Is the retro/vintage hardware boom over?

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

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Is anyone still buying retro or vintage hardware? That is, Socket 370 or older. I've not spent money on this kind of hardware for a while.

I am wondering if the focus has shifted onto 478 and maybe even 775 for a new generation of retro collectors.
 
I'm sure these things go in cycles.

For me, there's a 30 year 'unwritten rule', where you are nostalgic for something and you have the disposable income to spend on it.

From my own personal journey, I was computer mad. All my friends had 8 bit micros, but I was late to the party, but started off with a 'bang' with an Amiga 500. Some friends had oodles of backup games and I kept clean for years, but then gave in.

I attend the South West Amiga Meet which is 3 times a year and it's great to hang out with like minded fans. Some fans are flush, some aren't. Some want owt for nowt, some are willing to pay.

Where we find ourselves in the Amiga world is far from the original hardware with Gotek drives, upscalers, PiStorms, Checkmate and various new cases. There's still the 'iconic' Amigas, I'd love to own, including the 4000 and the 3000.

But, when you can emulate this lot on a Raspberry Pi, Amiga Forever, WinUAE etc, what is it that you want to acheive with your nostalgia.

For my A1200, I have the Philips monitor (which I never had in the glory days), scanners, CF Drive, RAM and accelerator card.

When the PC took off with gaming and multimedia, I still championed my Amiga. Our famliy upgraded to an Amiga 1200 and then got left behind. Thankfully, that Amiga 1200 is the one I still own to this day.

..And that's when I started collecting retro PCs. This for me was reliving the point in time where I didn't have a PC and couldn't afford to keep upgrading parts.

But, then you have Mister, PCEMu, even emulating your favourite games on Internet Archive in the web browser. How's that for a quick fix?

I have more kit that I can hope to tend to in my lifetime. I can't yet bring myself to sell it. I was using 'moving house' as an excuse for cataloging my collection and working out whether to sell stuff.

So I guess my point is, the focus will shift, but to what end?
 
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I've had an overpriced Amstrad 6128 on Gumtree for weeks. Not one bite. I don't want pennies either.

This is like when I sold my Saab 9-5 Aero that kept on breaking down on me. I sold it for a heartbreakingly low price.
 
!bluetonic! said:
I've had an overpriced Amstrad 6128 on Gumtree for weeks. Not one bite. I don't want pennies either.

This is like when I sold my Saab 9-5 Aero that kept on breaking down on me. I sold it for a heartbreakingly low price.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is MORE overpriced than I was thinking :-) Good luck!
 
Armageus said:
I don't think so, I think it's more a case that anything earlier has become rarer and consequently more expensive.

Therefore the next step for most is to move to whatever is a bit cheaper but still retro.
Click to expand...

Exactly, the same thing happens with other things of interest like cars.
 
Judging by the price two ibm blue lighting 386sx-class upgrade boards went for in the last two weeks, I’d say the retro boom is still well and truly in the stratosphere
 
Very rarely see anything 486 class thats working go for less than 100 these days, used to be way easier to snatch one. I mean I paid less than 70 for my boxed dell 466i 3 or 4 years ago... That would be double easily if I was to re sell
 
For some reason I’ve been looking at ISA sound cards and AGP graphics cards and they seem… reasonably priced?! Creative sound blasters with OPL3 for £30, 6600GT for £30, the boring cards like FX5200 back to sensible prices (£12.50). I might actually buy my first hardware in years!

AGP voodoo 3 £130 still holding value I see lol
 
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As much as I'll always be a firm believer of nothing beats the real thing, in recent years the things like the Mister has really quenched my thirst for tweaking/messing around with retro gear, it's such a great piece of kit :)
 
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