I went to a Computer show and sale today.

[highrisemech]

Hi everybody,
I went to a computer show today. suffice to say the place was crowded. But there was a tremendous amount of equiptment there. They had the large 19" monitots for as low as $50.00 working in front of you. Motherboards galore. Well anyway I was like a kid in a candy store. I even got a lesson on refilling ink cartridges something that I was reluctant to try on my own.
The prices were fabulous I recommend one for any computer enthusiest. They had Radeon video cards better that any price I've seen anywhere. Here are some of the things I bought, a gold ATX Mid tower for $30.00 NIB, A new Maxtor 4 gig harddrive for $35.00, A new fax modem $15.00, a 16x 12x 40x Cd writer for $75.00
Asus TUSI-M motherboard for $62.00. I would have bought other boards of better quality these are just items that I wanted personally. But the place was thesize of a small wharehouse with enough different equiptment new and used to satisfy any builder.

[chilidog]

I went to one of these a month ago and bought a bunch of little stuff (memory, an extra Athlon T-bird 1.4, cooling fans). They usually have a few good deals to pick through if you know what you are looking for. I have always wondered if alot of the stuff was seconds, irregulars, or whatever you would call it.

[archie]

I've been to one too and also felt like a kid in a candy store. I ended up getting mostly little stuff ... spare floppy drive, spare mice, big book, modem, speakers, etc and all the stuff was fine.

[RayH]

Those prices are extremely good. I just went to one today in San Francisco looking for nik naks: $2.50 AT keyboard w/no Windows keys; $1.25 for the PS/2 adapter; $2.00 mouse; $5.00 floppy; I needed an extra set for building upgrades for my family!

A lot of the stuff I wouldn't touch: RMA motherboards.

[highrisemech]

Well I booted the Asus board and also fdisked the hardrive.
the hardrive was set up with windows 95 when I brought it up,
it also had a logical drive set up in the extended partition.
So I deleted the logical drive and partitions also the the primary dos partition
and reinstalled the primary partition with win98 also enable lage disk support then formatted it. Then ran antivirus on it.
The Asus board did not post initally with the 700 mgz FCPGA Celeron.
It was set for auto detect. I shut down then set the jumpers for the FSB manually plus removed the battery for a few mins. The board then posted up. So now the board is all mounted in the case tested and ready to go.
All I need for it is a cdrom drive. I also tested it with a 1 gig that I keep Win98 Se set upon the drive. I bought this board on a whim but it is a nice Micro ATX with onboard sound, video and NIC also is upgradeable to a Pentium III.
I was going to put this 700mgz Celery in an Abit 440 bx that I have but I have a 400 mgz PGA Celery on the way. I wish I would have picked up a few cdrom drives I could have gotten them cheap.
Now I have to get this cdwriter hooked up on my Athlon family system.
I'll save that issue for another thread.
Funny I build Intel systems to sell but yet I run an Athlon for the family
go figure.

[mc2phat]

I used to hit the shows twice a month in the Baltimore/DC metro areas. Had to be careful what I bought, some of the vendors were from New York/Pennsylvania so I wouldn't buy any used stuff from them. Never could bring myself to buy a motherboard at a show. But fans/floppies/connectors/adapters/cables etc I couldn't possibly find them anywhere cheaper. I'd buy at least $300 worth each time; I'd take several people's shopping lists with me to make it worth paying seven bucks to get in. And the SuperCase for 25 bucks is still a deal, decent case (after you pitch the crap-o power supply).

[Colonel Sanders]

I really wish I lived within 1000 miles of some of these PC shows... I thought the used shops around Austing were PC heaven... new 120mm Panaflows for $4 each.... *drool* 4.36GB SCSI HDD $30 *drool* working dual Slot1 ATX MB W/ onboard 10/100, Video, AND SCSI $25 *drool*.... Unfortunatley I didn't get the last $25 item....

Logan

[lpc300]

Hi all,

I too went to a computer show today...usually go about twice a month. Didn't buy anything this go around, but have probably spent about $2000 this year at the shows...for about $5000 worth of items. Software, hardware, you name it. After you go for a while, you get to know the reputable vendors and the ones to stay away from. Also, if you do your homework, you won't get caught in supposed good deals and find real ones.

[morriswindgate]

I usually only buy small parts at these shows, stuff like IDE Cables, 3 pin to Molex connectors, Power supply Y cables, screws, Auto switching Sound cables, and surge protectors, stuff that usually costs very little but a lot to ship.

[highrisemech]

It was kind of amazing a lot of people but you could see only few knew actually what they were looking at. I agree though you should shy away from the more expensive items. The deals on cases though can't be beat because like mentioned the savings on shipping. Also I think you can get a good deal on a monitor if you feel like lugging that out to the car. Also I noticed something else some of the vendors were giving a cheaper prices for using cash instead of a credit card, although this would be a few dollars. I was going to use my credit card for the Asus board but then the dealer showed me the price for the board using credit, it was $75.00 for credit $62.00 cash so I dug the $62.00 in cash out of my pocket. I was not about to go $75.00 for the board. I noticed no real deals on inks as well. Printers seemed to be at a prenium. The real deals seem to be on the motherboards and video cards but how many of those can one buy? I did notice big price differences on different brands of cd burners is there that much of a difference when it comes to these?

[morriswindgate]

If you looked at a lot of the Monitor Models they were usually older models, and I have noticed that many of the boxes look kinda like thay have had some rough handling or water damage.
Another thing that I have noticed, is that although many of the merchants list a website address on their flyers and price lists, when you go to the site it has only contact information on it, and is not a full service retailer. This leads me to believe that many of there stores are various models of Mini - Vans and nothing else.

[highrisemech]

I can't argue that one besides It is not that expensive to buy a monitor new anyway.

[Colonel Sanders]

I think as one person said, the best thing is haveing te monitor running. You can find out the max resolution, and it that is high enough for you, chances are it is a good deal. Besides, I haven't (yet) had a monitor burn up on me, or had to call tech support(other than a good in-law of mind ).

However just about everything else.... I think one of WD 4.36GB SCSI HDD is about to die(it's about twice as loud as the other drive)...

Logan

[Carl Price]

Originally posted by highrisemech I can't argue that one besides It is not that expensive to buy a monitor new anyway.

I'll second that! I just bought a 17" Samtron brand new for a net $39.00.
That was $129.00 - $40.00 rebate - $50.00 that my old monitor brought.

[RayH]

In the San Francisco area, a couple of years ago the computer shows were more of a bargain than they are now. First, computers were still a high profit item and sometimes, buying generic could save you some substantial money. But I used to buy motherboards and microprocessors there. But as of this year, I found that I could do almost as good purchasing from a discount retailer and not have to wait for two weeks to get an adjustment.

But with careful shopping there are still a lot of deals to be had--cases, drives, cables, power supplies, etc. These things are not insignificant nor are the savings.

For about a year and a half, the promoter started charging admission. The attendance dropped and so did the exhibitors. There were a few exhibitor that would draw the regulars in--cables and printer ink. But if you have to pay for parking and admission, there is no savings. But now, with pre registration online admission is free again!

[KronoLeginaire]

Thye need to have one of those shows in Mansfield, Ohio for me. I want a 19" for 50Bux.

But all them other deals you were talking about aren't really deals at all.

[highrisemech]

I hooked up and tried the cd burner it works great.
Can't beat it for the money.