Yes, an Amiga 500 was $600 in 1987 but it was cutting edge technology for the time.
Compare the price of a Sam -vs- what $600 will get you in an x86 PC today?
You think the SAM is to expensive?
Here are some facts to consider:
Average salery in US (source http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/AWI.html)
1986: 17,321; 1987: 18,426; 1988: 19,334; -----> 2006: 38,651; 2007: 40,405; 2008: 41,334
Numbers in US$
The statistics shows that the wages have more than doubled since the Amiga was in the position of selling lots of machines.
Now the prices for Amiga Hardware:
(1985) Amiga 1000: US$ 1,300
(1987) Amiga 2000: US$ 1,500
(1987) Amiga 500: £ 359.90 (about USD $600, todays rate)
(1990) Amiga 3000: US$ 4,100 (monitor incl.)
(1991) CBM CDTV: US$ 1000
(1992) Amiga 600: US$ 500
(1992) Amiga 4000: US$ 3,699
2009: Sam Flex complete Vento Bundle (acube): 675.60 EUR (about US$ 1000, today rate, incl VAT)
So given that the wages have doubled, you can compare the Sam with any of the mentioned old Amiga models, and you find that the Vento bundle is the cheapest of them all.
For the argument sake you could also add the fact that the average age of the target group have probably rised quite a bit. So there are more people in todays target group who actually have a decent job now than there was in 1987. Then many users got the Amiga founded by their own savings and some might get it founded by their parents.
Ok, I know that when the first Amigas was out, it was state of the art technology. But I still think that most users baught it for their own pleasure for the hobbist needs, rather than for buisness. And when we look back at the difficult years behind us, we all know that we cant expect to Amiga to be in front of the technology just over night.
So my point is this, Yes the SAM is expensive compared performance-vice to the PC's. But compared to the old days it is not, it just those damn PC's are sold in millions and because of that is dirt cheap.
I think if someone really wants an Amiga, they can afford to buy it. Its just a matter or priority.
