China #3 – CompuTown Information Plaza
This collection of images is from Computown in Wuhan China, a 7 story electronics hub. The first floor is spacious and airy, with all known (and several unknown) computer companies having a small display area – almost a trade show model. The computers on this level have a decent probability of being real, but you will pay regular pricing – there arent really any deals to be had. The following floors show new cell phones and electronics like PMP and cameras, then sketchy and perhaps used computers, then sketchy cell phones and other electronics, then new parts for DIY computer building, then a floor of repairs and used parts, and last a floor of spare parts and phones and misc things. All the repair shops had small heat presses for dropping in new CPUs and popping out old ones. We watched ppl doing repairs on nexus tablets while on, just tweaking things on the backside with a reacharound while they watched the front. old screens were stacked like so many books, along with laptops in various states of disarray. Buying a computer on the used/rebuilt floor might be a decent idea just because you know where to get it fixed – the stand has likely been around for many years. All the floors had no windows, only the humming of the fluorescent tubes overhead. Kids run around, making me wonder what it would be like to spend much of your young life surrounded by a flux of repair and reclamation, very little fresh air, and as one got to the top of the building, it was at least 25 degrees warmer than the bottom.