mores_p@hotmail.com wrote:
Hi! For those of you who got the bargain prices, where did you normally get it?
Well, ebay is the easiest place to find stuff with the least amount of effort - but it's definately the most expensive for hard to get items.
Honestly, you're not going to find much Apple II gear at school auctions anymore, at least not like you used to. Most of it's been auctioned already or written off (destroyed/tossed). Sometimes you'll find the odd machine here and there but schools rarely upgraded their machines, so most are stock. You might find the occasional VOC in a GS, or Ramworks in a IIe, but thats usually about it.
Estate sales - yah, and garage sales too - whenever I drive by one and have the time, I slow down and take a look. If I see something II'ish, I stop. Once in awhile, I get lucky. Read the computer for sale and garage sale sections of your local paper.
Get in contact with the local user group. Sometimes people who want to sell or give away their Apple II will call the club and ask if anyone is interested. Even the Mac group is a good opportunity - many Mac users started on the II.
See if you have a local computer surplus exchange/recycler. They scrap and resell the raw materials to China, other places... the good stuff, they occasionally try to sell. Apple IIs though generally go straight to the scrapper. Contact them about seeing anything they have before it gets broken up.
Thrift stores... kinda like school auctions in that they used to be better places to find things. Still, drop in on them every couple of weeks and you might get lucky.
Network - tell all your geek friends that you like obsolete computers and when they come across something, someone, somewhere they'll let you know.
Good luck!