I'm in Taiwan right now, and it's literally sickening...

[none]

I could never have imagined so much hardware. They actually have computer markets, like little crouded stands with hardware, gadgets, and joysticks hanging from string like fresh cuts of meat. About 50 of them in a 4000sf space.

Prices are baffling. optical mice are under $1, 1.3 megapixel webcams are not even $30, under $300 for a 19" LCD... I saw some brand new Acer laptop, Dothan 1.6, and 15" screen for about $1200... And it came with a free Epson color laser printer. Those are all retail prices on retail goods. JeeeSUS!

There are also cell phones which I've never seen or heard of even on import gadget sites, MP3 players that are small enough to smuggle in your bum-bum, and there are no CRT monitors anywhere (all LCD)... Computers and laptops of all kinds are everywhere, all shapes and sizes, it's just amazing! W-O-W!!

[SimonCC]

wow! I envy you so much, you should take advantage of these excellant buys, i live in London and can only dream about what you are seeing.

'bum bum' - hehehe

[Plinkerton]

That's so awesome. I took Japanese in high school, and we always learned about the cool gadgets they have over there that we don't have here. If I ever go there, I know I'm gonna buy a sh*tload of crap.

[none]

Well I can't buy stuff actually, because after this trip (I am visiting a friend here) I am heading to Australia (possibly for good). I have no money and no where to store the hardware But I will email a few good friends who own computer shops back in Canada, to see if they want to do some importing

[ian]

I'm gonna buy a sh*tload of crap.

The mind boggles....

[ThinkPad]

Yea they have some pretty interesting gadgets. Be sure to pick something up

[DentdHalo]

Taiwan has NOTHING on the Akihabara district of Tokyo NOTHING!!!! hahaha

Akihabara is the worlds largest retail electronic gadget district. And my office is only a few blocks up from it here in Tokyo hehe

and you are right, CRT's are non existant here, very hard to find actually. Everything is LCD

Not a great web site, but somthing from the Govt on what Akihabara is that is in english

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/RTG/RI/kanto/ ... abara.html

[Plinkerton]

The mind boggles....

Do you like my amazingly extensive command of the English language?

[lvlolvlo]

I'm gonna buy a sh*tload of crap.

The mind boggles....

hahah if you take it literally with the sarcasim of ian hahahahahahahaha i cant stop! hahahaha

[lfeagan]

Actually, even though the prices seem like super duper great, they aren't all that wonderful. There are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes in the USA that the govt forces companies to do. For example, the generous return time you get in the US for mail order goods, that is actually federally mandated. They force mail order places to do that because there was a precedent that had been set from purchasing goods in person of being able to inspect them before completing the transaction. So, the 30 days is for inspection of goods which you cannot do in a mail order situation before purchasing. Also, the US requires minimum warranty times and has many regulations which force them to provide certain levels of customer warranty to protect you, the customer. It is because of these any many other similar things that the US prices are higher. Also, there is no warranty for those goods in the USA. There may be a warranty in Mexico (and possibly Canada too) on those goods though. Typically goods bought like that are called white box goods. As opposed to retail box goods or brown box goods. Brown box = OEM basically. Brown box goods typically have a 15 or 30 day warranty.

[ian]

The mind boggles....

hahah if you take it literally with the sarcasim of ian hahahahahahahaha i cant stop! hahahaha

...and I wasn't even being sarcastic...

[Elhabash]

It is because of these any many other similar things that the US prices are higher.

Also compare the level of income...
Over here the US looks a little like Taiwan looks to you, price wise... But looking at the fact that one earns more, too, it's not that bad.

As for the gadgets, a Japanese guy was working in the same office as I did for a year, and he had this amazing, tiny Sony laptop I never saw before. I think apart from the prices Japan must be wonderland for us Gadget-lovers!

[AlphaKilo470]

There are a couple of reasons why Asia has all that cool technology and we (the United States) don't. Economics is a small factor, but not the entire thing, otherwise, we'd see people taking daytrips to Canada to blow money like there's no tomorow on the latest technology. It's also a matter of general tasted and marketing demographics. Here in North America, the general trend is to go with whats needed and to use it as long as it lasts. In Asia, they like having at every moment the latest thing out. Well, we all WANT te latest stuff, but are we always willing to buy it? Example, the first publicly availible color cell phone was introduced to North America in either 1999 or 2000, it's finally mainstream. PDA's, back in 2001 and 2002, there was this great demand for them here in the US, then poeple got fed up with them, and now that they are finally starting to be catch on again, they are not as great because what most people did with a PDA 2 years ago, they can do with their phone. Minidiscs are another example of differing tastes, in Japan and in Europe, everyone loves them, here in America, most people here have been ignoring them since they came out in 1991. Now, I'm not saying any of this Japanese technology is bad, in fact, being big on professional videography, I go with strictly all Panasonic or Sony equipment, but you can't deny the effects that buying trends have on a companies budet depending on the decisions the executives make. The reason those cool Japanese gadgets are almost nonexistant here is the same reason that you don't see too many boat size cars (Cadillacs, Lincolns, etc) in Japan. Again, the Japanese companies have tried introducing us to their technology many times, Sony Clie (which won't be in the US too much longer, the Minidisc (which is finally getting acceptance from some of the younger people), people in different areas have different tastes, that's all, though despite what I said, I' still jealous of some things, and if I ever travel east, I'm sure as heck am carrying a fat wallet with me.