Hi all, Where are some of the best places and sources to find vintage computers at other than eBay, Craigslist and other online auctions and classifieds? Sometimes I just don't want to mess around with those kinds of sites. Thanks
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Sources and where to buy vintage computers from?
- Thread starter punchy71
- Start date
Amardeep-AC9MF
Experienced Member
Garage and yard sales, estate sales, word of mouth, the various companies like Dr. S100 and Kennet and Sellam and others.
TH2002
Experienced Member
I've historically had good luck with the local thrift stores in my area. It's more difficult now than it was 10 years ago to come across the computers themselves (though they're still out there), but still plenty of accessories to come across like external floppy and CD-ROM drives, disks, and other goodies. I picked up an external ThinkPad floppy drive from one of my favorite local thrift stores not too long ago.
pbirkel@gmail.com
Veteran Member
VCF events in your region ... wherever you are ... in the US or perhaps lower Canada. Also <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org>. There are also manufacturer/equipment-specific Google Groups and mailing lists on which to seek out possibilities -- it all depends on your focus within "vintage computers".
famicomaster2
Experienced Member
Local thrift stores are a mixed bag. Some of them don't take computers, some of them overprice their computers, some of them underprice them, most of them have had their RAM stolen.
eBay is great if you know exactly what you're looking for. Otherwise, for browsing, you're probably going to have the best luck at garage/yard sales and VCF if local.
eBay is great if you know exactly what you're looking for. Otherwise, for browsing, you're probably going to have the best luck at garage/yard sales and VCF if local.
syzygy
Experienced Member
It seems like it is a lot harder now and I can't really add to the list. Thrift shops are good, but only for a few different items - keyboards and monitors in particular. Around here, tube type monitors are not accepted by any of the thrift shops - they look at them as old TVs that they can't get rid of.
There are recycle centers run by the county that will accept them and that is a reasonable place, but hit-or-miss (and I have only missed).
Estate clean outs (like finding the junk trunk at a complex) or the relatives of those that have recently passed away, but it is not like this is something I want to be doing.
It is sobering for some of us.
There are recycle centers run by the county that will accept them and that is a reasonable place, but hit-or-miss (and I have only missed).
Estate clean outs (like finding the junk trunk at a complex) or the relatives of those that have recently passed away, but it is not like this is something I want to be doing.
It is sobering for some of us.
famicomaster2
Experienced Member
I forgot about recyclers. Our only electronics recycler is several hours away and the last metal recycler that still got computers recently closed down.
Flea markets are occasionally a good place to go, but don't expect to find much good unless you happen to live somewhere a lot of computer development happens where hardware is circulated often.
Flea markets are occasionally a good place to go, but don't expect to find much good unless you happen to live somewhere a lot of computer development happens where hardware is circulated often.
I have a guy who runs a profile selling old hardware on the country's most popular 'craigslist' site. He has a garage full of PC stuff and is 160 miles away. And is not shipping anything large via post.
And that's it. The region where I live in has about 800.000 people, there is not a single CRT monitor on sale anywhere. If one does get posted, it's a POS monitor.
I think everyone dumped everything they had when housing started surging due to tourism. You'd be lucky to find a shed that wasn't converted for airbnb. POS monitors aren't random, they're still out there from those restaurants and bars. Everything else dumped long ago.
Due to rising pressure on waste management 99.9% of companies are in vendor programs for desktops and laptops, they don't dispose of old items, they return them.
Possible there was a window when vintage junk was being thrown out rapidly, but it was a fairly long time ago, before I took interest in this. Since then generations of junk have been swapped and the latest junk is just stuff few years old and mostly commodity items that you can associate with rentals or tourism activity.
Just dropping this here because I think local availability of vintage components is tied to storage space directly. If you have options today, act on them.
And that's it. The region where I live in has about 800.000 people, there is not a single CRT monitor on sale anywhere. If one does get posted, it's a POS monitor.
I think everyone dumped everything they had when housing started surging due to tourism. You'd be lucky to find a shed that wasn't converted for airbnb. POS monitors aren't random, they're still out there from those restaurants and bars. Everything else dumped long ago.
Due to rising pressure on waste management 99.9% of companies are in vendor programs for desktops and laptops, they don't dispose of old items, they return them.
Possible there was a window when vintage junk was being thrown out rapidly, but it was a fairly long time ago, before I took interest in this. Since then generations of junk have been swapped and the latest junk is just stuff few years old and mostly commodity items that you can associate with rentals or tourism activity.
Just dropping this here because I think local availability of vintage components is tied to storage space directly. If you have options today, act on them.