[cctalk] Re: The MAC at 40

Well, if you compare a complete Mac, with a complete PC, including comparable hardware and software, they actually came out close to even! BUT, if you compare a complete Mac with an absolutley bare 5150PC, and shop for reasonable prices on RAM, drives, monitor, etc., with shareware software and/or packages for which you might be eligible under sifte licenses, then the PC comes out substantially cheaper. I wanted word processor, spreadsheet, Assembler, anda few compilers; those cost an amazing amount less from third party vendors for what I wanted compared to the "package" that IBM wanted to bundle. And, if you consider a generic XT clone, such as VIPC, etc., then the PC is WAY cheaper. I heard (another unsubstantiated story), that the engineers were tasked to make the Mac a $500 computer; but when done, Apple chose to charge more than that. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com On Wed, 24 Jan 2024, Murray McCullough via cctalk wrote: > I know a great deal of writings by techno-historians, computer-industry > experts and technology enthusiasts concerning the Apple Mac, and now 40 > years old, have covered this topic both on and off the net. Unlike > originally stated I now feel that the MAC was an important change agent in > regards to the all-in-one computer landscape. Why Apple priced it > ‘prohibitively’ high, particularly so here in Canada, I’m not sure. > Arguments such as an integrated ecosystem to securing a marketing and brand > loyalty come to mind. Certainly applies to the world of Apple doesn't it! > What I remember most from that time though was their 1984 Super Bowl > commercial! It went a long way to putting Apple and the microcomputer > industry on the mass-consumer market. > > Murray 😊