Yep, that's the answer. But even in 1984 already, the year the Mac was released, there were PC-compatible machines like the Tandy 1000 for less than half: $1200

Yep, that's the answer. But even in 1984 already, the year the Mac was released, there were PC-compatible machines like the Tandy 1000 for less than half: $1200. And the difference became bigger with time. The Mac was $2495 and AFAIK the lowest it got was around $1400 in the 80s. Plus, the Mac was not upgradeable.