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

[fishy_fiz]

Markups where pretty small from the retailers end, but th actual hardware vendors themselves had much larger markups. That said though by the early-mid 90's prices had started to drop considerably. In '95 I bought my 1st pc, a pentium133 for about $800, with a 4meg virge s3 card, 16 meg ram, an an awe32 soundcard. This was pretty much the dawn of pc gear getting cheap and powerful. Prior to this though the 486's were still price competitie with anything amiga of the day. You really have to go back to the 80's to find a time where the Amiga had any sort of distinct price advantage, although until about 93 there was arguements to be had for the amiga still. Wasnt until about 95 that the amiga was pretty much completely outclassed for all but enthusiasts. Ironically its those same "argements" that make the amiga an enjoyable machine even today.

[Khephren]

i think PC stuff was always cheaper for you guys fishy_fiz. perhaps thats why amigas were never as big in the states as in europe. I remember looking through multi format magazines and shops, and the prices of pc's made my eyes bleed  I'll find some prices in my old ace magazines tommorow (from '88 till '93 i think), you guys stateside can tell me how they compare.

[Iggy]

i think PC stuff was always cheaper for you guys fishy_fiz. perhaps thats why amigas were never as big in the states as in europe. I remember looking through multi format magazines and shops, and the prices of pc's made my eyes bleed  I'll find some prices in my old ace magazines tommorow (from '88 till '93 i think), you guys stateside can tell me how they compare.

Isn't that still the case? European prices still always seem to be higher than in the US. Then there's VAT adding to the cost.

[fishy_fiz]

@Krephen

Im actually from Australia, so not the best person to ask about US pc prices  
That said though, from things Ive seen others mention about pricing Id have to assume prices can be somewhat different. Also possible that my sense of prices are a little warped as Ive mostly bought my pc gear wholesale prices minus tax until recently.

[Franko]

Isn't that still the case? European prices still always seem to be higher than in the US. Then there's VAT adding to the cost.

The brother-in-law in Portland Oregon was always telling me to buy this pc or that pc for such and such a price (instead of the mac) till I emailed him the costs of what the ones he recommended were in the UK compared to what he could get them for in the states...

He couldn't believe the difference in prices, anywhere from £100 to £300 dearer here in the UK compared to the prices he told me they were in the USA...

Don't you guys in the USA have to pay any kind of VAT or TAX on computers

[stefcep2]

well i bought my first computer about 1995, when second hand Amiga's were plentiful because Commodore just went broke and games were even more plentiful and cost even less, sometimes nothing.  PC's were about $3,000.  My A500, 1084s, two floppy drives plus a gazillion games=$400.

But I remember the A4000 with 25 mhz 68040 6 meg ram and 120 hard drive was about $4000 at the time.(The model number corresponded to the retail price in Australia, yes the A3000 was $3000, and the A2000, $2000) Add a graphics card would add $1200+ to that.  Accelerators like the 68040 warp engine $1700.  The cyberstorm 68060 was about $2500.  32 meg ram $1300.  Says so here in one of my ACAR mags (MVB computers).   Even the salesman at MVB said this was ridiculous pricing.

So I suspect the amiga "console"machines were better priced than the PC, but if you want an Amiga to compete graphically and CPU power wise with a PC, I'd say that Amiga was double the cost of a similar-specced PC.  But that had Win 95- which might have been seen as a negative or positive.

[AmigaNG]

I have to agree looking back 80's and 90's PC really did seem massively over priced when compared to the home computers like Amiga, Atari. I think one thing people forget is that most PC came with very costly CRT Monitors, and Microsoft Software (windows & office)  where as Amiga you could just use the telly and software was a lot cheaper on the Amiga. But still they where over priced.

I think today it is very different and I have to agree again with the fact that building your own PC vs buy a Supermarket or low brand PC its very hard to beat the price, even with OEM equipment (well at least here in the uk) specially when you add the Microsoft Tax. Plus when you factor in the fact that if anything goes wrong with your tech its pull out the part send it back, and fix all the software problems you self where as if you bought it from a supermarket they just give you a full replacement. But it is still fun to build your own PC and you usually end up with higher quality parts than what would be in them cheap PC.

[Pyromania]

The brother-in-law in Portland Oregon was always telling me to buy this pc or that pc for such and such a price (instead of the mac) till I emailed him the costs of what the ones he recommended were in the UK compared to what he could get them for in the states...

He couldn't believe the difference in prices, anywhere from £100 to £300 dearer here in the UK compared to the prices he told me they were in the USA...

Don't you guys in the USA have to pay any kind of VAT or TAX on computers

Tax yes VAT no, you can avoid paying tax by buying mail order. This only works as long as that business does not have a store in your state.

[Khephren]

I could not find as much info as I would have liked, but here's a sample of PC owners getting screwed (UK)...initially.But you see prices fall massively, while time almost stands still for ST and Amiga users. Then the consoles begin to creep in as well. Nothing from the AGA period i'm afraid. I'm pretty sure some el cheapo amstrad machines could better the PC prices quoted here.

MAY '89-APRIL '90

520 STFM, mouse, game                      £300
520 STFM  mouse, game, col mon          £600
520 STFM  mouse, 21 games, organiser                            $400
A500, mouse                                                               £340
A500 mouse, DPAint2, Word proc, F18, Batman, N.Z story   £370
A2000 40MB HDD    £1300
A3000  030/16 +FPU, 40MB HDD   £2300
A3000 030/25 +FPU, 40MB HDD    £3200
Archimedes  3000  8mhz, 32 bit, 1MB    £650
PC40 286at,SD, 40MB HDD, VGA, col mon   £1500
PC50 386sx, SD, 40MB HDD, VGA,col mon   £2000
PC60 386dx, sd, 80MB HDD, VGA, col mon   £3700

Amstrad 6128 £330
megadrive +pad +1 game £190
PC engine £165
Atari Lynx £160


DEC '91-feb '92

512STE mouse,final fight, sim city, 9 lives, robot monsters, 10 games, productivity pack  £300
1040STE  mouse, 10 games, productivity pack  £400
A500+ 1MB  lemmings, simpsons, capt planet, DPAint3  £370
286sx 16mhz, 2MB ram, 40MB HDD, 1MB VGA,  soundblaster £1233
386sx 25mhz,  2mb ram, 40MB HDD, 1MB VGA  soundblaster £1360
486  33mhz, 8MB RAM, 40MB HDD, 1MB VGA, soundblaster  £2115

megadrive +pad £130
PCengine £140
Atari lynx II £85

First mention of the SNES launch to come.

[runequester]

I have to agree looking back 80's and 90's PC really did seem massively over priced when compared to the home computers like Amiga, Atari. I think one thing people forget is that most PC came with very costly CRT Monitors, and Microsoft Software (windows & office)  where as Amiga you could just use the telly and software was a lot cheaper on the Amiga. But still they where over priced.

I think today it is very different and I have to agree again with the fact that building your own PC vs buy a Supermarket or low brand PC its very hard to beat the price, even with OEM equipment (well at least here in the uk) specially when you add the Microsoft Tax. Plus when you factor in the fact that if anything goes wrong with your tech its pull out the part send it back, and fix all the software problems you self where as if you bought it from a supermarket they just give you a full replacement. But it is still fun to build your own PC and you usually end up with higher quality parts than what would be in them cheap PC.

Cost of software was a big one too. PC software, especially applications seemed to be wicked expensive. I guess thats why people got used to pirating the stuff.

[Khephren]

Yeah, ace magazine recomends you'll pay an extra £10 for PC versions of software. But then again, Amiga software was always £24.99 compared to the ST £19.99. They said it was because the Amiga was rare...but they kept it up even when the Amiga was more popular. Greedy bastards!

[runequester]

Anyone got some price quotes for C64 software at its height?

For decent games or apps I mean.

[mongo]

Tax yes VAT no, you can avoid paying tax by buying mail order. This only works as long as that business does not have a store in your state.

VAT is tax.

[runequester]

VAT is tax.

So you mean it doesn't stand for "vague additions to total" ? :lol:

[DCAmiga]

He couldn't believe the difference in prices, anywhere from £100 to £300 dearer here in the UK compared to the prices he told me they were in the USA...
 
Don't you guys in the USA have to pay any kind of VAT or TAX on computers

Well Franko to answer this, I currently live in the Midwest (Central USA) and the advertised prices are not the price you pay at the register, you have to add on another 8.2% for Tax.
I found this system alittle strange at first since I am from Australia and the price you see advertised is the price you pay at the till (with the Tax already been factored in).

[Franko]

@ Pyro & DCAmiga

That wouldn't work very well here if they tried that in the shops, if folk here got to the checkout only to be told they have to pay an extra x amount on top of the store price the cashier would spend all day put the stuff back on the shelves that the customer had just dumped and walked out...

At least your only charged 8%, the bloody Tories have put VAT (Value Added Tax) up to 20% here, friggin rip off so it is...