4 ms·

The IBM PC in 1981 cost $4,500 to $8,500 in today's money. The original Mac would cost $6,000 if released today. Computers have become a great deal cheaper in t

by ttul 7y ago

The IBM PC in 1981 cost $4,500 to $8,500 in today's money. The original Mac would cost $6,000 if released today. Computers have become a great deal cheaper in the ensuing decades.

lisper 7y ago
My Apple II cost around $1k in 1978, about $4k today. That was without a disk drive. Today, a Rasbpi costs $5. Holy freakin' cow.
- pickle-wizard 7y ago
  The Raspberry pi is a killer deal. When I was in college in the mid 2000s my senior project needed a single board computer. We spent $500 on a small PC104 board with a 100MHz National Instruments Geode (x86 compatible) process. That didn't include any RAM or storage. I really wish the Raspberry PI would have been available back then. Especially the Raspberry PI ecosystem, makes interfacing with stuff so much easier. We interfaced a small LCD I found at a surplus shop and it took us weeks to get it working. No you can buy a touch screen LCD for $30 and there are libraries to get it working in about 20 minutes.
ghaff 7y ago
Bill Machrone, long-time editor of PC Magazine, coined a "law" that the computer you wanted always cost $5,000. Which held reasonably true for a rather long time. It broke down maybe about 10 years ago although, as with the latest Mac, you can still get to $5K without too many gymnastics for pro video work or high end gaming.
- paulddraper 7y ago
  Huh, pretty good. I'd say it's now $3,750 for the whole setup. $3,000 for the tower/laptop plus docking station [1] [2], $650 for dual monitors [3] [4], and $100 for peripherals [5] [6] [7]. And that's with Amazon + non-Mac. [1] https://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-20ER002KUS-Windows-Professional-Downgrade/dp/B01KV3B37E https://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-20ER002KUS-Windows-Professio... [2] https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Docking-40AJ0135US-Generation/dp/B079NM5JK4 https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Docking-40AJ0135US-Ge... [3] https://www.amazon.com/Dell-27-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor-S2719DGF/dp/B00N2L5CXO https://www.amazon.com/Dell-27-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor-S2719DGF... [4] https://www.amazon.com/WALI-Standing-Adjustable-Capacity-MF002/dp/B018MU3SAS https://www.amazon.com/WALI-Standing-Adjustable-Capacity-MF0... [5] https://www.amazon.com/CORSAIR-K55-RGB-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B01M4LIKLI https://www.amazon.com/CORSAIR-K55-RGB-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B0... [6] https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Lag-Free-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B00E4MQODC/ref https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Lag-Free-Wireless-Gaming-Mou... [7] https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-QcK-Cloth-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B000UEZ36W/ref https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-QcK-Cloth-Gaming-Mouse/dp...
  - SomeOldThrow 7y ago
    Is it really the computer you want if you can't run the software you want on it?
    - ghaff 7y ago
      Given the various gaming peripherals the parent lists, I'm guessing that they may prefer a Windows system.
    - paulddraper 7y ago
      What software do you want to run? Windows is fantastically supported: Microsoft Office, Adobe suite, AAA games, Active Directory, databases, browser and browser plugins, and a thousand others.
  - oblio 7y ago
    You can configure a desktop for way cheaper than that and it can run 90% of modern games. Just don't get the latest generation top of the line Nvidia/AMD card, either get the previous top of the line one or a decent mid-range one (check benchmarks when choosing). Don't get the most expensive RAM or CPU, you lose 10% real performance but you halve your budget.
    - paulddraper 7y ago
      Yeah, knock off $1000 or more if it's a tower.
astrange 7y ago
> Computers have become a great deal cheaper in the ensuing decades. By the way, it turns out people think "automation is replacing jobs in manufacturing" because they've misread the data showing them just how much cheaper computers have gotten since then, and therefore how much more computer one factory employee can make.

by ttul 7y ago

The IBM PC in 1981 cost $4,500 to $8,500 in today's money. The original Mac would cost $6,000 if released today. Computers have become a great deal cheaper in the ensuing decades.

lisper 7y ago

My Apple II cost around $1k in 1978, about $4k today. That was without a disk drive. Today, a Rasbpi costs $5. Holy freakin' cow.

pickle-wizard 7y ago
The Raspberry pi is a killer deal. When I was in college in the mid 2000s my senior project needed a single board computer. We spent $500 on a small PC104 board with a 100MHz National Instruments Geode (x86 compatible) process. That didn't include any RAM or storage. I really wish the Raspberry PI would have been available back then. Especially the Raspberry PI ecosystem, makes interfacing with stuff so much easier. We interfaced a small LCD I found at a surplus shop and it took us weeks to get it working. No you can buy a touch screen LCD for $30 and there are libraries to get it working in about 20 minutes.

ghaff 7y ago

Bill Machrone, long-time editor of PC Magazine, coined a "law" that the computer you wanted always cost $5,000. Which held reasonably true for a rather long time. It broke down maybe about 10 years ago although, as with the latest Mac, you can still get to $5K without too many gymnastics for pro video work or high end gaming.

paulddraper 7y ago
Huh, pretty good. I'd say it's now $3,750 for the whole setup. $3,000 for the tower/laptop plus docking station [1] [2], $650 for dual monitors [3] [4], and $100 for peripherals [5] [6] [7]. And that's with Amazon + non-Mac. [1] https://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-20ER002KUS-Windows-Professional-Downgrade/dp/B01KV3B37E https://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-20ER002KUS-Windows-Professio... [2] https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Docking-40AJ0135US-Generation/dp/B079NM5JK4 https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Docking-40AJ0135US-Ge... [3] https://www.amazon.com/Dell-27-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor-S2719DGF/dp/B00N2L5CXO https://www.amazon.com/Dell-27-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor-S2719DGF... [4] https://www.amazon.com/WALI-Standing-Adjustable-Capacity-MF002/dp/B018MU3SAS https://www.amazon.com/WALI-Standing-Adjustable-Capacity-MF0... [5] https://www.amazon.com/CORSAIR-K55-RGB-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B01M4LIKLI https://www.amazon.com/CORSAIR-K55-RGB-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B0... [6] https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Lag-Free-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B00E4MQODC/ref https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Lag-Free-Wireless-Gaming-Mou... [7] https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-QcK-Cloth-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B000UEZ36W/ref https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-QcK-Cloth-Gaming-Mouse/dp...
- SomeOldThrow 7y ago
  Is it really the computer you want if you can't run the software you want on it?
  - ghaff 7y ago
    Given the various gaming peripherals the parent lists, I'm guessing that they may prefer a Windows system.
  - paulddraper 7y ago
    What software do you want to run? Windows is fantastically supported: Microsoft Office, Adobe suite, AAA games, Active Directory, databases, browser and browser plugins, and a thousand others.
- oblio 7y ago
  You can configure a desktop for way cheaper than that and it can run 90% of modern games. Just don't get the latest generation top of the line Nvidia/AMD card, either get the previous top of the line one or a decent mid-range one (check benchmarks when choosing). Don't get the most expensive RAM or CPU, you lose 10% real performance but you halve your budget.
  - paulddraper 7y ago
    Yeah, knock off $1000 or more if it's a tower.

astrange 7y ago

> Computers have become a great deal cheaper in the ensuing decades. By the way, it turns out people think "automation is replacing jobs in manufacturing" because they've misread the data showing them just how much cheaper computers have gotten since then, and therefore how much more computer one factory employee can make.