How much is that computer in the window?

[ShyWriter]

My very 1st computer was a TI94/A but it was for my son so I count my Apple //e as the first one I had to pay for for my own use and it was $3600 in 1982 dollars. (How much is that in 2010 $$; $12,000??)

It had a *1 mhz* 6502 processor (later upgraded to a 8 mhz ZIP Chip) with 64KB memory (later upgraded with a 256kb plug-in PCB), an 80 column PCB upgrade, two 5" floppy disk drives and a smallish monochrome (green letters on black screen) monitor and a 300 baud modem PCB, and a joystick. SLIDER was the first hard drive for Apple and that was an additional $800 for a 10 meg SCSI drive.

The good old days.. My fanny! :)

Shy

[YoKenny1]

I purchased an IBM PS/1 that had a 10 MHz Intel 80286 running PC-DOS 4.01 for my daughter back in the good old days when I was working.

[DragonMaster Jay]

I have bought one computer for myself, and it was $499. Then, I added six custom upgrades totaling $500. So, the system is valued at $1000.

[Couposn]

My computer probs cost around $3000

[ShyWriter]

I purchased an IBM PS/1 that had a 10 MHz Intel 80286 running PC-DOS 4.01 for my daughter back in the good old days when I was working.

Hey; I bought a similar system. Ever hear of the Xerox knockoff of the AT&T 6300; *embarrassed* that I worked for Xerox and now I can't remember what the Xerox clone of the 6300 was called. But it had small HD and they upgraded it from 10mhz cpu to a 20mhz one.

@DragonMaster Jay - and I bet the $500 computer was several THOUSAND times more powerful than that '82 Apple model I had for $3500..

Shy

[unoriginal]

My dad bought a Packard Bell + Monitor in 1996 for about $3000. Can't remember the processor, but it had 4mb RAM, and a 1.8GB Hard Drive. It weighed more than me, and it never had any problems. Eventually it got old, and my dad threw it away. I still have the 13" CRT monitor, and it's the best monitor I've had. No burns or "purple-spots"

[exile360]

$850 US for a used Alienware PC that I bought at Best Buy (where I worked at the time as a stocker) back in 2004. I never owned one before that and had barely used any computers at all up to that point. I had my share of issues with it and upgraded everything I could. It was great learning experience, both on the hardware and software sides because whenever I had a problem or wanted to be ablet to do something (or make the computer do something) I'd work at it until I figured out how and research, spending hours reading and learning.

The original configuration was a 2.4Ghz Northwood CPU, 512MB of PC800 Rambus memory, an ATI Sapphire Atlantis 9000 Pro (great video card for its time ) all on an Intel D850EMV2 motherboard. I upgraded to 1GB of RAM, upgraded the video card to an ATI 9800 Pro and added several hard drives, a TV tuner (old school ATI TV Wonder VE). It was a beastly machine at the time and ran great. Back then I was doing mostly gaming and multimedia and I got heavily into "tweaking" the system to squeeze out every last bit of performance and functionality out of my system.

[noknojon]

@ exile -

Many of those came out with Windows 2000 as the O/S and did not like too much upgrading -

A mate of mine still uses his every day (with Win 2000) -

Are we counting Commodore 64's - Almost a computer

[PedroHin]

I bought an Amerigo brand PC at Computer City. It was a 486 33MHz w/ 4MB ram & 420MB HDD. Along with it I got a Citizen GSX280 impact printer with the color ribbon add-on option. $1460 for the whole kit.

It came pre-built with IRQ / IO conflicts between the modem / mouse / soundcard, so that's how I first dove into the world of PC repair.

[ShyWriter]

[...] I got a Citizen GSX280 impact printer. [...]

I forgot all about the Epson dot matrix printer I got.. The head used to get so hot it'd shut down every 12-15 pages in a long run from overheat.

And I forgot having to load programs on a tape recorder/player for the TI94/A.

$850 US for a used Alienware PC [...]

DELL bought out Alienware, yes?? I guess there goes the overclocking and innovations, etc, et al... Or not..

Shy

[PedroHin]

I forgot all about the Epson dot matrix printer I got.. The head used to get so hot it'd shut down every 12-15 pages in a long run from overheat.

My Citizen did the same thing. After a few pages of heavy printing, the print head would shoeshine back and forth across the page -- not printing, not advancing; then it would start to print again. I had always assumed it was a heat problem as well.

I guess the printer manufacturers NEVER intended to make a consumer grade printer that would have the same true service life as an office quality printer.

The only exception to this I can think of were the early HP ink jet printers which inherited the ink cartridge designs from HP large format plotters.

I have given up on any fancy home printing, and only use a Dell 1100 monochrome laser, which has served me well for about 2.5 years now.

[ShyWriter]

[...]I have given up on any fancy home printing, and only use a Dell 1100 monochrome laser, which has served me well for about 2.5 years now.

I finally got a HP LaserJet4P ($1,000 in the day; lonnngggggg ago) that was four pages a minute, 600dpi, monochromatic and I thought I was in heaven. I used it until the rubber wheels inside got too bad to transport paper.. quite a few years service. Then I got a gift of a Lexmark InkJet color printer.. Cost too much to replace ink cartridges after a few years (even trying refills, etc) so last year I got me a Brother MFC and went back to B&W printing... fast.. cheap.. nice.

Shy

[exile360]

Well, my system was plenty upgradeable and came with XP Pro. Thankfully it wasn't owned by Dell at the time, not that Dells are bad, but Alienware machines seemed much better back then.