From: Axel Hartmann (axhartma_at_risky.ecs.umass.edu)
Date: Mon Sep 21 1998 - 23:34:57 EDT
hi all,
about a month back I asked the list for recommendations of ThinkPad / Computer / Electronics stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. I got quite a lot of hints and want to thank all of you. Here's what I got around to:
First of all everyone in the Bay Area should be aware how lucky you are - you get two free computing magazines free. MicroTimes was one and it had good feature articles - even by the Chaos Manor guy who was recently kicked from Byte. There were also a good index and a map in the back, so I found everything relatively fast. There was also another magazine for free, but I don't recall the name.
Definitely the best store all around was Fry's. The San Jose one was featured in Wired not too long ago with the Mayan temple theme - pretty cool. I also happened to see the one in Fremont, I believe, which didn't have a theme but was just as impressive. They both had replacement batteries and car-power-adapters for lots and lots of laptops, except for the TP701, which uses a very rare voltage around 10 Volts. I could have gotten it ordered, but I didn't want to wait. Lucky thing, too, because my travel budget was already severely strained.
Pretty close in San Jose was HSC - Halted Surplus, and a row of smaller shops with lots and lots of neat stuff - I got a bunch of small items: small, strong magnets; a real, durable anti-static band for a buck; an old mac mouse pre-ADB for my macquarium, and so on. Really cool. Plus you drive down roads where one big name company is next to another big name company. If the next big earthquake strikes there, I say were screwed ;)
These stores have many of the cool gizmos in stock, such as the pcmcia adapters for 2.5" external hd's , IR-dongles, and of course the odd vacuum tube computer if you need a spare. Need a core memory upgrade? See every bit!
As you can tell, I had a good time. I also realized, coming from the east bay and driving to SF, how big the southern part of the Bay is. Phew, quite a drive!
Next time I'll have to plan my budget to account for these stores!
see you,
axel
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. Axel Hartmann .
. Paper'n'People : 33 Meadow Street; Amherst, MA 01002; USA .
. Voice : +1 (413) 549 - 6113 , Fax on demand .
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. Office : Dept. of Chemical Engineering; UMass; Amherst, MA 01003 .
. Office Phone : +1 (413) 577 - 1235 Fax: +1 (413) 545 - 1649 .
. E-Mail : axhartma_at_risky.ecs.umass.edu .
. Homepage : http://rheoserver.pse.umass.edu/users/axel/index.html .
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