FROM large TV screens to laser printers, people cart away anything on their trolleys at Singapore’s quarterly computer fairs.
This week’s Comex show, which starts today and runs until Sunday at Suntec City, is no different. The crowds were in force as the doors opened at noon, ready to snap up the bargains on cameras, LCD TVs and laptops.
Anything to make that sale.
ST photo: Stephanie Yeow
Though the crowd seemed thinner than the last show in June, at least on the opening day, the bargains are anything but.
New laptops, for example, Sony’s Vaio models, came with more memory bundled in, so they could run faster.
Other rivals like Toshiba threw in freebies like external hard disks and shopping vouchers to entire buyers.
Besides computers, home electronics – particularly TV sets and audio equipment – were going for prices unheard of outside the show.
One of the bargains of the show is a behemoth 46-inch full-HD LCD screen from Sharp that goes for $1,999.
Previously, that price could only get one a smaller 40-inch model.
Representatives at Audio House, which is selling the Sharp TV sets at its booth, say it has sold about a dozen such models at the hugely-discounted price in the two hours of the opening.
Another attraction of such shows is the bargaining that one can engage in.
Buy a TV set with a home theatre system, for example, and you can bargain for the second item at $100 or $200 less.
Indeed, some retailers are privately slashing prices. Bargain a little, for example, and a laptop could be had for $50 or $100 less.
Failing that, perhaps ask for a free mouse could be thrown in to sweeten the deal?
The only problem for such shows is the crush of humanity, and the lack of carpark lots in the area.
But this year, things seem to be more orderly.
For example, show promoters are made to stand some distance away escalators so they do not block the way.
And visitors need not use the notoriously overcrowded overhead bridge linking the crowd walking from City Hall MRT to Suntec City.
An underpass is now open, making it much easier to drag that trolley of goodies home.