The 386 was still kind of expensive in 1990-1991 but it was not particularly high end. The high end was the 486, introduced in 1989. The 386 had gone into vol

The 386 was still kind of expensive in 1990-1991 but it was not particularly high end. The high end was the 486, introduced in 1989. The 386 had gone into volume production in 1986, so in 1991 it was five years old. I wouldn't even see a 1986-era Compaq 386 until 1988, when it was already kind of dreary next to a Mac II. By 1991 non-enthusiasts in the USA who "needed a computer" would buy a 386SX with Windows 3.1. Competing with Apple and "Wintel" - there wasn't much. Enthusiast computers like the Atari ST and Commmodore Amiga and, in the UK, the Archimedes, targeted a sort of odd market of folks who would really have liked a nice workstation or big box Mac but couldn't afford one. They didn't sell many. There really wasn't anybody who "caught up" by introducing an 8-bit after the early eighties - maybe Amstrad in Europe? They pivoted to PC clones, didn't they?