On, Tue, 31 May 1994 14:56:01 -0700, Paul Cockshott, Paul C. writes:
> I would dispute that the prices of personal computers have fallen
> markedly. I bought the first personal computer to become available
> in this country, the Nascom I, which cost 199 pounds sterling in
> 1978. Modern PCs retail in this country for around 800 pounds.
This is the comparison I am making. Around 1980, a CP/M machine with
two 5 1/4" drives, an 80-column monochrome moniter, and 64K main memory
would run the flagship programs of the day (say, Wordstar or WRITE, dBase,
MultiPlan), and run around $2,000. Toward the mid-80's, an IBM-XT with a 5
1/5 floppy, a 20Mb hard drive, a monochrome moniter and 256K memory would
do the same for WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3, at around the same price
point. In the late 80's, when a fast AT clone was a standard entry level
business computer, the price point had dropped to around $1,000.
I'm not familiar with the Nascom I. I am, in fact, not all that
familier with the British or European small computer markets, so what
follows is speculative. However, if the Nascom I is a personal computer,
why compare it to a PC? A Commodore Amiga 1200 can be had for $400 in the
U.S., which is a modern computer and a fine game machine; if this is
comparable to the Nascom I, the price drop has re-appeared. That is, was
the Nascom capable as a small business computer, the definition of a
mainstream PC (which, BTW, is grist for another pen-l discussion) or was it
more of a personal computer?
There are several ways the expanding capabilities of personal
computers could have played out. Between the early 80's and the late 80's,
and this may be parochial to the U.S. computer market, the way it played
out was steady increases in speed, memory , and other capabilities required
for the mainstream software, and the entry level price niche falling.
Virtually,
Bruce McFarling, Pellissippi State
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
