My MEC iPort G9000 PR1C 1HP portable air-cond

I have just purchased this MEC iPort G9000 PR1C 1HP portable air-cond last month for a small room in my house that is without wall mounted air-cond, and now the weather has become so hot that I feel this purchase was rally made at the right time.

MEC is a Malaysian brand. The size of this portable air-cond is in fact larger than my perception from its photo. It is quite thick, with the dimension of 458 x 745 x 348.

It looks stylish, with an automatic sliding panel that will completely cover up its louver blades outlet when it is turned off, to cover it from dust. The panel will automatically slide down when the air-cond is turned on.

This portable air-cond comes with quite a lot of accessories, including the standard accessory of remote controller with battery, and exhaust hose with wall exhaust adaptor. In addition, it also comes with window slider kit and 4 pieces of foam seal that can be applied to most vertical and horizontal windows. It also comes with a water drain hose for dehumidifying mode usage.

 

This portable air-cond has a modern look, with quite a lot of air filters, located behind it and also at its both sides. It has all the functions that you need, including the louver auto-swing feature, 4 selection modes of Auto, Cool, Dry and Fan, 4 fan speed selection of Low, Med, High and Auto, Sleep mode, Timer setting, LED display, intelligent self-diagnosis and auto-protection function, panel Lock function, auto-restart after power cut off, 3 minutes protection before resuming operation, etc. It makes use of the condensed water for cooling, evaporating the water during the process, therefore for normal operation with this self-evaporating system, it doesn't need to drain out water.

One unique feature is the Follow Me button on its remote control. In Follow Me mode, the remote control will send signal to the air-cond every 3 minutes, and the air-cond will direct the cool air to its direction. So, you just need to put the remote control beside you to get the breezing cool air blowing towards you.

This air-cond is pretty quiet during operation, and quite energy saving too. It has a current rating of 4.4A with 1000W power input, cooling capacity of 9000 Btu/h, EER rating of 8.9, airflow of 440 cubic meter per hour, which is equivalent to 259 CFM.

Overall, I am satisfied with this portable air-cond.

You might be interested to also read about:

• How to select air-conditioner wisely

Ambidio - new audio technology that enables normal speaker to play super immersive surround sound that beats high-end 7.2 speakers

Ambidio is a new start-up in Los-Angeles founded by 29 years old Taiwanese girl Iris Wu and her friends, specialized in revolutionary sound technology. The company is backed by multiple-times Grammy award-winning artist will.i.am, and private investment arm of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing - Horizons Ventures.

So, what's so special about this Ambidio technology? Well, it brings a high quality, immersive sound experience by just using computer software technology, which can instantly enable normal low-end speaker (preferably stereo) to play sound with effect of the standard as produced by expensive high-end surround sound systems.

Ambidio offers a new way for people to experience sound. It has a range that is at least 3 times wider than conventional methods that simulates three dimensional sound, using traditional speakers and headphones, allowing for a fully immersive experience.

Don't believe me? You can try yourself with this demo video provided by Ambidio, using your low-end speaker, and tell me what you think after listening to this 1 minute demonstration.

Ambidio has enlisted Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound, which has been redefining immersive sound for nearly 4 decades for film, TV and videogames, as a strategic advisor to assist with Ambidio's technology and creative development.

“Technology is transforming the way we experience music and, as an artist and producer, I’m always looking to what’s next – where the innovation is. Ambidio brings music to life through immersive sound, giving people a chance to experience music in a whole new way,” says will.i.am of his involvement.

The idea came about while music lover Iris Wu was attending graduate school at New York University, and was trying to create a quality listening experience but was dissatisfied with the results due to living in a small New York City apartment. She began experimenting with sound engineering through code rather than hardware and Ambidio’s technology began to take shape.

“The brain is a powerful mechanism that can interpret the directional origin of different sounds in everyday life,” says Iris, “however, when consuming content on a device, such as a laptop, sound consistently comes from a fixed point – the front.”

Ambidio made it by treating our brain as a decoder and creates a continuous sound field with a sense of depth and dimension. It creates an immersive sound experience using only stereo speakers by inserting common cues into audio files that the brain then uses to identify and perceive where different sounds within the audio stream would have come from. Essentially, our brains process the sound the way it does in everyday life.

We look forward for Ambidio to disrupt the entire audio industry.

The ultimate comparison of TP-Link Archer C7 vs C8 vs C9 wireless routers

TP-Link has been well-known for wireless routers with performance comparable or even better than Asus, Linksys, Netgear, etc. with a much cheaper price. More importantly, most of its routers support UniFi and MaxisNet fibre broadband, including the IP phone and IPTV functions.

Let's compare 3 of the TP-Link Archer series of wireless-AC routers at the price range between RM400-RM600: the C7, C8 and C9. Below is the comparison table (click image to enlarge):

The Archer C7 is the oldest among them, with old housing and old web user interface. However, it seems to outperform its successors C8 and C9 in terms of network throughput and maximum simultaneous connections supported, with the help of its 6 antennas (3 internal and 3 external). It has the lowest price too.

The Archer C8 is a new design with new housing and newer, more user friendly web user interface. It also has a dual core CPU. Its USB performance is better than the C7. However, its 3 dual band antennas are shorter, and seems to perform weaker than the C7, despite it comes with Beamforming technology.

The Archer C9 has the same design with C8. It comes with a faster dual core CPU, newer Broadcom chipset, and even better USB performance than C8. However, its network throughput is a bit disappointing in the comparison.

If you are familiar with TP-Link old user interface, here is how its new user interface looks like:

TP-Link is phasing out C8 to replace it with C9, so the availability of C8 in the market is very rare now. However, the C7 is still widely available in the market.

So, there are both pros and cons among them in terms of user interface, specification, performance and price. If you were to choose one of them for your home Internet, which one will you buy?

References:

• The Best Wi-Fi Router (for Most People)
• TP-Link Archer C7 V2 Reviewed
• TP-Link Archer C8 Reviewed
• TP-Link Archer C9 Reviewed