PC vs amiga pricing in the 80s and 90's. Were PC owners getting screwed?

[save2600]

Mid 80's PC's were a total joke. So were those overpriced 9" black and white Mac's. blech.

I sold PC's throughout the late 80's<>mid 2000's and if my memory isn't too borked, in '90, the most popular system we had at Wards was a $2k-$3k "multi-media" Packard Bell that had a 286 in it. The 386 machines were a couple grand more. We did have $6k-$8k computers back in '90, so I bet those were 486's, or really high end jam packed 386's? By the early to mid 90's, I know the 486 machines had come down big time. Seems to me, you could get a complete 486 based 'puter for around $1.5-$2k then. Retail that is. I had a good pulse on closeouts, discontinued product, customer returns and that kind of stuff, so I do remember purchasing a 486 DX2 (around '94) w/ CD, sound card, VGA monitor, etc. for about $600-ish. That ended up replacing my Amiga 1200 for more "serious" stuff by the mid 90's - DOH!

But to answer the OP's question... yes, PC owners were being raped HARD during those times. At Wards by the early 90's, we finally did get A500's in to sell. I volunteered to set 'em up, maintained 'em, brought demos, games, etc. to work. I was *the* 'go to' Amiga guy at that store in Niles for a while there and I *did* try in ernest to sell a sub $1k Amiga system vs. a $2k-$3k PeeCee back in the day. Believe me, I did a helluva job trying - and succeeded at times. But people, being of herd mentality sound, mind and body, wouldn't listen. It also sickened me when dolts would return their Amiga, claiming there was no software for it or that it didn't run IBM shit. ARGGHH! You think I didn't make ALL of that very clear during the qualifying/selling process?!?  You think I didn't print them out a friggin' homemade Amiga itinerary, listing ALL of the places nearby that sold hardware and software for it?!? Soooooo glad to be out of retail right now!   :lol:

[save2600]

VERY true......and I've fallen for it too....owning a year old iMac.....that I could have bought ten PC's for the price I paid........

And you'll go through 10 PC's in the time you'll be enjoying your iMac  

My main system is still a G5 iMac. Absolutely no logical reason to replace it yet. Runs everything perfectly fine. Well, 'cept some of this Adobe shit is a little slow to load, but I try to stay away from their stuff as much as I can anyway.

[save2600]

As for PC users getting ripped off, do you remember just how expensive business software was???

Still is. I know people in the private sector that sell and write proprietary business software. This is still a huge industry. Think POS retail systems and support here. People are still getting gang-raped on software written for and designed for inferior systems that take the piss every chance they get.

[save2600]

VAT is tax.

Great example of a word with several meanings. A vat is also something you soak stuff in, such as a fryer. I think of that everytime we get soaked in taxes. So much for one of the largest reasons our country was founded.  :mad: