlasterAxx AXX 200 Wireless Sound System (above right) gives gadget lovers another good reason to support local brands.

The sheer number of features packed into this audio gadget means you get more bang for your buck.

It uses Sound Blaster's SB-Axx1 chip to enhance music, movies, gaming sound effects and even phone calls in real time, making it great for teleconferencing.

You can play music directly from a microSD card via its memory slot. You can also record voice and interviews directly into a microSD card.

Its Near Field Communication feature allows you to easily pair a Bluetooth device with a simple tap.

Samsung UA65F9000

$3,988 (usual price $7,899); includes two free pairs of 3-D glasses
Booth: 5D20

It was not too long ago that you would need to fork out more than $10,000 for a 3-D 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) ultra high-definition (UHD) TV.

Now, you can get one such 65-inch model for less than $4,000 with the Samsung UA65F9000 (below).

Not only does it have four times the resolution of a full high-definition TV and delivers a significantly better image quality, the UA65F9000 also has Samsung's Micro Dimming technology which maximises the contrast between light and dark areas.

The result is realistic images with deeper dark tones and brighter whites.

You can also stream content using Samsung's Smart Hub and surf the Internet with the included Web browser through the TV's built-in Wi-Fi.

It looks great too, with its narrow bezel and sliver-thin frame.

This article was first published on Nov 27, 2014.
Get a copy of Digital Life, The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.