It wasn't my intention to imply that it was expensive - within an order of magnitude of current prices shows how relatively cheap it was, given that electronics

It wasn't my intention to imply that it was expensive - within an order of magnitude of current prices shows how relatively cheap it was, given that electronics and sheer scale will have driven down the cost of parts (if not necessarily the end user cost). I expect the difference is in the vendors' margins (i.e. nowadays the option price is almost pure profit/salesperson's commission).