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1989-04-05
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5KB
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93 lines
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∙ ∙
∙ THE LEEDS ALL FORMATS COMPUTER SHOW ∙
∙ ∙
∙ Visited by Dave Cowling ∙
∙ ∙
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As I write this report of the Leeds All Formats Computer Fair,
held at the University of Leeds' Sports Hall, 24th Jan '93, Dave Mooney
should have completed his college projects and will be reporting on the
Glasgow version of the same event. Will this start a discussion on the
theme of, "Our Computer Fair is more of a rip-off than your Computer
Fair"?
With a kick off time of 10am, arriving at 9:40 meant that I was
very much at the front end of the queue, and was in a prime position to
grab the promised bargains. The entry price was £4, and this entitled
you to view all the exhibitors - all 16 of them, as the sports hall was
half-full or, if you prefer, half-empty.
So what were the bargains to be had? Not that many; a friend who
was hoping to find 2 megs of memory and a hard drive was disappointed.
There were two stalls offering memory, but they were roughly handling
the chips and not taking proper anti-static precautions. If they turned
out to be faulty, then there would be little chance of a refund. As for
hard drives, there weren't any for the ST.
New TOS boards were available for £60 and there was plenty of
PD available for the ST. I bought a Quickshot Intruder Joystick for £18 -
especially for those flight sims - and a new mouse mat for £1.50. Blank
disks were available, but not at very competitive prices, and the disks
with a '100% error free' warranty were quite expensive. The problem
is what do you do if you find the disks are faulty?
I was not impressed with the show. It was very much overpriced
and under subscribed. The most positive note of the day was that of a PC
user who had built his own 386 system and wanted a case to put it in.
As we were leaving, he told us that he had been successful, but I think
the most successful person of the day was the organiser, who left Leeds
very much richer.
~~~ooOoo~~~
ALL FORMATS FAIR - GALSGOW CANDLERIGGS HALL
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Being an old hand when it comes to attending 'All Formats Fairs' I decided
to try going in a bit later this year. From past experience I knew that
there would be no crowds jostling for position and the sellers wouldn't be
too keen to give any bargains early on.
So... After a few pints we sauntered round to the Fair about 1.30 and
straight in. It was a bit busier than the three or four previous efforts,
but then again everyone was looking for a Christams bargain. Even so
moving about the hall was easy and there was none of the crowding seen in
the show reports in the comics.
A quick circuit of the hall revealed that if there was going to be any
bargains they would need to be looked for. Disks, drives and games were
all selling at greater prices than could be had from direct sellers. A 5
1/4" drive was even dearer than a couple of the High Street shops.
Why? I heard that the cost of tressle tables were £60 each and considering
the junk on some of them there would be little or no profit to be had.
This in turn leaves the punter feeling ripped-off. It cost £3.00 to get
in and then nothing... the big let down.
Ok, so what was on offer? High density discs from 40p each if you didn't
mind the write protect tabs being missing or from 50p if you didn't mind
them formatting with bad sectors. Hard discs being sold as untested, ie
faulty. Games that were cr*p five years ago and junk, junk and more junk.
Some stalls did have the odd computer system. Second hand STs were going
for a couple of pounds less that they could be bought new. PCs were going
at near bargain prices, but how would you rate your years guarantee
compared with buying one from an established firm with a known address
and telephone number!
As I write this there will be another fair next week. I'll be giving it a
miss as I feel that we should be able to go and get some bargains, not
take all the junk off the dealers hands for near normal prices.
Dave Mooney
~~~~~eof~~~~~