4 ms·

Talk about burying the lede. TLDR, the amount of time you have to work in order to buy some things, such as a car or some kinds of medical care, is greater now.

Talk about burying the lede. TLDR, the amount of time you have to work in order to buy some things, such as a car or some kinds of medical care, is greater now. In 1985, if you crashed your minivan going 50 mph, you were probably dead. You probably also killed whoever you hit. Yesterday, I was witness to an accident where a car going 50 mph t-boned a car and went through a fence. Both drivers were walking around and exchanging information after a few minutes. Some things have gone the opposite way. A basic computer was quite expensive in 1985 and took quite some time of diligent saving to afford if at all possible. Today, you can get a basic mediocre laptop for less than a weeks wages for low income earners. Yes, cars are just absolutely more expensive today, as is medical care. That's not some great economics argument, it's just how technology works.

einr 7y ago
A basic computer was quite expensive in 1985 and took quite some time of diligent saving to afford if at all possible. A C64 was $149 in 1985.
- yathern 7y ago
  To be fair it was effectively the cheapest computer on the market, in a very aggressive [pricing war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#Market_war_1982%E2%80%931983 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#Market_war_1982%E...). Other machines on the market such as the Atari 800 cost $899 (>$2000 in 2020)
  - einr 7y ago
    Other machines on the market such as the Atari 800 cost $899 Not in 1985, it didn't. The 800 is a machine from 1979. In 1985 a contemporary machine would be the Atari 65XE for $120. Yes, it's true that home computers were subject to a pricing war and margins were slim. I don't think margins are very beefy on the cheapest low-end laptops in 2020 either.
    - NovemberWhiskey 7y ago
      >In 1985 a contemporary machine would be the Atari 65XE for $120. Or the Amiga 1000 at $1295!
      - einr 7y ago
        Yes, and the new Mac Pro is $6000 ;)
- NovemberWhiskey 7y ago
  >A C64 was $149 in 1985 And a 13" color monitor was $200, and the 1541 floppy disk drive was another $160. Even if you just bought the Commodore cassette deck and connected the computer up to your existing television, you were looking at $200 for a usable configuration. Walmart will sell you a Lenovo Ideapad 130s (laptop with a 14" LCD, dual-core Celeron, 4GB RAM and 64GB solid-state storage) for $189.
  - einr 7y ago
    Even if you just bought the Commodore cassette deck and connected the computer up to your existing television, you were looking at $200 for a usable configuration. Yes, that would be a basic configuration. Disk drives and color monitors are luxuries if we're talking about the lowest of low end here. In fact, the C64 is a bad example because it was not the cheapest system available, and many other low-end systems allowed you to use the standard cassette deck you already had as storage. The point is: Yes, you're right, a basic computer is cheaper today, but the price is roughly comparable and not anywhere near the realm of "unattainable except through years of saving up".

einr 7y ago

A basic computer was quite expensive in 1985 and took quite some time of diligent saving to afford if at all possible. A C64 was $149 in 1985.

yathern 7y ago
To be fair it was effectively the cheapest computer on the market, in a very aggressive [pricing war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#Market_war_1982%E2%80%931983 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#Market_war_1982%E...). Other machines on the market such as the Atari 800 cost $899 (>$2000 in 2020)
- einr 7y ago
  Other machines on the market such as the Atari 800 cost $899 Not in 1985, it didn't. The 800 is a machine from 1979. In 1985 a contemporary machine would be the Atari 65XE for $120. Yes, it's true that home computers were subject to a pricing war and margins were slim. I don't think margins are very beefy on the cheapest low-end laptops in 2020 either.
  - NovemberWhiskey 7y ago
    >In 1985 a contemporary machine would be the Atari 65XE for $120. Or the Amiga 1000 at $1295!
    - einr 7y ago
      Yes, and the new Mac Pro is $6000 ;)
NovemberWhiskey 7y ago
>A C64 was $149 in 1985 And a 13" color monitor was $200, and the 1541 floppy disk drive was another $160. Even if you just bought the Commodore cassette deck and connected the computer up to your existing television, you were looking at $200 for a usable configuration. Walmart will sell you a Lenovo Ideapad 130s (laptop with a 14" LCD, dual-core Celeron, 4GB RAM and 64GB solid-state storage) for $189.
- einr 7y ago
  Even if you just bought the Commodore cassette deck and connected the computer up to your existing television, you were looking at $200 for a usable configuration. Yes, that would be a basic configuration. Disk drives and color monitors are luxuries if we're talking about the lowest of low end here. In fact, the C64 is a bad example because it was not the cheapest system available, and many other low-end systems allowed you to use the standard cassette deck you already had as storage. The point is: Yes, you're right, a basic computer is cheaper today, but the price is roughly comparable and not anywhere near the realm of "unattainable except through years of saving up".