Period pricing references (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Sun Apr 28 11:00:36 2002

The only systems I know of, today, that would cost $2k or more, even with
"everything you'd want" on them, when bought with any sort of cleverness at
all, are notebooks. Even so, a fully equipped 2.4GHz P4-equipped Winbook
costs less than that with quite a few extras, and those aren't the most
attractively priced notebooks around. I bought a Winbook because I read that
it had survived a fall from a 2nd story balcony where it was being used on the
railing (clearly not what I'd have done, but...) and was still running just
fine having neither lost its place nor suffered any detectable damage in the
wake, in spite of a few bounces. ( A fluke, fer-shurr, but given no other
basis for comparison, I used durability as punctuated by this particular
knothead writer's article.) The Winbook did surpass its competition that year
in more reasonable tests of durability/survivability.

I remember I gave several of my kids, relatives and colleagues 5x86/133-based
computers in late '95, having paid just under $160 each for the motherboards
complete with 16MB of RAM, with cases costing $21 each, keyboards with
integral touch-pad mice, costing $33 each, 1.2GB WD drives, which I got for
$66 each, though they survived on the average, less than 5 months before
needing to be replaced under warranty, and a FDD costing $19. Each one had a
14.4KB FAX/Modem ( not much of a modem, but that wasn't so high a priority
then as now.) costing $14.40 (sound like a marketing ploy?) That was about
$360, to which the cost of a monitor and a printer had to be added. I doubt
those would have cost more than a relative minimum of $400. That's not too
bad, though. It's the only time I can remember feeling flush enough to be so
generous, but they were a pretty good deal.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank McConnell" <fmc_at_reanimators.org>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2002 5:25 PM
Subject: Re: Period pricing references (was Re: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)


> "Erik S. Klein" <eklein_at_impac.com> wrote:
> > 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.
>
> Back in the early-to-mid 1990s some friends of mine and I were
> comparing microcomputers we had over a roughly 15-year time span. Our
> conclusion was that from 1976 'til then, it cost about US$3000 to buy
> "the computer system you wanted", meaning what your computer system
> eventually grew into. That usually included some sort of peripherals,
> often bought after the initial purchase, and we were looking at an
> IMSAI 8080, a couple TRS-80s (Model Is), an Apple ][+, an IBM PC/XT,
> an Amiga 1000, and I'm not sure what else.
>
> I think at the time I was thinking my 486/33 desktop PC was below the
> curve (at about $2000), but I bought it from someone who was closing
> his computer store so got a pretty good deal. (BTW, I think it's
> on-topic now, it's still in use as a dial-on-demand NAT router, and
> it's been on 24x7 most of the last 10 years. Yes, you can blame me
> for last year's power woes in California.)
>
> I'm not sure where things are today but I think prices have come down.
> My last couple systems bought new for a purpose are notebook PCs, and
> of course there's a premium associated with that. I'm thinking they
> are something like $2500 and $2000, and the latter is an iBook that
> hasn't cost me that much yet but probably will by the time I'm done
> with it (I want to get it some more RAM, an Airport card, maybe a USB
> stiffy drive).
>
> -Frank McConnell
>
>
Received on Sun Apr 28 2002 - 11:00:36 BST