"Computer shows"... the low end of the spectrum

Just this past weekend a huge "Everything on Sale" sale was going down at the Pontiac Silverdome. You know the ones where they sell old movies for $3 a piece... all leather jackets $89 (that one stuck in my head cause the wife was looking through all the perfumes and this guy had a "rented area" if you want to call it that, and he said that at least 25 times over a 3 to 5 minute period)... and they also had computers.

(time for the meat of the story)
How many of you guys ever go to something like that and walk in laughing at the garbage they were trying to pawn off on unsuspecting people.
I saw a burned off copy of Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 in a bin for sale!!

I went to the <a href="http://www.compfest.com" target="_blank">Computer Fest/Mac Expo in Toronto</a> a couple weeks back. Admission was $9. Inside, there weren't near as many booths and vendors as the last time I went a couple years ago. What an utter pile of rubbish. The "hot" deal at the show was used 486's for $10 a piece. But for some strange reason, nobody was buying. ;) There was a booth full of crappy software that should be burned for the benefit of the economy, one booth was the Commodore 64 users club of Toronto (I am not kidding, but I wish I were) with three bored middle aged guys sitting there with nothing to do. Of course the inevitable mountains of outdated computer books like "How to use Netscape 3" (why the hell do they write books on how to use Netscape, anyway) There were only a couple of booths selling up to date hardware, they were swarmed with people, and their deals weren't that great to begin with. There was supposed to be new Imacs at the show, but it turned out that there weren't! Two mac booths selling old mac crap, so much for "Mac Expo." :rolleyes: There was a booth occupied by Revenue Canada (Canada's version of the IRS) promoting EFILE of tax returns, but nobody was interested in him (Hmm, wonder why)

There were some good things that came out of this however. First, I got some exercise since the streetcar I was on was in an accident and I had to get off and walk instead. Second, I found an outfit called Oakland Computer Recycling based in Toronto, they were selling used 3com PCI NIC's for $10 each! Third, I found a cool company called <a href="http://www.bigfootcomputers.com" target="_blank">Big Foot Computers.com</a> that sells overclocking gear, they also have an online store!

Other than that, huge disappointment, complete waste of my time. I don't think I'll ever go again.

In previous years at the same show, I purchased a large computer tool kit for half price and found a legit copy of Office 95 for less than $100. No deals even remotely like that this goaround.

ive went to a couple of computer sale shows, found some good prices.

had a bad experience from one dude, he sold me a bad pci sound blaster live card. so then i returned it and he gave me another one. which works but the driver cd was crap, wasnt even the right cd for it. i ended up downloading the driver from the update.

i also purchased a 15 inch monitor which lasted for 4 months then pooped out, this guy sold garbage.

the sound card is still alive. but purchased other stuff that works fine.

i would like to go to computer shows but lost track of them, been meaning to find out where they are held now, its like the first sunday or saturday of every month , or something like that

Oh yes the suckers are out to buy. I had a buddy that bought a 19 inch monitor. It was great a KDS. I liked the picture except for the finger print underneth the glass. It is not a little finger print either. If you buy from these people you get what you deserve.

The only Computer Shows we get are the MarketPro shows. Lots of junk, warez, export-only software/hardware, pirated MS software, outdated books. One year they had a really big pr0n collection (this was advertised as a "family friendly show"). I haven't gone recently, simly because most of the stuff is not worth buying. It is very dangerous for a non-tech to go to the show, in one instance, a guy tried to sell me a SCSI drive as an IDE, I have seen "four-connector" IDE cables, etc. Some of the parts I bought from different vendors were defective or had bad drivers.

That said, our store loves it when the computer show comes to town. We are more than happy to charge lusers who bought a crap motherboard or chip and misinstalled it to sell them quality parts and do the job right.

You see I love thoose shows!! All the unexspectiong saps who think that they are getting great deals from the fast talking salesmen... It gets the bench I work for at least $500 - $1000 dollars everytime it comes around, thats every 4 months (the bluestar computer sale) I went once and was really put off by the guy who reached in to his case and pulled out a processer and was not grounded in any way what so ever..

but one thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet is all of the adult titles that I saw..

I do think that you can get some deals, you jsut have to make sure that you know what you are getting and get the address and numbers of the company. jsut be carefull

I know what you mean, the only deal I got in the past 5 years was an Altec lansing surround sound speaker system 'scratch and dent' for $100 (retailed $250).
The scratch or dent was an upside down speaker cover. Thats it...
They still work great for over 2 years.

But 99% of it is crap.

I got a good deal once on wheel mice $2.50 a pop not bad to throw in new systems. other than that all there was was rma`s and antiques.

[quote]Originally posted by ShadowWynd:
<strong> I have seen "four-connector" IDE cables </strong><hr></blockquote>

Just what you need if you want to connect four CR562 CD-ROMs to a Sound Blaster Pro!

https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2002/04/1.jpg

[quote]Originally posted by Cable Modem Tech:
<strong> did happen to find a Dell flat screen Trinitron 21 inch monitor. for like 399.... edited by Sowulo for an hour. and i told him that i wanted one in the box..... :) :) :) </strong><hr></blockquote>

OOOh, nice racism!

i use towels when i take a shower

I usually go to the MarketPro Shows and I like going for the simple fact that I can get good deals on 100 Blank cd's, or little odds and ends. I will never buy anything expensive from there. I bought a barebone system when I first went to my first one, like 2 yrs ago. It was the case, power supply, mobo and 850MHZ chip with the cables. Got it home, hooked it up, trouble from the start, wouldn't load a operating system correctly, problem after problem, I was still in school at the time for computer repair, a+, etc... so I figured maybe it was just me. Played with it constantly, finally got it to work, after playing with it. I went on vacation, came back, fan had stopped working all together, chip and mobo both fried. So after all, I purchased a new mobo, new chip, kick *** fan, and everything has been working fine since. Next show I went too...my bro buys a surround sound speaker system, we get home, they are working great, 3 days later...BAM they blow out...they are done. Went to Best Buy bought a new speaker system, been working ever since. In my opinion, little things like cd's, mice, etc..are good from shows, anything else...wouldn't take the chance.

I went to a Market Pro show in Tampa, FL They had a vender, I SWEAR, their name was "Junkfest 2000". They just had the crappy folding 8ft tables piled high with MOBO's, sound cards, Nics, ect. They advertised AS IS, and everything was like $5. Nothing in boxes or even marked.

We have one of those shows here in the CT area. It's called Cogan Fairs, and you do get the occasional bum deal, but mostly it's good stuff. You used to be able to find the bins of porn CD's and DVD's, but they cleaned that up, haven't seen any of those for a while. And the software is legit! The stuff is as cheap or cheaper than on-line, especially since you don't have to pay shipping. They weed out the bad companies, so all you have to worry about is overpaying, but that's why you got a whole mess of companies out competing for your dollar. Anyways, it's pretty good, too bad for all of you stuck with your rip-off shows.