I update my girlfriend's financial power every month.

Chapter 35: Buy ROG Regal for 99 Yuan?

The next day.

"Get up, Xixi."

"Bro~ We're not going to fly kites until 9:30..."

"I'll buy you a computer first."

"what?"

After activating the cash power [Savings Account] brought by Su Ying'er, a new page appeared in Zhou Lang's system interface.

[The host's Alipay account has been detected to meet the requirements for Cash Power; a credit limit of 5000 yuan has been issued today.]

[This week's total available credit: 10000 yuan. Please use it in a timely manner.]

With 10,000 yuan, I can first buy my younger sister a laptop. She'll be starting university in September, and having a laptop will be very convenient for her.

Zhou Lang recalled that when he was in college, he finally saved enough money through part-time tutoring and some competition prizes to buy a second-hand laptop. He vaguely remembered that it was a combination of a 10th generation i5 and a 1650 graphics card.

Now he can provide better conditions for his younger sister, which can be considered as making up for the small regret of his past financial difficulties.

After realizing that her brother wasn't teasing her, Zhou Xixi quickly got dressed and called for help from her classmates.

"Bro, can I ask a classmate to come with me to look at computers? She's a girl too, and she's been researching computer configurations for half a year."

"Okay, let's go together then. I'm not very familiar with laptops these days, and the graphics cards are already at the 50 series. Time really flies."

He also remotely asked Michelle and Tian Wei, and the two girls replied quickly, one after the other.

[Michelle]: I bought an ASUS TUF Gaming 6 Pro last year during Singles' Day, it cost a little over 7000 yuan, I think.

[Michelle]: Avoid this product. The heat dissipation is negligible, and it's a bit noisy. Plus, I only realized the price-performance ratio wasn't great after I bought it.

[Michelle]: My previous computer was also an ASUS, and after two bad experiences, I'm going to stay away from this brand from now on.

[Tian Wei]: Wait a minute, let me see, I forgot what brand it is!

[Tian Wei]: Mine is an HP Omen 11.

[Tian Wei]: I bought it because I heard that HP had the most comprehensive after-sales service.

[Tian Wei]: Not really recommended, the battery drains very quickly.

[Tian Wei]: Besides, it seems like laptop prices have gone up a lot recently, so now isn't a good time to buy one.

……

Zhou Lang put away his phone, smiled, and thought, "No wonder they say that with big-ticket electronic products, whichever brand you buy from, you'll inevitably avoid those brands in the future. There will always be all sorts of small problems, and you can't avoid them."

A dozen minutes later.

He took his younger sister Zhou Xixi and one of her classmates, Wang Yaqi, to visit several specialty stores in the county town.

Even though the college entrance exams have just ended, these shops are usually packed with students and parents during these days.

But now almost every shop is deserted. The staff sit behind the counter playing on their phones, ignoring customers and showing no interest in serving them.

Zhou Lang browsed around and finally stopped at the ASUS store with the best service.

The shop assistant was in her early twenties. Recently, almost every customer she served would ask the price and then leave. But Zhou Lang and his two companions looked around the store, and even stopped in front of the ROG (Republic of Gamers) display case. He felt that this deal had a chance.

"How about considering ROG (Republic of Gamers)? The 618 promotional prices are already on."

The salesperson smiled and half-jokingly said, "Laptop prices have gone crazy lately. I was originally thinking of buying a Legion for my brother, but after seeing how much the price has gone up, even the ROG (Republic of Gamers) seems like a good deal."

Zhou Lang echoed, "Yeah, let alone computers, even my 128GB USB flash drive for work cost a few dozen yuan last year, but this year it's almost 200 yuan."

"Sigh, they say the demand for AI computing power is high, and memory prices are rising." The shop assistant sighed helplessly, "But we haven't seen any AI breakthroughs benefiting us; instead, we're the ones footing the bill for the price increases."

Zhou Xixi tugged at her classmate's hand: "Yaqi, you're really knowledgeable about computers, right? Do you have any recommendations?"

Wang Yaqi looked resentful, as if she were meeting her best friend Zhou Xixi for the first time: "I only research computers that cost three or five thousand..."

"Xixi, we agreed to buy a great value PC for 3,000 yuan together, why are you going after a 10,000 yuan computer?!"

Zhou Xixi chuckled sheepishly, "I didn't expect my brother to be so generous..."

"Oh, I'm so envious! You have such a protective older brother, Xixi. Be careful when you use your computer, take good care of it. I'll buy your used one in a couple of years, and I'll be sure to check the quality!"

Wang Yaqi looked at Zhou Lang, who was talking to the shop assistant, with envy in her eyes. At this moment, she also wished she had a brother who doted on his younger sister like that.

"The Eye of the Beholder is practically a social commodity among guys. I can only dream about it; I can't afford it, I simply can't afford it."

"I was looking at the Lenovo Xiaoxin 14 two years ago, but I couldn't bring myself to buy it even though it cost 3,000 yuan. I thought the price would drop after our college entrance exams. Now it's actually gone up to 4,000 yuan!"

Zhou Xixi thought about it and started to back out: "Yeah, it is a bit infuriating. Thinking about it this way, I might as well just find a second-hand one and make do with it—bro~"

Zhou Lang inquired about the price of the in-stock items in the store, since it wasn't a dedicated ROG store and the inventory was a bit limited.

"Xixi," he turned and asked, "the store has a new ROG Strix G15, it's an entry-level model, I guess, it's 10,099. Do you like the specs?"

The CPU is an R9-8940HX, the graphics card is a 5060, the RAM is 16GB, and the solid-state drive is 1TB.

The desktop computer Zhou Lang uses in his rented apartment was assembled two or three years ago, with a 4060 graphics card and an i5-12400F CPU, costing around four thousand yuan.

So even though he had heard of ROG's nickname "Republic of Gamers" and that the entire series wasn't exactly cost-effective, this configuration was more than enough for someone like him who had never used a good computer before.

Zhou Xixi looked reluctant and muttered to herself, "There's no need to buy something so good. Cheaper ones are perfectly fine."

"It's enough."

Zhou Lang, on the contrary, complained that the computer he had bought for his sister was just average: "Their store can send some out tomorrow. It will cost a little over 15,000 yuan and have a higher configuration. You can get a 5070ti graphics card, a 2TB SSD, and 32GB of RAM."

Zhou Xixi quickly waved her hand: "Ten thousand is already very good!"

The salesperson took the opportunity to continue promoting the product: "Other brands have also raised their prices. A machine that costs 10,000 yuan was only 8,000 yuan at the beginning of the year. No matter how you look at it, we're losing money. We understand our customers' feelings."

"If you want to buy a higher-spec laptop, to be honest, you can get a 5070ti for around 10,000 yuan.

But ROG is a top-tier brand, and you buy a computer once and use it for four years of university. Since it's not cheap no matter what, you might as well buy a reputable brand that's widely recognized.

Zhou Xixi was hesitant, but Zhou Lang fully understood that his little sister was worried about the money: "Just one question, do you want it? I have a way to make this machine a little cheaper."

Zhou Xixi looked up, puzzled: "Huh? Cheaper?"

Zhou Lang smiled without saying a word and opened the system interface.

[Is "ASUS Computer (Xiashan County Commercial Street Store)" designated as today's participating store?]

"Yes."

Without the financial power of a savings account, Zhou Lang estimated that he would also be picky and compare prices from various sources.

Then I lamented that unscrupulous merchants were rampant, and I didn't want to buy at the peak of the price increase.

But if it's money that can only be used this week, why not spend it?

[The system has redeemed the credit in the form of "Alipay Wealth Black Card V2 Exclusive Discount (Limited to Designated Merchants)". Please check your account.]

"Let's get a new machine. Xixi, you and your classmate go check it out." Zhou Lang opened Alipay, turned to the shop assistant, and said, "Checkout."

"Okay, that's 10099 yuan in total. Shall I scan your code?"

With a beep, the transaction was completed.

Inside the store, a mechanical female voice from Alipay announced that the Alipay payment had been received.

Zhou Lang handed the phone to his sister.

Zhou Xixi glanced at it, her eyes widening in surprise: "How come it only cost 99 yuan?!"