Computers in 1989

[BrewMeister]

Hello all,

After a brief mention of what old computers systems we still own in CP chat yesterday, I received an email today with this old advertisement. Got me to thinking about my first computer purchase. I forgot just how expensive the initial systems were.

So here's some cutting edge technology from 1989. $8500, and it doesn't include the monitor or the mouse!

Adjusted for inflation - What cost $8500 in 1989 would cost $13249.21 in 2005.

No wonder I thought my Atari 800XL was a deal at about $2000.00 - with a 5.25 disk drive and a 13" color TV for a monitor.

 

[natejustice]

I believe my first computer was a Packard Bell, family PC, bought in the early 90's... I think it was around $5000.00 or so for what was considered fairly good specs back in that time frame.

 

[Tenpin]

Mine was a Commodore VIC 20 for $299.
I believe the storage unit (cassette tape) was additional.
The VIC 20 had 4k of RAM.

I was founder and president of the Commodore Users Group in Miami (Miami 2064).

Jim

 

[slowhand]

Commodore 64. Got it sometime in '82 or mayber '83. I believe it is still somewhere in this house. Probably rotted in the garage or something.

 

[MidGe]

Umm.... I started as a software engineer in 1969. We were only called programmers then but there were very few of us. There was a hard cover book, published each year, that listed all companies, organisations that had computers in the country. There were aboy 200 (yes 200) in Australia. I was fortunate to start working as a trainee programmer for Ford Motor Co at their headquarters in Boadmeadows, Victoria, Australia. Never looked back and have really enjoyed my work most of my life, alaways in software development. That is rare.

Btw, I owned Pc since they came out, had Commodors and even a Lisa, before that.

 

[ggiese]

The first computer I owned was a Radio Shack Model 1.

It was on sale for $500.00. I then bought the expansion interface (which was another $500). I gave my wife a pearl and diamond necklace as a wedding present - she gave me a 5 1/4 disk drive for it (it cost her $500).... My first modem had a switch you threw when you heard the tone in the phone (a step up from the ones that you put the phone handset in the cradle). I still have the setup - it's supposed to be some sort of an antique now!!!

Ahhhh.. The good ol' days...

 

[MidGe]

ggiese,

I used to travel with crocodile clips to connect thru the hotel rooms networks ... but all that was well before the www.

 

[Sunward]

Acer 80386, purchased in 1990, for $1500. I had to reconfigure and make my own menu in DOS, cuz there wasn't a thing called Windows. :laugh:

 

[DePasta]

First Desktop was an IBM PC Jr (no hard drive just cartridges). We had Apple II's at school man those were high tech.

When I bought my first real computer it was an NEC 20 mhz 25 mb hard drive with 1mb Ram expandable to 2mb ($3000) in 1992. Was told by the salesperson "this was more than you'll ever need. They can't write programs that will ever use all that hard drive space." Now 350 gig later.....


Almost forgot we had a Timex Sinclair 1000 in 1982.

-Dan

 

[gandolf565]

My first computer was a Tandy 1000rl/hd 768k ram and 20mb hard drive! 16 color display, but was not compatible with EGA if I remember right. A proprietary system, you could not use an after-market mouse or keyboard.

I also own an IBM 5150 5mb HD 128k of ram (with the 64k expansion). It rattles the whole house when that thing spins up

Amiga 2000Hd. This was a really cool system, I have the crossover board that lets you use it as an IBM machine, the video capture thing (forget the name), all sorts of goodies. Too bad they were not able to keep going. RIP Commodore...

C=64, Coco, Vic20, ummm I think there are couple other derelicts out there in the garage... And software! Have I got software....

 

[Wurm]

George I'm glad to see another Radioshack owner here! :thumbs:

My first was a TRS-80 with 4k RAM (came with 2k I upgraded to 4k for an extra 300 dollars) and a cassette drive. Black and white screen and a few programs and the phone-cradle modem lol

And I also still have it somewhere in a box out in my mom's storage container.

 

[ricmac25]

I had a vic20 but wuickly upgraded to the Commodore64. I still remember getting the 5.25 disk drive for christmas as a little kid. The disk drive alone was around $200.

 

[Strayvector]

Christmas 1983, I woke to find that Santa had left me a TRS-80. Two years later, he left me a Commodore 64 turning me into a lifelong 4-eyed techno-geek.

 

[ironmike5]

My first was a Packard Bell in the early 90's that I bought for a little over $3000. 150 MHZ Processor and a half a Gig hard drive. Man, what a difference in a decade. This computer was also part of the year where the ZIP drive was the newest thing in storage technology and was believed to take over far into 2000 as the only storage technology :sign:

 

[Ginseng]

Mac SE. Come on, where are more of the Apple/Mac guys?! Then in 1992(?) I picked up a Mac iici with 8MB RAM and a 105MB HDD, 15" Sony monitor for about $3,300.

Wilkey

 

[Rob_k]

Almost forgot we had a Timex Sinclair 1000 in 1982.

-Dan

[snapback]264227[/snapback]​

memories...had one as well..used to have a fractal program that would take at minimum 36 hours to generate. also had the thermal printer which took anouther 2 hrs to print it! ah, the memories.

 

[DePasta]

Almost forgot we had a Timex Sinclair 1000 in 1982.

-Dan

[snapback]264227[/snapback]​

memories...had one as well..used to have a fractal program that would take at minimum 36 hours to generate. also had the thermal printer which took anouther 2 hrs to print it! ah, the memories.

[snapback]264243[/snapback]​

We used it to run programs:

Print "(insert name of brother here) is a GEEK!"
Repeat
Run

Oh the fun we had.

-Dan

 

[moki]

Mac SE. Come on, where are more of the Apple/Mac guys?! Then in 1992(?) I picked up a Mac iici with 8MB RAM and a 105MB HDD, 15" Sony monitor for about $3,300.

Wilkey

[snapback]264242[/snapback]​

I think I had a Mac IIx about then...

 

[half full monty]

1983 - Apple IIc, in my high school computer lab. The first computer science course offered at my High School, as a senior. :laugh: Had to write hello programs in BASIC to boot from floppy....

My kids had labs in pre-school at 3 years old...... :thumbs:

Edit:
P.S. - And I had to walk six miles to that class, in the snow....uphill.... both ways.

 

[NorCalCigarLover]

My first computer was the Atari 800, which I never really used all that much. I think it was late 1982, early 1983 ... a long, long time ago. I had intentions of learning programming at the time but ended up trading it for a bunch of power tools! now the power tools I'm still using a couple some 20+ years later.