What will you buy with a Million Pesos? That’s a fun question that has been asked of us and we asked others at one point in our lives, right? The question usually ranges from the usual “what will you do if you win the lottery and get a Million pesos” to fun specific conditions like “you have 1 hour to spend 1 Million pesos, where do you go and what do you buy?”
The reason we’re asking this hypothetical question is because a) PayMaya put us up to it and b) they’re raffling off as much as 1 Million Pesos in their #PayMayaguinaldo Christmas Campaign! They’re also giving away a share of Php 285,000 worth of cash on weekly draws leading up to the grand raffle of 1 Million pesos on January 13, 2021!
So in the spirit of fun and positive manifestation, here’s our list of what we’ll (most likely) buy if we have to spend One Million Pesos!
The Wish: A Creator / Entertainment Studio
This has been a wish of ours for quite some time and we’ve been looking at creating an official Ungeek studio where we can finally do all our recording and livestreaming uninterrupted and in peace. Currently, we’re all relying on whatever makeshift studio setup we can muster and, before the pandemic, we’ve even done some shoots at Unbox’s gorgeous studio – we’d love to commandeer Carlo Ople’s space where he records (hehe, sorry Carlo).
Aside from that, a studio is definitely an awesome thing to shoot for especially for you content creators out there or even for those of you who just want to build their own personal geek dens. So in case you find yourself to have won that sweet 1 Million Peso Cash Prize, here’s a little list of things that you could buy to make this wish into a reality!
Studio Space (Php 300,000)
First up is Studio Space. A good studio setup would be for you to have multiple rooms so that each room can be a mini studio of their own. This means work can flow smoother and shoots can be done simultaneously. If you’re looking to stream, a room dedicated to that would be ideal. For this, we’re looking at a decent-sized studio maybe 1 to 2 bedrooms with parking space (ideally) for say Php 25,000/ month for rent. For a year that amounts to Php 300,000 just on space rentals alone.
Renovations (Php 100,000)
Of course, physical space alone can’t cut it. You’ll need to dress it up to make sure that it’s aesthetically and functionally sound. That’s why you’ll have to renovate the place, add sound proofing on walls that need it, add various fixtures like aircon, a fridge, toiletries maybe a shelf for signed game posters or collectibles that you’ve gotten throughout the years but haven’t had the time nor space to put up and whatnot. Some tables, chairs, and couches will also be needed. For this, we can start with an initial budget of Php 100,000 and work from there.
Cameras (Php 74,000)
Quick Trivia. Did you know that 99.99% of our videos and photos that you see on the UnGeek site were all recorded with just our smartphones? Yup, Ungeek hardly uses actual cameras to create our content. While we feel smartphones can do the part just fine, cameras still make the job and creative process a whole lot faster and easier. The simple addition to a flip screen will cut setup time by 15 minutes! For this, we’re looking at 2 cameras. As we are just stepping out of our comfort zones here, a couple of Canon M-series would be a good way to get into the groove of things. Specifically, we’re looking at the Canon EOS M50 Mark II and the handier Canon EOS M200. Both are mirrorless and technically easy to use which can be shared among the group and/or brought easily on coverages abroad. The Canon EOS M50 Mark II cost roughly Php 41,000 while the Canon EOS M200 cost roughly 33,000.
Gaming/ Editing Rig (Php 170,000)
Now, for the good stuff! To thoroughly take advantage of next-gen games, you need a rig that can do it all – play any triple A game with ease and at max setting and/or be able to churn countless videos rendering them at maybe 4k resolution and really putting out mounds of high caliber content without missing a beat. That’s why a strong “future-proof” rig is a solid purchase. This means, suiting it up with the latest Intel 11th-gen processors, Nvidia’s wildest RTX 30-series Graphic Cards, 64GB of RAM, 2 TB of SSDs, custom hard loop cooling and all the glitz and glamour this gizmo can take. For this, you can set up a budget of Php 170,000 including peripherals!
Portable Gaming Laptop (Php 130,000)
While a custom supercomputer is great, a souped-up portable version is still great for when you’re on-the-go. For the year, we’ve grown fond and came to love the ASUS Zephyrus G14 specifically both in white with the AniMe Matrix and the more hyped version of it, the Zephyrus x ACRNM edition. Either of the two works for us and we’re willing to shell out the necessary Php 130,000 for this baby as we’re pretty happy with the time we had with it. We recommend this for your studio set-up as well!
Additional Next-Gen Consoles (Php 75,000)
No geek studio is complete without having the consoles of the next-gen of gaming, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. Whether you’re reviewing / streaming games for content or you just want to have some awesome gaming nights by yourself or with friends (post pandemic, of course), these babies would be a great addition to the studio. For this, set a budget of Php 75,000 to buy not just the consoles themselves but other peripherals as well.
Entertainment System (Php 75,000)
What good are our next-gen systems without a place to play them, right? That’s why a good entertainment system is the next thing on our list. Doing our research, it seems the Samsung 65-inch Class QLED Q80T Series -4K UHD is the best option for our consoles. Stunning imagery, good HDR balance and capable of handling up to 120hz of refresh rate, this Samsung TV ticks all the boxes for our next-gen system. The catch? Well, we’ll have to shell out roughly Php 75,000 for this. But Php 75,000 for 65” of 4K quality output for the PS5? That’s not so bad and is a much better choice than LG’s which costs twice as much. With our 1M budget, we’re putting this Samsung OLED Q80T Series on the list.
Reliable Internet (Php 75,000)
Now all of this would be absolutely useless if we have zero internet. Good thing we still have a couple of thousands to splurge on so we’re throwing a huge chunk of money to ensure that we get blazing fast speed and top priority with PLDT Fibr Plus 6099. According to the website, this should give you 3000 Mbps of speed — that’s 3Gigs per second. Plus, the plan adds 3 TP-link Ai-Mesh routers to ensure that you get constant internet speed and that it could manage all the devices connecting to it. Oh, there’s also a bonus Cignal Live TV subscription as well. Yay!
Balance (Php 1000)
That leaves us with a thousand pesos which you can buy Jollibee meals for everybody cause 1) they are hearty and 2) that’s all the money we have left. After fixing the studio and/or the inaugural launch of it, we have Php 1000 to splurge on food and, by golly, we’ll throw that to Jollibee!
While it’s great to daydream, this is also an exercise in projecting what you want to achieve in the future. Most of the spending listed above, while a bit excessive, is also meant to generate more content and/or maximize entertainment satisfaction.
While the opportunity of having, say, a Million Pesos is great, do you invest it or do you throw it in frivolous things without getting anything in return. What we listed here hopefully satisfies both of those criteria and being smart about your spending as a studio with this kind of gear is something you can definitely use to create awesome content as well.
Even without the #PayMayaguinaldo promo, constantly using PayMaya with their regular BalikBayad promos wherein you can get 1%, 10% or even 100% of cashback when you #ScanToPay via PayMaya QR or even pay using your mobile number, is great practice in treating your expenses with more thought and reverence.
If you haven’t experienced getting sms messages (sometimes two in succession) that what you just bought is now free because of PayMaya’s awesome cashbacks, we highly encourage you guys to get an account. It’s free and superbly easy. Just download the PayMaya app and register for your own account via https://official.paymaya.com/CAK1/425eb133.
Plus, if you start using your PayMaya from now till January 13, 2021 you can be part of the said weekly raffle where you win cool cash prizes and take your part in winning the 1 Million Pesos grand prize come next year.
If that happens, we just have one question for you guys: What will YOU buy with your 1 Million Pesos?