LA Computer Fair

Been coming here once in a while since about 1998. Yup, it sucks. Every vendor has the same old shit. It’s not like TRW or ACP, where you sometimes have a shot at some more exotic stuff in addition to all the regular goodies. You have to pay to get in, and once you start walking around, you realize what a sucker you were, because you just paid to get into Fry’s Electronics. Don’t bother wasting your time.

The place is not as big as you think, it only use 1 building. the ticket price is $ 10 but there’s $ 5 coupon if you sign up their email list and another $ 2 coupon for parking. This is not the place to go if you want to see the latest pc hardware, is more for those wanted a bargain in used and old computer hardare. The accesories is not that cheap, cheaper than bestbuy and maybe fry’s but no where cheaper than online site like Ebay.
However what you can find very good price is those used and old LCD and even some CRT Monitor, I had see some 15″ CRT monitor goes for $ 10, and many LCD 15−17″ monitor goes for like $ 50 – 100.
And tons of IBM and Old Dell Laptop about $ 100 to $ 200. Those are very pricey notebook when it came out like IBM, and still very good build quality and solid just not as fast or multi task but definite can rival those netbook. I even seen $ 200 Panasonic used tough book.
I didn’t buy any major item because of warranty. and most vendor only take cash. Is definite the place to buy cheap monitor as long you not planning use them for gaming…

Hi — I just read some reviews on this event from about a year or so ago. Let me tell you — it is an event that should be revisited.
You don’t NEED to be a computer «geek» (I’m a gamer, myself) but if your laptop just crashed and burned and you need to replace its hard-​drive then this — yes THIS is the place to get your product.
I just replaced a gateway hard-​drive (originally 80 gigs) with a 120 gig HD Western Digital with a 1 year warranty — and it cost me LESS than $ 60. Ok ok ok ok… I DID take my genius of a friend with me to find the correct product — but in the end I ended up paying for it… and if i took it to the Geek Squad— well i’ve heard horror stories so i don’t even give that a second thought!
The LA Computer Fair has also started giving FREE Seminars!!! OOOOOooooo… I understand that February (or was it March???) they had a guy there GIVING software away to help ANYONE Optimize their computers!!! … Ya know — for $ 10 regular admission and the JUST FOR SIGINING UP FOR THEIR E-​MAIL it drops to $ 6.00 it is a BARGAIN!!! wowwww
Something productive and fun to do on a weekend that is different, fun, informative, and well the prices for local businesses instead of the big corporations — Let’s Get This Economy Going with the «Mom and Pop» — «Cottage» businesssesss!!!
Ok… well I’ll get off my soap box for a moment.
I have really enjoyed the whole experience — I’ve never been there before so I have no comparison to the «lines» and «buildings» in the beginning — but if the beginning was 25 years ago (this has been running for THAT long!!!) You all have to remember that things change and the dot com businesses that went «belly up» changed the way everyone views computers… so -
I say give it a shot — enjoy yourselves at the LA Computer Fair — Take a look and bring a «Geek» with you — that can truly find the deals…
Oh yeah!!! One more thing… If you don’t want just computer parts and equipment. there are other fun things as well… Leather bags, stereo systems, as the show changes the exhibitors change, however, there are exhibitors that have been there for 18 years or more. Go and Enjoy yourselves! I do everytime I get the chance. (I just bought a 60gig external portable HD. for $ 30) — There are so many deals — you just have to look — it’s kinda like a TreasureHunt!
Have Fun!

nerd. geek. dweeb. look these words up on google and you will find the following:
nerd:A computer expert by aptitude and not mere training. Usually male, under the age of 35 and socially inept; a person whose tremendous skill with …
geek: A person who knows all the terms listed here and many more. Normally wears a tanktop, thick rimmed glasses and a bow-​tie. Due their vast knowledge of computer termanology, they don’t have a social life. They also live at home with their mothers.
dweeb:A person regarded as socially inept or foolish, often on account of being overly studious; wimp.
i’m pretty much all these with the exception that i’m not a 35 yr old male with dark rimmed glasses living in my mother’s basement. i love the WoW. counterstrike and q3 were the reasons why in college i didn’t do so hot my freshman/​sophomore year. pc games essentially fuel my desire to upgrade or build a new computer. why else would i? for work? hahhaahah. and to completely the entire circle, yes, i had an annual pass to the pomona computer fair when i was in college.
back in the good old days, the fair was housed in two of the barracks at the pomona fairplex. tons of vendors showed up ready to wheel and deal. you could get cheap cases, quality ram for less $$ (even if you got a bad stick, you could hunt them down and have them replace it for you), and a cpu you could return within 30days or your money back (guaranteed). i remember building a pretty sweet compy that could run tribes 2 at the highest settings for around $ 680 monitor included. alas, these were the good old days.
flash forward to February 10, 2008. i walk up to the pomona computer fair only to discover that its now been relegated to one barrack. weird. i also notice the lack of line to get in, the one less entrance (you know, to ease the flow of traffic), and just the general lack of people. wtf? i showed the admissions booth lady (who had an iPod and a mini tv in her booth to keep her busy) my computer fair email coupon. thank god i didnt pay full price ($ 8) but instead only paid $ 5 with the coupon. i walked through the doors only to find complete and utter disappointment.
the place was pretty… unremarkable. i saw tons of booths for crap stuff like cell phones and LED fans. thats nice. i saw maybe five or six booths that actually dealt in hardware (harddrives, CPUs, graphics cards) but when i looked at the prices, they were all higher than
! what the hell. i went to bargain with one of the vendors for a cpu. he would budge about $ 10, and thats after i showed him the newegg price that was $ 60 lower than his on my treo. frustrating. i would have bought a ton of components from him if he had been willing to play around with the prices. you seriously think i’m going to pay above retail? maybe if your warranty was ridiculous (and a very iffy maybe at that), but you have NO warranty and you can’t guarantee that i could come back to you at the next fair if it crapped out on me. screw that.
after sifting through a bunch of crap and subpar merchandise, i had to turn to my friend and apologize for the lack of goodies and to let him know that we will have to build his compy off of newegg or other various compy sites on the internet. sigh.
i do have the good memories, computer fair, but you have definitely ruined the experience for my friends and for my future offspring. i say good day to you, sir. good day.