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To test that out, I trudged the floors and stores of every level of the Funan DigitaLife Mall - the place generally regarded as the premier location for computer equipment and photographic gear.
Note, according to a number of web sites (here for instance), Sim Lim Square, the other well-known centre for computer equipment has a growing reputation for 'dodginess' and on that basis, I left that centre for later, should I have the time, but I didn't - so I cannot comment on the prices there or the accusations made in the wikipedia page. Although saying that, I can't imagine that they would be much cheaper as everything must be sourced from the same group of manufacturers and wholesalers.
I saw pretty-well every well-known brand of computer I could think of; although interestingly there was an astonishingly small number of desktop computers on display - it would seem that notebook (and smaller) systems are now totally dominating the market.
In addition, peripherals and gadgets were everywhere. Specifically, there was one store stocking the Apple iPad at $S950 for the 16GB, $S1299 for the 32GB and $S1499 for the 64GB unit. None of the dedicated Apple resellers appeared to have any visible. This is somewhat surprising since stock is not supposed to be available outside of USA for another week.
I saw 'classy' premises, I saw large supermarket-style outlets along with a very small number of 'hole-in-the-wall' style stores (in fact far fewer than I was expecting).
However, the one thing that struck me was the complete and total lack of a bargain. On a couple of occasions I saw something that I particularly wanted and phone a contact in Australiato ask for a price comparison. On both occasions, they could buy the same item cheaper locally in Australia; sometimes significantly so.
Looking around, I had certainly noticed that nothing seemed particularly cheap and these price-checks (as limited as they were) clearly confirmed that.
Sure, there were quite a number of products that I'd not seem in Australia, but even those seemed to be priced 'fairly.'
So, I guess the moral is, if you want something specific for the time you're in Singapore, by all means buy it there; but don't expect to get it significantly cheaper than in Australia. Those days are gone; probably because we have moved closer in pricing to Singapore and not the other way around.
