11 Mar
2009
11 Mar
'09
9:29 p.m.
On Wed, 11 Mar 2009, Richard wrote:
What I've noticed on this list is that the people
here have a tendency
to undervalue what other people are willing to pay for vintage computing
gear. Whether that's because they are just too cheap to pay a higher
price or because they are living in a past-time when vintage computing
collecting wasn't popular (I paid $100 11 years ago) or whatever, I
don't know. However, it has been consistent observation in my experience.
I'll refrain from saying what I have noticed a tendancy for...
You'll note that based on what was listed, I said that the only part on that
PDP-11/44 with any value was the Power Supply. I paid $100 11 years ago for
one that was missing the RAM (and network card but that wouldn't stop it
from working). Without a high value card or cards, and
missing cards like
the one in question is there is no way it's worth $750. It
is worth half of
that max.
BTW, I should soon be able to get mine out of my parents garage and power it
up again. If it still works it will be worth more than that $750 as it
is complete plus it has RAM, Ethernet, and most importantly a Unibus SCSI
card. Even then the real value is in two items, the power supply, and the
SCSI card. I value PDP-11 equipment based on what it can legititally be
sold for, not what some deep pockets collector might pay on a whim. Many
PDP-11's still being used commercially are being replaced with PC's running
E11. It is my experience that collectors don't pay as high as the places
still running PDP-11's.
Here is another hint. A /44 isn't that collectable of a computer. It lacks
a real front panel, and it's BIG. For a Hobbyist a Q-Bus based PDP-11 makes
a lot more sense. A /44 like mine takes up about as much space as a washer
and dryer, and has to run off of a 15A circuit. The only thing I've used it
for was when I was doing some work for someone and needed a Unibus system
for testing. Otherwise one of my Q-Bus systems is far more practical.
This does bring up an interesting question. What percentage of people with
PDP-11's have Unibus PDP-11's. Also of the people that do have Unibus
PDP-11's, how many have a large number of PDP-11's?
Zane