That might prove VERY interesting, particularly if the dates are still
legible.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erik S. Klein" <eklein_at_impac.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 12:31 PM
Subject: RE: Period pricing references (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)
> I still have many of my old computer receipts.
>
> My first IBM PC (December 1981) cost nearly $2,800 for a 64K machine, 1 SSDD
> floppy (120K with DOS 1.0) and a color card with an RF Modulator.
>
> I have a notebook full of receipts and invoices that came with a pair of
> Altairs. In addition to the costs for the specific machines there are also
> receipts for various other hardware items including old Cromemco and SOL
> stuff. I'll have to take a more careful look at some point and either scan
> those or post the prices here.
>
> Erik S. Klein
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> [mailto:owner-classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks
> Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 9:35 AM
> To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
> Subject: Period pricing references (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)
>
> --- "r. 'bear' stricklin" <red_at_bears.org> wrote:
> > On another note, I concede that Byte is not the best price guide, but
> > it's the resource I had available. I'm still skeptical the difference
> > was THAT great.
>
> I would tend to agree with you. I remember looking at prices in Byte
> and being disgusted at the time, but if you could afford to advertise
> there, you weren't small potatoes.
>
> Computer Shopper is a good place for bargain prices of the day, with
> less "print lag" than Byte. One of the things I hated was seeing "*CALL*"
> for 80% of prices for what I was interested in, but I know that things
> changed too fast to commit to a price 90 days in advance.
>
> Local sales flyers are also a good place to cull pricing information, if
> you can find them. There are a few on the web and I have a couple from
> way-back-when.
>
> One of the cool things about an Atari 800 system a friend gave me when
> he moved was that it came with Atari official price sheets, and, since
> the donor was an Engineer, he saved every single receipt for every
> item he ever bought - $2,500 for the base system (CPU, 32KB RAM,
> printer, external serial ports, modem, two floppies, acoustic coupler,
> tape drive, manuals, joysticks, etc.) and that was about 80% of MSRP!
> It's only one data point, but it is *spot on*. Some real person paid
> those real dollars for a machine that is completely documented.
>
> It's also interesting to look back at what the big iron used to cost.
> Somewhere, I have a DEC third-party-reseller flyer listing the RA81
> at $14,000 (we paid $26,000 for one in 1984) - that's about $33/MB,
> or about 1650000% more than a modern 100GB drive ($0.002/MB)
>
> While I don't have a massive pile of pricing data (that isn't in
> the backs of magazines), I think it's an interesting category of
> data to save. Sometimes the "good old days" don't look so good.
>
> -ethan
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more
> http://games.yahoo.com/
>
>
Received on Thu Apr 25 2002 - 15:36:24 BST