Are we dinosaurs?

Are we dinosaurs?

I don’t think we know for sure just yet.

I have been in the crowded masses shoving to get closer to the counter as vendors quickly sketched down orders given by customers pointing their fingers to the price lists over their heads. It reminded me of clips I have seen of the stock market floor.

Unfortunately, computer shows have been in decline for some time. My last one was about 6 moths ago and there were no hardware vendors to speak of at all. There were a couple of beige-box vendors that would sell full systems and upgrade “packages”, but noting an enthusiast would want. The rest were overpriced refurb sellers and half of those were trying to push stuff that belonged in a landfill. My last purchase was back when the AMD 64 just came out. I was able to buy most of the items I wanted, but I still had to go elsewhere for a high-end video card because none were sold there.

Most of my favorite online stores have become disappointing as well. Some are gone, others no longer carry a large selection and some, like Newegg now charge me sales tax (plus shipping) just because they have a warehouse in my state.

Why?

I would guess there are many factors. First, it is my understanding that profits on hardware is low to begin with. This could cause the decline of show vendors, as there would be more profit in Internet sales. Then you have to compete with the larger online retailers who have more buying power.

The largest driving force behind hardware sales has been gaming. Only exception I have noticed was the release of Windows 95. PC gaming has taken a dive with most publishers concentrating on easier to develop and more profitable console games. The few PC games have basically demanded video upgrades more than anything. CPUs, Mother Boards and RAM are many times only bought to support the new Video Cards.

Overclocking is a whole different subclass. My interest has been absent for years. Back when I could pump my 25Mhz 386 to 50Mhz…that was accomplishment. Obtaining a 10% boost while worrying about extra heat just didn’t get me as excited. It just wasn’t worth it to me.


But changes are in the wind.

Vista is going to cause another hardware boom. As soon as the newness wears off and inflated prices (due to high demand of products strangely not in short supply) return to normal, I can see online retailers stocking back up and even the return of show vendors. Conroe will rejuvenate the overclockes, at least it will for me from what I have seen. Hopefully, maybe by 3rd quarter 2007, we will see a new golden age of hardware. Even better (and probably too optimistic) maybe AMD will get off their rumps to fuel the fire and game makers will realize not every gamer shops at the toy store.

Nice observation, makes me ponder.

This is too funny...I was just talking about this the other day that I havent even saw any advertisment's for or been to a computer show/expo in years. I love/miss those things like crazy. You also have to consider the rise in secondary marketplace's such as eBay and Amazon, which have taken a nice chunk out of online vendors profits. Im sure the big wigs will come up with something as the market changes (or is constantly changing I should say.)

Here's a copy of an email I sent stating my opinion:

I think the internet has a lot to do with the decline of in-person hardware sales. I've been to 2 computer shows. My first was in 90 or 91 when I bought my 486DX50, and my last one was about 1 month ago. The difference in size was staggering. In my first show there was a huge hall that was packed full with vendors and people. My last show had a smallish hall that really wasn't very full.

Back in 91 the internet wasn't around for all intents and purposes. If you wanted to buy hardware you got it out of a computer magazine or you went to a show. Now the internet is in most houses in the USA, and if you want to buy hardware you can go to any one of a number of reputable, low cost sites. There's no reason to go to a show anymore when hardware can be researched and shopped for from behind a computer.

The local computer parts sellers (who also had booths at the shows) have a hard time competing with the big stores such as Best Buy, Frys, CompUSA, and Circuit City for B&Ms and Newegg, Zipzoomfly, Buy.com, and Amazon for the web sellers. I would bet that the small local shops do more in repairs than they do in parts sales.

If anything I'd say there's more people that build there own computers than there's ever been. Back in the old days computer assembly took a lot more know how, without as many resources for help. It seemed more like an unapproachable magic box, so people tended to buy complete systems. Now everything is pretty much plug and play, with tons of information available online. Anybody can build their own, and have thousands of people to back them up if they run into problems.

BTW, the only reason I went to that last show was because I thought I was going to an Irish festival, and I got my dates mixed up :-D I wouldn't have gone otherwise. It wasn't a total wash though. I ended up buying a heatsink and adapter set for about $2 cheaper than Newegg after taking the entrance fee into consideration ;-)

I don't think we are fading away but instead going so mainstream it's not noticed as much. For instance you used to have to go to one of these shows to get the latest news and hardware, now you go to google, or newegg and find whatever you could possibly want. There is also much less fear about computers then there was in years past. It seems every teen these days is using the PC to chat or play games, not to mention how almost every high school these days offers computer classes which was very rare just a few years ago.

"Computer Shows"

It really depends on the area you live in, like here in WA you would think because of MS and the others there would be comp shows at least once a month. Nope none. But back in CA they had one every month at a different place for each area. Go to www.lacomputerfair.com

I have bought everything you can think of brand new not refurbs.