Students searching for deals on computer hardware and software found it all in one place at the ISU Microcomputer Product Center’s fall technology fair Monday.

Eighteen vendors displayed products and answered questions about their services and equipment at the newly expanded fair in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

The Microcomputer Product Center created and expanded the fair, which has taken place since the mid-1980s, in hopes of attracting more students and increasing awareness about its products, said Bonnie Whalen, interim manager of Microcomputer Product Center sales.

“A lot of people don’t know about us,” Whalen said.

Many brand-name hardware vendors, such as Apple, Dell, Gateway and Compaq, offered systems to students at discount prices. Representatives from software companies, such as Microsoft, Adobe and Corel, answered students’ questions about their software.

Darrell Brandimore, eastern regional sales manager for Corel, was pitching his company’s WordPerfect software.

“We offer our professional WordPerfect without cutting options in the academic [version], unlike Microsoft,” he said. “The only difference is on the box and the price.”

Representatives from several campus services, including the Student Solutions Center, Campus Book Store and Adaptive Solutions Lab, increased student consciousness about expanding technology on campus.

Ron Groom, system analyst for the ISU Academic Information Center, gave a demonstration on book-reading software available in the Adaptive Solutions Lab in Durham Hall.

“We hope to not only get students with disabilities into our lab, but also faculty, staff and administration, in order to institute more of this technology to help students with disabilities,” Groom said.

The lab will have its official opening later this year.

Jay Tolan, senior in management information systems, said he was interested in the Microsoft booth.

“I came to check out new technology and to get good deals on software,” he said.

Dominick Fazarro, recent graduate in industrial education and technology, attended the fair to check out Palm systems. “I like the availability to have an address book that is compact and easy to carry,” he said.