How prices & technology have changed!!

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leoblob · #1 Post by **leoblob** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 1:07 pm

Don't know if anyone will find this interesting, but I did! Today, I stumbled across an old IBM catalog ("The IBM PC Direct Source Book") from the fall of 1994. Here's some prices of the day, plus what was considered cutting-edge back then:

Thinkpad 360CE, 486DX2/50, 8.4" TFT display with 256 colors, 4MB RAM, and 340MB HDD... all for $3799. Add a 16MB RAM card for a mere $1535.

Need more power? How about a top-of-the-line Thinkpad 755CD, 486DX4/100, 10.4" TFT with 64K colors, 8MB RAM, 540MB HDD and built-in CD ROM... for $7599. Upgrade to a larger 810MB HDD for only $550 more. A 16MB RAM card for this machine would have set you back $1699.

Hard to believe anybody could afford this stuff back then!!

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:02 pm

My first IBM PC (PC-1) with 64Kb of memory, colour monitor and two diskette drives set me back near six grand in 1981.

My first Internet computer (486 DX2 66 with 16Mb of memory and so on) set me back about three grand in 1994.

Still, I would do it all again. ... JD Hurst

sugo · #3 Post by **sugo** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 4:08 pm

Thanks! That makes me feel less guilty on spending 2.5 grand for a t42

#4 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:01 pm

Back in 1996, a ThinkPad 760ED w/ 16mb RAM, 1.2gb hard drive, 133mhz Pentium, 4x CD-ROM, 2mb graphics w/mpeg support and a 12.1" SVGA TFT would set you back about $7000.00. There was also the more reasonable and more modestly priced ThinkPad 760E w/ Pentium 120, 8mb RAM, 1.2gb hd and 1mb graphics for the lower price of around 5 grand. With prices like that, even back then, I still wonder how the 760 series ever became as popular as it was. The total irony of this situation is that you can now get those same laptops at thrift stores and pawn shops for $25.00.

JHEM · #5 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:27 pm

1987 and my brand new Toshiba T3100/20 (80286 PC-AT @ 8MHz, 640KB RAM, CGA gas plasma) with its massive 20MB (yes, megabyte!) HD cost me $4,699!

The 2MB (yes, TWO!) extended memory card was $1,199! That's approx. $600/MB.

Six months later when I bought my T5100 (~$5700) the same memory card had fallen to $756, or $378/MB.

Regards,

James

#6 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:28 pm

This is not a laptop, in fact, it's not even a computer, but it is a computer part. I have an old 4mb Matrox Millenium PCI video card laying around that back in 1996 sold new for over $500.00. However, they did pay for themselves. They offered 2D performance that is almost on par with standards of today and they were reliable. Most Millenium video cards outlasted the system they were originally placed in. What ThinkPads are to laptops, I've always liked to look at the Millenium as to 2D video cards.

Daniel · #7 Post by **Daniel** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:33 pm

Wow, I was actually around to remember some of those prices.. My first was a 486 DX/33 with a Creative Edutainment 2x CD-ROM that costed an additional 500. It also costed me 200 to double the RAM to a massive 8MB.

#8 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 3:41 am

ok, think about buying a half dozen new 760CD's or 760ED's at a total of about $38,000..
and with the possibility of making about $200 per thinkpad..
not really a great return on investment..
and there was no space for any loss..
lost one thinkpad to fraud and BAM, got work a year to recover..

#9 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 9:52 am

It still amazes me how much popularity the 760 series got. Despite being up to 7 times as much as it's 365 series sibling, I see about 7 or 8 760's for every 365 I see. On the other hand, the 760's were being targeted out to the "cost no object" corporate market.

How prices & technology have changed!!

How prices & technology have changed!!

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