Two new WiMAX laptops from P1

P1 has quietly added two new notebooks into their WiMAX laptop line up, making the total of five WiMAX computers available in the market today from four manufacturers — talk about choice.

New to the P1 WiMAX laptop lineup are two notebooks from Asus and MSi respectively.

The new Asus K42F has a 14.1in display and runs an Intel core i3-370M with 320GB of storage and an unimpressive 2GB of RAM (DDR3) — we’d expect at least 4GB from Asus, a manufacturer that prides itself in providing good value at even better prices. As you’d expect, wireless connectivity comes in the form of Bluetooth and WiMAX + WiFi b/g/n. Don’t however expect to do any worthwhile gaming on this machine as it run on Intel’s built-in card. Though as a media PC the K42F comes packing a HDMI out and Altec Lansing speakers with SRS Premium sound technology as well a pretty attractive gloss finish. Asking price for the Asus, RM2,699.

The other new WiMAX notebook is the MSi FX400 also with a 14.1in screen. It runs on Intel Core i3-350 with 500GB of storage as the same 2GB DDR3 RAM. Again, we would like to see more RAM included into devices in this price range. The good thing about the MSi is it comes with an nVidia GeForce GT 325M graphics card with 1GB RAM. Bluetooth, WiMAX + WiFI b/g/n all comes as standard. The MSi goes for RM2,699. No guesses on which one offers the better value.

We had the opportunity to play with the MSi FX400 for a few days a coupole of months back and if we had to choose between the two, our money’s on the MSi.

The six months free P1 1NSiDE offer is still on for both devices. That means if you purchase any WiMAX notebook and activate your P1 account, you’ll get free six months P1 1NSiDE broadband for free. The P1 1NSiDE plan gives you 15GB data cap a month with no speed cap for RM89.

For more details click here.

P1 selling WiMAX-Inside laptops at really low prices

This is crazy,P1 will be selling the just announced WiMAX-Inside laptops at ridiculously low prices.

WiMAX netbooks will start at RM99 and notebooks start from RM999!

Obviously with these kind of things, available units are extremely limited so you will be looking at an overnight stint standing in line.

But be warned if demands exceed supplies there will be a lucky draw to decide who are entitled to purchase the laptops. At prices this low, there will definitely be more demand than supply so you can expect the lucky draw to take place.

The sale will be done at Berjaya Times Square, Saturday 10 and Low Yat Plaza, Saturday 17 July, 1200hrs.

Good luck!

Head on over to after the jump for the laptops that will be on sale

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EXCLUSIVE: WiMAX-Inside review coming!

We’re pretty sure that you’re seeing this first right here on SoyaCincau.com. We’ve just gotten our hands on a WiMAX-Inside laptop ahead of the full on launch next week and this one is specced to the gills with kit!

As you can see, its an engineering unit so the specs might have not been finalized yet, which means we can’t really talk much about what this baby is packing.

But we we’re informed that the WiMAX chip inside and the connection manager is the final build and is the same version as what consumers will get when this unit and units from the other five manufacturers hit the market on June 29.

Over the weekend, we will be looking specifically into the WiMAX performance of this unit and how it fares against external WiMAX modems.

In the meantime, as always, if you have anything you’d like to know about WiMAX-Inside devices, hit us up with a comment.

First Impressions: WiMAX-Inside laptops from P1 and Intel

Intel and P1 organised a media and blogger sneak peak yesterday to show off their range of WiMAX embedded laptops that will be hitting the Malaysian market next week. We got a first look of what these WiMAX-Inside devices have to offer.

Intel and P1 reckoned that these WiMAX-Inside laptops will offer the same ease of connectivity as WiFi but with the added performance and coverage advantage of WiMAX. We had some time fiddling around with the range of notebooks and netbooks they’ve put out during the sneak peak and we have to agree with that statement.

The WiMAX connection manager looks very much like the WiFi connection manager that you get on your computers right now and it allows seamless and easy management of all the wireless connectivity features built into the laptop. This mean you can toggle WiFi, WiMAX and Bluetooth with relative ease. From what little time we had with the WiFi-WiMAX laptops, connecting to the internet with WiMAX built-in is definitely heaps easier and faster than fiddling with a USB dongle. That is a convenience that we can really get use to.

In fact, the way you connect to WiMAX is very similar to the way you would on WiFi. We’d go as far to say that it is almost the same, which makes it very easy for everyone.

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UNCOVERED: P1 WiMAX embedded laptop teaser site and video

It’s no secret now that P1 and Intel are going to launch what appears to be Malaysia’s first range of WIMAX embedded laptops very soon. We know that both brands will be organizing a media briefing on 23 June but have revealed little else. But the media invite that we’ve seen gives a great lead to start our snooping.

With some blind guessing and a load of luck we found a teaser site highlighting WiMAX laptops. The site doesn’t give much details either but we now know that there’s a “guess and win” contest where you can win yourself a WiMAX laptop apparently worth RM2599. You’d probably be one of the first Malaysians to win a WiMAX laptop and we also know one of the WiMAX laptops is priced at around RM2599.

We still don’t have much details on what the specs of these devices will be, how much they will cost and what kind of subscription plans will P1 offer together with the laptops. Will subsidies be offered? We don’t know and will have to wait until P1 or Intel gives the official word.

In the meantime, have a look at the teaser site. P1 has also set up a Twitter account, a Facebook page and a series of teaser videos to promote the WiMAX laptops.

Prominent on the teaser site is a countdown timer that shows what appears to be about 230 hours till the launch of the WiMAX laptops (at the time of us writing this post). 230 hours equates to about 9 and half days to the launch date. Nine days from today (20 June) is 29 June. This will obviously be the launch date of the WiMAX laptops, not on 23 June as some have thought.

P1 have yet to make any official announcement about this teaser site.

Not the first time we’ve uncovered something like this from P1.

Take a look at the first teaser video after the jump.

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WiMAX embedded laptops coming to Malaysia?

We’ve just gotten word that P1 together with Intel will be organizing a media briefing on what could possibly be the country’s first range of WiMAX embedded laptops next week.

Not much details has been given, except the fact that P1 together with Intel will be launching WiMAX embedded laptops that offer both WiFi and WiMAX connectivity very soon.

This is not the first time P1 has mentioned WiMAX embedded computers out in the open, we recall reading reports early in the year that P1 was working on a WiMAX embedded netbook but didn’t hear much of it after that.

Michael Lai, P1’s CEO was quoted saying the his company promised to bring into the market “Malaysia’s first WiMAX embedded devices this year”. He added that P1 will deliver as pormised, saying that WiMAX embedded devices will become game changers in the local wireless broadband industry.

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P1 going the extra mile for customers

The picture above shows P1‘s top management including CEO Michael Lai (second row centre) and the VP of customer service Ahereen Lee (front row right) going through customer service training.

This is interesting.

We received an email from a source within P1 highlighting the extra efforts the company is taking to improve on its customer relationship.

And by the looks of it, they are really putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to customer service.

The source claims that P1′s CEO, Michael Lai has initiated a program dubbed the “You’ve got a friend @ P1” to get the whole company behind the concept of customer service not being a department but a whole company.

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Underperforming WiMAX operators to be fined. Where have we heard this before?

BERNAMA reports that the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Comission (SKMM) is monitoring three WIMAX operators for not meeting their respective coverage targets.

The report said that all three have failed to achieve the 25 percent targetted market penetration.

Deputy Minister of Information Communication and Culture Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum said from March 2008 to March 2009, the three companies had failed to achieve the target and can be fined.

He added that the government was ready to withdraw the licences of companies that failed to deliver the target, including Asiaspace Sdn Bhd.

So far nothing has happened.

He also said that athough the target has not been met, all four companies have shown an improved performance since March 2009.

We’re not sure what he means by “all four have shown improved performance” because it has been over a year since March 2009 and YTL still have not managed to convince the public that they indeed have a WiMAX network up and running. AMAX and REDtone are not fairing too well either with very limited coverage and a relatively small subscriber base.

But it seems like we’ve heard all this before. Those with long memories will recall that MCMC had alledgedly issued fines to the same operators for the exact same reason. The only difference is that the statement was made October 2009.

In October, 2009 The Star reported that SKMM issued letters on the fines to YTL e-Solutions (RM1.9mil), AsiaSpace (RM1.7mil), REDtone International (RM200,000) for failure to meet the 25% population coverage by the end of March but the operators have all made appeals against the fines.

We’re not sure if much has changed since then and the only WiMAX operator that’s really moving forward is P1; even then we’re seeing them being plagued with a very unstable network.

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Green Packet’s new EX WiMAX modem – FUGLY

P1‘s parent company, Greenpacket, unveiled its new range of budget WiMAX Indoor VoIP EX-series modems at the WiMAX Forum Congress Asia in Taipei.

The EX can be used in 2.3, 2.5 and 3.5Ghz WiMAX networks and has everything that will make any budget WiMAX modem proud including a high gain omni directional antenna and VOIP support. There’s no built-in WiFI though but that is the least of our worries.

What we’re concerned about is the look of the device. Just look at it. Nothing says fugly more than a overly boxy design with sharp edges and duldrum colours.

4G connectivity, never looked so bad.

No word on wherether P1 will be offering this to the Malaysian market.

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P1 looking for a strategic investor

The telco game is a money game. For you to be taken seriously in this industry, you need money and loads of it, bucket loads.

P1, was the first to market WiMAX in Malaysia but it appears that they’ve grown to big and too fast for their own good. And when that happens, you need money.

Word has it that P1 is currently looking for strategic investors to allow the telco to further expand both its WiMAX network coverage and subscriber base.

Business Times report that P1 has approached Korea’s largest telco, SK Telecom for the said injection of funds.

Both declined to comment on the report but it is said that a one fifth stake in P1 is worth about US$100m of investor’s money.

With Wizard, Michael Lai at the helm, P1 showed tremendous promise early last year with good performance and solid packages. One year into the business, it is now plagued by frequent network outages and what could possibly be one of the country’s most unreliable networks, P1 could very well put the funds to good use, if the investment does happen.

Many would like to see major improvements in network reliability and performance as well as an increase in coverage areas especially in buildings.

P1 may want to also look into introducing new devices into the market, specifically what we would like to call, bridge devices like Sprint’s Overdrive and Verizon’s MiFi.

For 2010, P1 targets to double its subscriber base and coverage areas. As of December 2009, P1 has crossed the 140,000 subscriber mark with coverage across 35% of Peninsular Malaysia.