I am not a fan of Durians. Sure I do eat them once in a while, usually when I go out with my friends or family. But I am not exactly keen on durians. Most of the time, these smelly spiky fruit (supposedly King of Fruits) does not come to me as very tasty at all. Yes, the fruit itself is creamy but it just doesn’t taste right to me. Sometimes it is sweet and others it taste bitter. And the smell. For a lot of people, the smell is gross but to me, it’s just a strong aroma, nothing else. Just that the smell is very strong. Anyway, I have to introduce to you a small outfit selling Durians. They call themselves 717 Trading! Why do they have such a weird name? I don’t know, but I guess in Singapore, we see a lot of such weird names. Or perhaps their previous location is at some 717 street or something.
Anyhow, the reason why I am introducing you this shop is that it sells mainly Durians. I believe that they have good contacts in Malaysia (where the Durians came from) and they get the best pick. Their Durians are perhaps the best in Singapore. Well, they are the best I have ever tasted. One of my friends told me that they constantly provide good quality and tasty Durians so it was not just my luck that day. They also don’t keep their Durians for long. Stocks are driven directly from the source and sold by the next day. Another reason why their Durians should be fresher. There were cases where Durians were unloaded and immediately sold at their shop.
They have tables (along with mineral water and little boxes of tissue) for you to enjoy your Durians if you don’t want to bring them back to stink up your place and piss off your neighbours. You can stink up their little shop instead. And surprisingly, the people serving the Durians are pretty polite. The boss himself is a very friendly guy. He do go around and chat with his customers once in a while. I kind of enjoyed my little meal there. That’s something considering I am not really a fan of Durians. You don’t really see people in Singapore selling such creamy and great tasting Durians in Singapore anymore.
Oh, I nearly forgot about the price. Not cheap, but not expensive either. I think we should take into consideration the quality of the Durians sold and for it’s price, it’s quite fair in my opinion. They don’t cost a hand or a leg. But don’t expect 3 for S$10 though. If you are going on the weekend, be prepared to wait for your Durians. It can be crowded like hell sometimes. And since the shop is outdoors, you should only visit it in the evening if you are planning to eat there, unless you enjoy eating and sweating in the sun. Oh, they do sell other pastries as well like Durian cakes and Durian Puffs.
I seldom get the chance to review hardware, so I will take this opportunity to do one. I recently purchased a Chimei (aka CMV) 22″ LCD Monitor model CMv221D for around S$390. I heard that the same LCD panel is being used by Dell or some other OEM manufacturer, so I decided to gave it a try. I ditch my old LG 17″ LCD Monitor and got myself one big huge 22″ one. And it is a monster! This widescreen monitor takes nearly 70% of the length of my desk! Luckily, it being a slim LCD monitor, I am able to push it all the way behind, leaving me with at least some space to do my work. I think that when you are so used to having a 17″ screen, using a massive 22″ widescreen will take a little used to. I feel a bit weird looking at a screen that it is so big and “wide”.
Okay, I think you listen to enough of my babble. So now we will go on to the actual review itself. My model is a grey/black monitor. The front is grey (or silver) while the stand is black. They have a complete black or grey model too. I used this color because of casing and mouse are of different colors so that it won’t clash. The design of the monitor is very plain. The controls are on the right corner and the edge is rather thick. And the finish is not shiny nor polished, so it doesn’t look like those funky monitors offered by Samsung or LG nowadays. It’s has a simple and minimalistic look which I kind of like. Those looking for elegance should look elsewhere.
The colors for this monitor is good. At least I can see a white display as white unlike others whose white looks kind of darken fluorescent. Backlight seemed okay too. I tried on in a very dark room and I can see the display perfectly. I am not too sure about the contrast, mainly because I don’t know how people can test the contrast. Different gradients look okay to me, but then I am not that fussy about that. When I watch movies, I see no visible ghosting effects which people complain about, especially looking at their 5ms response time. The “tilt” stand they provide is pure crap. You can only tilt like a few degrees only. Pointless in my opinion. And the stand provided isn’t exactly solid either, especially compared to those Dell ones. But I have seen worse stands, those look (or feel) like they will collapse if a little breeze went their way.
The model I received didn’t have any bright or dead pixels. Thank god. I really hate to see such unsightly pixels on a monitor. It is kind of irritating to see a little ugly spot on your monitor, worse if it is in the middle of your screen! Warranty is valid for 3 years and it is onsite! So if your monitors break down for any reason, you can call them down to rectify.I think this monitor is a great bargain for S$390. Other monitors in the same range cost about 400-500 over. Not worth to buy a monitor just for it’s looks I have always said. If you are looking for a great display for work or play but don’t need to impress your friends with it, you should seriously consider this monitor.
