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The Cost of a 'Computer' Over the Years
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거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
So I saved up my money all summer working at a Pizza joint in High School. I went to Atlanta with my dad and picked out all the parts for a computer from a Korean lady that my dad bought all his computers from. So I drive all the way back home with it, carry it up to my room and set it up on my desk overlooking the back yard.
Now, mind you, my parents house is quite large and built into the side of a hill with a full basement that opens to the back yard. The front is 2 stories, but the back is 3 stories down to the deck that leads to the basketball court.
So I turn this beast on. The monitor starts up, shows a picture and then the picture immediately vanishes and I start smelling electrical smoke. Then flames start shooting out of the air vents on the back of this big ass, brand new, CRT monitor. I didn't have a fire extinguisher so all I could do was open the window and push it out cause this thing was fully engulfed in flames.
So my mom is sitting in the basement and happens to be looking out the back porch door at some birds or something when "BAMMMM!" this flaming computer monitor falls out of the sky and explodes all over the basketball court. She about damn near died. I bet she still has nightmares about flaming computer monitors falling from the sky.
Comparing historical prices adjusted for inflation is fail and ignorant. Inflation tells very little about purchasing power nor about value of the actual product.
Using CPI and GDP would be somewhat more sensible.
Also like Vrika noted above, you are listing very wide array of machines, making it entirely pointless comparison.
So I take the box that the monitor came in, a broom and a dust pan, and I go down to the basketball court and sweep what's left of this monitor into the box along with the busted and cracked plastic parts. The next day I drive all the way back to Atlanta with my receipt and a box of shattered glass, electronics and plastic pieces.
I go into the store and I set the box on the counter and you can hear crunchy bits of junk jingling around in the box. I explain to the Korean lady "Hey, so I turned my computer on and the monitor caught on fire, and I need a replacement". She gives me the "Somehow, I don't think that's the whole story" look. She was a smart lady.
So she opens the box and her eyes get as big as tea saucers. She's half yells in shock, "You say it catch fire, not exploded!". She continues "This not monitor! This pieces! You put fire out with baseball bat?"
I kindly explained "Hey, it's not my fault. The damn thing tried to burn my house down and kill me. The only place I could send it was three stories down to a concrete pad". Then I told her the story about my mom standing there and seeing this flaming monitor explode on the court and she died laughing. She was super cool about it and did replace it.
The Altair 8800 is notably missing, in spite of sometimes being regarded as the first personal computer.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다