Prices from the past

[chrisv]

I was going through some of my files, and stumbled-upon the invoice
for my very first "IBM PC", a Dell Dimension XPS P90, purchased
December of 1994.

$2420 for the basic system which included the P90, 16MB RAM, and 1GB
harddrive (all top-of the line back then.) $628 for a NEC 3X CD-ROM
drive (what a deal!) $129 for a Soundblaster 16. $949 for a Nokia
447X 17" monitor (easily the best-spent money of all - most everyone
was suffering-along with 15" and even 14" (yech!) monitors back then.)

Only $4126 all-together!

 

[Yousuf Khan]

I was going through some of my files, and stumbled-upon the invoice
for my very first "IBM PC", a Dell Dimension XPS P90, purchased
December of 1994.

My first one was an IBM PC-XT clone. Despite it being a clone, and
basically home-built (though at that time I didn't know how to build my
own, it was built by a local store), it still cost $2000+. That's not
including the monitor. The monitor itself was an amber monochrome
monitor running Hercules graphics. This was back in 1987.

$2420 for the basic system which included the P90, 16MB RAM, and 1GB
harddrive (all top-of the line back then.) $628 for a NEC 3X CD-ROM
drive (what a deal!) $129 for a Soundblaster 16. $949 for a Nokia
447X 17" monitor (easily the best-spent money of all - most everyone
was suffering-along with 15" and even 14" (yech!) monitors back then.)

Only $4126 all-together!

After that initial system, I discovered how to upgrade my own systems,
so I started building out my own systems ever since afterward. My own
current desktop system can trace its linear back to that original XT
clone, though just about everything has been swapped out and upgraded
since. However, it's now obvious that I can't really get a cheaper
system than the stuff you can buy from the OEMs as a package deal, just
buying a new processor and motherboard with RAM will set me back more
than I'd pay for a whole system with monitor, OS and printer included in
some cases from HP or whoever.

So likely my next system will be a complete system, for the first time
in 20 years.

Yousuf Khan

 

[nobody]

My first one was an IBM PC-XT clone. Despite it being a clone, and
basically home-built (though at that time I didn't know how to build my
own, it was built by a local store), it still cost $2000+. That's not
including the monitor. The monitor itself was an amber monochrome
monitor running Hercules graphics. This was back in 1987.



After that initial system, I discovered how to upgrade my own systems,
so I started building out my own systems ever since afterward. My own
current desktop system can trace its linear back to that original XT
clone, though just about everything has been swapped out and upgraded
since. However, it's now obvious that I can't really get a cheaper
system than the stuff you can buy from the OEMs as a package deal, just
buying a new processor and motherboard with RAM will set me back more
than I'd pay for a whole system with monitor, OS and printer included in
some cases from HP or whoever.

So likely my next system will be a complete system, for the first time
in 20 years.

Yousuf Khan

If you want a high end system, you probably are still better off DIY,
especially when you already have the monitor, printer, and other stuff
the OEMs throw in to sweeten the deal and entice the buyer. OTOH low
end deals like recent firesales of Netburst based stuff - such as $199
Dells being all over TV ads last fall - can't be beat even if you buy
the parts from bottom feeders at Pricewatch, especially if you
actually pay for Windows.
However I can't remember the last time when I built a 'value end'
system - most likely a Duron-based one some 6 years ago. These days,
I am not building or buying anything but rather feeding off corporate
discards. Just last year, I picked an IBM T40 for free (OK, cracked
display - the replacement was just under $100 - NIB off ebay), and
then an HP desktop - P4 Northwood 2.53 with missing HDD and broken
faceplate - took 20 min. to glue things together, and a spare HDD was
collecting dust in my garage. The Dells and HPs of the world can't
beat this price - FREE. The current crop of Celerons - that's what
you'll find in sale-priced boxes - is not much, if any, better than 3
year old P4 that are coming off service contract, and consequently off
corporate balance, these days. Granted, not every company lets you
pick the discards - but I was lucky to work during last few years for
the ones that do.

NNN

 

[Gnu_Raiz]

snip<
However I can't remember the last time when I built a 'value end'
system - most likely a Duron-based one some 6 years ago. These days,
I am not building or buying anything but rather feeding off corporate
discards. Just last year, I picked an IBM T40 for free (OK, cracked
display - the replacement was just under $100 - NIB off ebay), and
then an HP desktop - P4 Northwood 2.53 with missing HDD and broken
faceplate - took 20 min. to glue things together, and a spare HDD was
collecting dust in my garage. The Dells and HPs of the world can't
beat this price - FREE. The current crop of Celerons - that's what
you'll find in sale-priced boxes - is not much, if any, better than 3
year old P4 that are coming off service contract, and consequently off
corporate balance, these days. Granted, not every company lets you
pick the discards - but I was lucky to work during last few years for
the ones that do.

NNN

Does one of those pizza box Apple performa's count, I believe I had a
430, which did not have a cdrom, and only had a floppy. I remember I
was on a budget, bought it at Sears on credit was a close out model.
It only had the Motorola 68030, this was the time when the 68040 was
all the rage. It was like under 1500 dollars if I remember. My mother
still has it to this day, I remember using a modem to check Usenet, I
also remember that it took a ton of floppy's to do backups. I did max
the memory out a about a year later, but it was slow even with a 14400
modem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_LC_III

That was the first computer I purchased, unless you count help from
family, I did pay half of a TI 99/4a but I was young at the time and
only copied programs out of Byte magazine. I did have fun with text
based games, but I got into some trouble hogging up the main TV and
could only do it at certain times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-99/4A


Gnu_Raiz

 

[chrisv]

I discovered how to upgrade my own systems,
so I started building out my own systems ever since afterward.

Yeah, that Dell was the last time I bought a pre-made PC, and by the
time I was done with it, the only thing original was the case.

My own
current desktop system can trace its linear back to that original XT
clone, though just about everything has been swapped out and upgraded
since.

Yikes! That's going a bit too far. Buy a new case once in a while,
man. 8)

However, it's now obvious that I can't really get a cheaper
system than the stuff you can buy from the OEMs as a package deal, just
buying a new processor and motherboard with RAM will set me back more
than I'd pay for a whole system with monitor, OS and printer included in
some cases from HP or whoever.

On the low-end, no doubt. On the high-end, you can do better building
your own. You may not "save money", but the total freedom to optimize
each component is part of what makes a PC "high end", IMO. I don't
think you can buy a PC as nice as my current one, all things (e.g.
noise) considered.

I'm a picky, perfectionist SOB...

 

[z]

I was going through some of my files, and stumbled-upon the invoice
for my very first "IBM PC", a Dell Dimension XPS P90, purchased
December of 1994.

$2420 for the basic system which included the P90, 16MB RAM, and 1GB
harddrive (all top-of the line back then.) $628 for a NEC 3X CD-ROM
drive (what a deal!) $129 for a Soundblaster 16. $949 for a Nokia
447X 17" monitor (easily the best-spent money of all - most everyone
was suffering-along with 15" and even 14" (yech!) monitors back then.)

Only $4126 all-together!

according to http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
What cost $4126 in 1994 would cost $5553.06 in 2006

Imagine the setup you could put together for 5.5k!!!

 

[Yousuf Khan]

If you want a high end system, you probably are still better off DIY,
especially when you already have the monitor, printer, and other stuff
the OEMs throw in to sweeten the deal and entice the buyer. OTOH low
end deals like recent firesales of Netburst based stuff - such as $199
Dells being all over TV ads last fall - can't be beat even if you buy
the parts from bottom feeders at Pricewatch, especially if you
actually pay for Windows.

Sure you can build a kick-ass system by yourself. And sure, you can buy
a really cheap system from an OEM. The math becomes more difficult when
you're trying to make something in between, let's say an economical
performance system. Which way is the best to go in that situation?

Yousuf Khan

 

[nobody]

Sure you can build a kick-ass system by yourself. And sure, you can buy
a really cheap system from an OEM. The math becomes more difficult when
you're trying to make something in between, let's say an system. Which way is the best to go in that situation?

Yousuf Khan

Agree with you that "The math becomes more difficult", for many
reasons, especially that there is no clear definition of "economical
performance" - everyone has his/her own ideas. First make an
approximate spec of what you want, then check the current OEM deals -
quite easy these days after Al Gore invented the Internet ;-). After
that, check how much it would cost you as a sum of parts - again quite
easy. And then there is something that is hard to measure in $$$ -
the time you spend putting it all together and setting up, the benefit
of DIY being an exact match to your spec vs. approximate match by OEM,
etc. Your mileage may vary...
Rgds,
NNN

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Agree with you that "The math becomes more difficult", for many
reasons, especially that there is no clear definition of "economical
performance" - everyone has his/her own ideas. First make an
approximate spec of what you want, then check the current OEM deals -

Sorry, I wasn't really asking it was more of a rhetorical question. The
question was more about the question behind the question. That is how do
most people go when they're not in the market for the cheapest
system, nor the most expensive system. Given a specific budget to stay
under where the does the bang-for-the-buck lie, in OEM or DIY?

With OEM systems, you get a small tax refund on the the Windows tax. But
you may not have access to the specific motherboard, ram, or processor
that you're looking for. With DIY systems, you can pretty much choose
whatever you like, as long as its available, but you'll have to pay the
full price for the Windows tax, unless you want to become a "tax dodger".

Yousuf Khan

 

[nobody]

With OEM systems, you get a small tax refund on the the Windows tax. But
you may not have access to the specific motherboard, ram, or processor
that you're looking for. With DIY systems, you can pretty much choose
whatever you like, as long as its available, but you'll have to pay the
full price for the Windows tax, unless you want to become a "tax dodger".

Since the computers I was/will be building are mainly (at least a very
significant amount of time) used to VPN into company network, I feel I
can use my current employer's MSDN subscription and/or volume license
key. And many folks around here (though not me) would not even bother
installing Windows, using Linux/BSD/whatever else instead.

NNN