If you have been waiting for Malaysia's 10.10 sale to buy a gaming laptop, here is a number that does not fit the script. One of the machines on our own guide to gaming laptops under RM3,000 is listed today at RM4,449. That is RM1,250 more than the same configuration cost three weeks ago, and the jump happened in the run-up to Malaysia's 10.10 sale.
We know this because we log the price of every product on our buying guides, once a day. Here is exactly what that means, so you can judge the numbers for yourself: we record the lowest advertised starting price we can see for each product across Shopee and Lazada Malaysia, before any voucher, member price, bundle or delivery charge. We compare the reading on 15 September with the reading on 6 October, and we only count a move that held for at least three days at each end, so a single cheap listing that vanishes overnight does not register. These are marketplace prices we observed, not manufacturer price changes.
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Two laptops, both out of their own price bracket
The laptop is the Acer Nitro V 15, and two specific configurations of it sit on our under-RM3,000 list. The Acer Nitro V 15 (ANV15-52-7287) held steady at RM3,199 from 15 September until 3 October, then stepped up to RM4,449 and has stayed there through today, a rise of about 39 percent. The Acer Nitro V 15 (ANV15-51-54Y9) moved earlier, from RM2,999 to RM4,299 on 22 September, and has also held at the higher price through today. Each figure is the lowest price we recorded for that exact model code, read from the same tracked catalogue entry at the start and the end of the window, so what moved is the cheapest price we could find for that machine across Shopee and Lazada, before any voucher or bundle.
The awkward part is the name on the list: "under RM3,000". The cheaper of the two picks (the RM2,999 config) was genuinely under that line in September. Both now sit well above it, at RM4,299 and RM4,449, which is the opposite of where a buying guide with that title wants its picks to go.
It is not only laptops
Phones on our guides moved the same way over the same 15 September to 6 October window. On our list of mid-range phones under RM2,000, the lowest tracked price of the CMF Phone 2 Pro went from RM1,000 to RM1,399 (about 40 percent), the vivo V50 Lite 5G from RM1,200 to RM1,599, and the iQOO Neo 10 from RM1,500 to RM1,889. Same pattern each time: the price steps up, then holds.
This is not a case of everything getting dearer at once, and it would be dishonest to pretend it is. Some products fell: the Poco M7 Pro 5G dropped about 24 percent to RM669, and the OPPO Reno14 F 5G came down from RM1,200 to RM999. Most prices did not move much at all. But the tilt is clear within our own lists. Counting only the products whose price we recorded steadily at both ends of the window, more than four times as many phones rose at least 10 percent as fell by that much (24 against 5), and for laptops it was 13 against 5. These counts cover the tech on our buying guides, not Malaysian retail as a whole, but on our shelves more of it got dearer than cheaper in the weeks before a sale.
What this means before you tap buy
We cannot tell you from price data alone why any single product moved. Component costs are one documented pressure: memory chips have been getting dearer, as we reported separately, and that is one input into what a laptop or phone can cost. Ordinary seller repricing and stock changes can move a marketplace listing just as easily. We are not claiming anyone inflated a price on purpose.
What we can tell you is simpler and more useful. A sale discount only means something measured against the real price before the sale, not the price on the day the countdown starts. So note what a product costs now, today, before the 10.10 banners go up. If a laptop you have been watching is already RM1,250 dearer than it was in September, a "10 percent off" sticker on the new price is not the deal it looks like. Our price history exists precisely so you do not have to take the countdown timer's word for it.
The gaming laptop on our under-RM3,000 list is listed at RM4,449 as of 6 October. The next time you see it in a sale, you will know what number the discount should be measured against.
Images courtesy of Kien Lee and Khanh Nguyen on Unsplash. Price chart by ProductNation.
