13 May
1998
13 May
'98
11:02 a.m.
On Wed, 13 May 1998, Tim Shoppa wrote:
Oh, OK: The ZX81. Yeah, it's cute, but it's
such complete cheap
plastic junk so through-and-through. I will give Clive Sinclair
points for packaging ingenuity, though he can't hold a candle
to HP or Tektronix in packaging with an intention to enhance long-term
usability and maintainability. The HP9100B is an absolutely beautiful
job of packaging and integration; many of the Tektronix portable
tube scopes are the same.
I think the ZX81 was intended to be affordable, and many people owe their
start in computers to Mr. Sinclair for producing a computer that could be
bought on a limited budget.
Besides, how can he value the ZX81 at $75 when
original kits are
available for less money?
He can't, unless he's a moron. I hate to have to use such strong words to
describe the guy...ok, no I don't. His attempts at placing "values" on
these not so rare, and in many cases, very common machines is absurd. He
needs to get out more often (and in a major metropolitan area, not the
backwater he seems to base his scarcity judgements on) and get a feel for
the real market of old computers, rather than just going by the bloated
prices that the online auctions produce.
The best transaction I ever made was when I traded the
ZX80 off for
a Model 33 ASR - complete with two boxes full of unpunched tape and
several cartons filled with rolls of canary paper.
Well, if you're going for rarity points, I've seen less ZX80s than I have
ASR33s, for what its worth.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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