Computer fairs

EddScott said:
90s was a golden age for computer fairs. I remember going to one and seeing the JDM consoles for the first time - the Mega Drives in white boxes and Super Famicoms.

Bought loads of Amiga games etc. :)
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back in the early 90s i also used to go to a computer club in Ellesmere port there were a few bits and bobs for sale there but it was essentially a club where the "cool" people at the back cracked the copy protection of amiga games and then everyone else just copied them........ was at the british legion club i remember explaining it to my parents and i must have made it sound like it was some dark net ghetto place where you were apt to get knifed.... i was only an early teenager and they were worried so insisted my dad went with me the 1st time.................................. they got there and it was running at the same time an indoor bowling competition was going on where the average age must have been pushing 80 ......... not exactly some underground club.
 
ShiWarrior said:
OCUK ?

oh sorry thats 4 ... :D

O UK ?
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Baaaaaa Baaaaaaa

That's my best impression :)
That same company also got my mate to their shop in Manchester under false pretences saying they had something when they hadn't so we had a wasted journey.
Their answer was "I didn't really think you were going to drive all the way from Stoke".

Actually you can mention the name, you can't link to stuff they sell - IT WAS RAM.
I can't count the amount of arguments I saw down Trentham with customers and they didn't care.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Baaaaaa Baaaaaaa

That's my best impression :)
That same company also got my mate to their shop in Manchester under false pretences saying they had something when they hadn't so we had a wasted journey.
Their answer was "I didn't really think you were going to drive all the way from Stoke".

Actually you can mention the name, you can't link to stuff they sell - IT WAS RAM.
I can't count the amount of arguments I saw down Trentham with customers and they didn't care.
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They went out of business years ago....around 2002, i worked for them at the end. They got bought by Empire ( the catalogue people ) then shut down and moved to leeds and everyone laid off. By the end we were box shifting mid range athlon and duron systems by the van load, simple 30minute builds to sell to other retailers.

To be fair by the end they were pretty above board and legit compared to the others manchester retailers at the time, but things got hard and competition was cutthroat and the whole business got very risky and nasty and many went under. There were incidents of vandalism by rival companies and even attacks on staff after work etc...
 
bigmike20vt said:
back in the early 90s i also used to go to a computer club in Ellesmere port there were a few bits and bobs for sale there but it was essentially a club where the "cool" people at the back cracked the copy protection of amiga games and then everyone else just copied them........ was at the british legion club i remember explaining it to my parents and i must have made it sound like it was some dark net ghetto place where you were apt to get knifed.... i was only an early teenager and they were worried so insisted my dad went with me the 1st time.................................. they got there and it was running at the same time an indoor bowling competition was going on where the average age must have been pushing 80 ......... not exactly some underground club.
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:) We used to go to Game in Oxford, buy an Amiga game and spend the week cracking it. Take the game back following weekend and say it didn't work on my computer. The'd swap for another game and we did the same again.

Just had to make sure you went to a different person when we went back to the shop :D
 
Never been to one but did go to plenty of car boots back in the day and I imagine the same kind of junk I certainly woudln't buy anything more than a few quid as you've got zero guarantee on anything come back to return something oops its just an empty field. Phone number? Oh, thats not working either.

bigmike20vt said:
I did get sold a fake pentium 2 processor from a dodgy small company who traded there who are now massive - wont post their name as they are a rival - and they refused to refund me when i went back to the following show with proof................
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I think I know the one you mean bought a HDD case from their ebay store some years ago turned out to be cheap chinese knockoff crap that wasn't even electrically safe. Probably the modern equivalent of a car boot...
 
EddScott said:
:) We used to go to Game in Oxford, buy an Amiga game and spend the week cracking it. Take the game back following weekend and say it didn't work on my computer. The'd swap for another game and we did the same again.

Just had to make sure you went to a different person when we went back to the shop :D
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hahaha, that takes me back.

There was one lad at college who did this, and even went back to steal the cardboard boxes lol
 
I went to one over 4 years ago.

Bought a 1080gtx for about £10 more than online. But I could get it there and then and no shipping.

Still use it now.
 
Junglist said:
When I was younger going to the computer fair in Bristol felt like a magical time. Everything and anything you could want for you PC and begging my uncle to buy me a VooDoo AGP or whatever neon lights they had up flashing.

Fast forward 15 years and I went to a computer fair and what a miserable experience it was didn't help that everything could be found online for cheaper than they had it. Shame as it used to be a highlight for me but times have moved on
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Me too, used to love going to the one at whitchurch sports centre went to the one at Filton a few years back and was so rubbish I've never been since
 
I used to go to the the one near coventry at the national motorcycle museum when I was a kid, over the years I saw the prices go up and it just became pointless.
 
Never been to a fair but a shop in my town used to get regular visits. He had floor to ceiling of stuff, he would even source stuff for you if he didn’t stock it. Then one day it was just gone, pretty much brought everything online since then.
 
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