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

[runequester]

So throughout the 80s, PC stuff was wicked expensive compared to buying an amiga. This persisted well into the 90s.

On paper, this should not have been the case. THe amiga was a small niche, ala apple, without multiple vendors competing against each other. By all rights, things should have been reversed.

On top of that, especially mid 80's, PC equipment was pretty meek in its capabilities.


I know amiga upgrades were pricey, but is there something I am missing, or was PC owners just being robbed?

[Iggy]

Consider the cost of the components. Both the 8088 and the 6502 were less than $5.
Yes, both PC and Apple buyers were getting screwed royally.

[jj]

And they wanted to keepp the image of them being powerful business systems.  If it costs more its better, right ?
 
Bettamax was a better format than VHS, but because it was also cheaper than VHS people assumed it was not as good.

[desiv]

I always tell people nowadays it's not worth it to build their own computer from bits, as a new PC won't cost them much/any more..
(Unless they want to have fun, which is why I do it..)

But, back in the day, I always told people to build their own.

You could build a PC back in the day for MUCH less than a complete Compaq or Dell..
The markup for a complete PC was crazy..
A complete PC would set you back $3000, when I got my Amiga 500 with memory (a 512K expander) and a 1084s for $850.
But, I could have "built" that PC for maybe $1200 almost totally from Jameco.  ;-)

desiv
p.s.  All of these numbers are from impressionistic memory that's 20+ years old, so it's 100% accurate!!!!

[runequester]

And they wanted to keepp the image of them being powerful business systems.  If it costs more its better, right ?
 
Bettamax was a better format than VHS, but because it was also cheaper than VHS people assumed it was not as good.

probably off topic, but in the very late 90's, I worked for a while at a school back home for video production. THey still used loads of betamax for their cameras. Only place I've seen them but i thought it was neat

[Iggy]

And they wanted to keepp the image of them being powerful business systems.  If it costs more its better, right ?
 
Bettamax was a better format than VHS, but because it was also cheaper than VHS people assumed it was not as good.

SuperBetamax was really cool. I used to use the sound (w/o picture) inputs to record HD audio.

[dammy]

So throughout the 80s, PC stuff was wicked expensive compared to buying an amiga. This persisted well into the 90s.

On paper, this should not have been the case. THe amiga was a small niche, ala apple, without multiple vendors competing against each other. By all rights, things should have been reversed.

On top of that, especially mid 80's, PC equipment was pretty meek in its capabilities.


I know amiga upgrades were pricey, but is there something I am missing, or was PC owners just being robbed?

Basically yes, they were getting robbed since you had Intel dominating over sucky Cyrix CPUs.  Once Intel had real competition from AMD and the GPU market went into aggressive competition with the upstart nVidia kicking some butt, the costs of computers dropped as the market exploded in size.  Even more so now that ARM is making a dent in the CPU market that was once dominated by Intel.

[dammy]

I always tell people nowadays it's not worth it to build their own computer from bits, as a new PC won't cost them much/any more..
(Unless they want to have fun, which is why I do it..)

Unless of course you like your computer case.  I like the cases I buy so if something breaks, it's upgrade time.

[persia]

I'm beginning to think that the Australian computer market is unique.  Custom built desktops still out number brand names.  But with notebooks and tablets taking centre stage the inevitable closing of the small shops has begun....

[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:

[LordSpunky]

I always tell people nowadays it's not worth it to build their own computer from bits, as a new PC won't cost them much/any more..
(Unless they want to have fun, which is why I do it..)

But, back in the day, I always told people to build their own.

You could build a PC back in the day for MUCH less than a complete Compaq or Dell..
The markup for a complete PC was crazy..
A complete PC would set you back $3000, when I got my Amiga 500 with memory (a 512K expander) and a 1084s for $850.
But, I could have "built" that PC for maybe $1200 almost totally from Jameco.  ;-)

desiv
p.s.  All of these numbers are from impressionistic memory that's 20+ years old, so it's 100% accurate!!!!

I agree from a '98 - '05 perspective, even then - late 90's it was still cheaper to build your own PC.......my first PC I was suckered by Packard Bell, I knew little and ended up paying £1200 ish for a Cyrix! While if I had built my own [Knowledge wasn't there then] it would have been better for cheaper! Amiga had gone then, but when I bought my Escom A1200 in '97 it was £100 clearance! You couldn't buy a PC for that!

I've built computers for most of my family, and now when it comes to upgrade time I tell them the same, go to Tesco, and buy one out the box for £300 / £400 because I couldn't build that spec for that! [With genuine OS etc.....]

[motrucker]

Lets not forget Apple prices ether. You think Mac prices were fair? They made IBM type machines look like a real bargain!

[LordSpunky]

Lets not forget Apple prices ether. You think Mac prices were fair? They made IBM type machines look like a real bargain!

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........

[persia]

Where do you buy your PCs?  I could easily sell a lot of PCs priced at 10% of an iMac!

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........

[Franko]

I know amiga upgrades were pricey, but is there something I am missing, or was PC owners just being robbed?

No... they weren't getting robbed they were just folk that were too dumb to realise the Amiga was the better machine and deserved to be ripped off...