27 Sep
2021
27 Sep
'21
1:49 p.m.
My girlfriend commented to me that Americans don't
understand London"s
Fleet Street scene of the 70's and early 80s and how Sinclair products
were represented there. In the US the "Timex Sinclair TS-1000" was a
budget $99 computer for sale in Hallmark gift stores and its marketing
represented little of the fleet Street cache.
They rarely even made it into stores. They were more of a magazine ad for
"Real computer for $49.95" (which was about 25 pounds at the time)
If they made it into stores, they might have ended up hanging on a peg
next to a blister pack of half a dozen rubber wedge doorstops.
I think that it is truly tragic about the price gouging.
A number of people have commented that computers were sold as if the
exchange rate was 1:1! A computer that sold for $1000
would be sold in UK for 1000 GBP! (the equivalent of $3000)
As soon as they came out, I bought a TRS80 for $400 (it would have been
$600 if I didn't already have a CCTV composite monitor and a tape
recorder). How much did the TRS80 sell for in UK?
So, in USA, you had arguments between $600 TRS80 and $600 Commodore PET,
with the wealthier kids buying Apple.
When the IBM PC (5150) came out in August 1981, it was less that $2000, if
you supplied your own RAM, floppy drives, and monitor. (~$1300 + CGA +
FDC)
They were in the price range of a cheap used car.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com