I've been playing around with technology for longer than I care to remember--I blame my father for bringing home that first Commodore PET way back in 1979. Ever since then, it seems, I've had this unhealthy fascination for pretty much everything on the bleeding edge of technology. I clearly wouldn't have my current job without this interest in technology, so I guess I'm quite thankful that things worked out the way they did.
However, such a hobby does have its costs--literally. I was cleaning out our cabinets the other day, and came across my binder of technology receipts. This is where I keep the receipts for any "substantial" hardware or software purchases, and it tends to be something of a roach motel for receipts: they check in, but they never check out.
So I thought I'd take some time and cull the receipts for things I no longer own. Going through the binder is quite the revelation--both on how much I spent on technology (hey, I was young, single, and careless...now I'm just careless!), but on how much the technology itself actually cost. I scanned a few bits from some of the more interesting receipts (click any receipt for a larger version).
Read on for a walk down memory lane...followed by a look at what those items would cost in today's dollars, as well as what you could get for that some money today!
First, let's look back to the earliest days of internet connectivity, when modems ruled the world [Jun 14 1996].
That's right, a blazing 28.8Kbps modem set me back $224.95 (with Saturday delivery, no less!).
How about some of that newfangled CD technology? Here's a receipt for what was a very cool piece of hardware--a four-disc CD changer, speeding along at 4x speeds [Feb 20 1996].
Wow, only $362! In all seriousness, this was a handy unit to have, as you could keep four discs in it and ready for use, without any swapping.
Here's another receipt, this one covering a hard drive, an internal CD recordable drive, and a copy of Mac OS 8.0 [Jul 26 1997].
Nearly $500 for 4.3GB of drive space, $400 to record a CD at a whopping 2x speed, and OS 8's the bargain of the bunch at just under $90.
What about machine upgrades? Well, here's a 233MHz accelerator card for some Mac--sad to say, I don't even recall which machine. I bought two, but one was for a buddy [Nov 6 1997].
Here's another hardware upgrade, a G3/300Mhz card for yet another unknown Mac of mine, for nearly $800 [Oct 21 1998].
And finally, a look at recordable DVD costs early on in their existence [Apr 23 2001].
So there you have it. A total of $2,731.79 (not counting the processor card purchased for a friend) spread out over five years or so. So what would that kind of investment get me today? I thought it might be interesting to look at each item, adjust its price for inflation, and see what kinds of similar technology I could purchase with the inflation-adjusted price (Adj. Price in the table) in today's market. Here are the results:
| Technology | Price Then | Adj. Price | Would buy today... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28.8 Modem | $ 224.95 | $ 290.21 | Five months of 15Mbps down/2Mbps up FIOS service, plus one month of 5Mbps down/2Mbps up FIOS service |
| 4-disc CD changer | $ 362.00 | $ 467.01 | 19 external USB CD drives |
| 4.3GB SCSI drive | $ 479.00 | $ 604.10 | One 147GB SCSI drive plus two 73GB SCSI drives, for a total of 293GB of drive space (68 times as much!). If you drop the SCSI requirement, I could purchase about 1.5TB of SATA drive space (348 times as much) for the same money. |
| Internal CD-R | $ 399.99 | $ 504.45 | 14 internal CD/DVD burners, complete with LightScribe labeling technology. |
| OS 8 | $ 87.95 | $ 110.92 | OS X 10.4 |
| 604e/233 CPU card | $ 299.00 | $ 377.09 | 1GHz CPU upgrade for G3 PowerMac (Blue & White or Yikes) |
| PowerForce 300/150 CPU upgrade | $ 779.00 | $ 976.37 | Intel Mac mini, 1.83GHz Core Duo, 1GB RAM, 120GB drive--that's right, an entire (upgraded) Mac mini for the price of a 300MHz CPU upgrade card! |
| 10-pack DVD-R | $ 99.90 | $ 114.18 | 350 total (seven spindles of 50) DVD-Rs |
Pretty amazing how much things have changed over 10 years or so. The two that really stand out to me are that for what it cost me for my first-ever CD-R, I could now buy 14 more-powerful CD/DVD burners, and that you can purchase an entire machine (and a relatively nice one at that!) for what I paid for a 300MHz CPU upgrade card. The times, they certainly are a-changing!i'
Rob, you totally stole my column idea! ;-) I *just* did some spring cleaning and two days ago I created a spreadsheet for an upcoming Editors' Notes blog entry from a bunch of old computer-related receipts going back to 1994. Great minds...
Hi Rob,
Great idea! I am holding a receipt from Sam Ash in NYC dated January 17, 1994. Rather than try to send a scan, here is the ugly truth:
Apple Quadra 650 8/230 w/CD $2600.00
Apple 14" Color Display $500.00
Apple Adjustable Keyboard $179.00 (!)
Global Village Gold Teleport External Modem $330.00
Total (w/tax) $3906.74
The good old days.
Gary Randazzo
Go back a little further. I remember purchasing my first hard drive, for my Apple IIgs, which cost me more than $700 for 20MB. That was in the late 80's (88/89). Just think of how much more space you get for the type of money today!
In 1994 I bought my first computer of my very own. It was a Performa 575, 33 MHz and 250 MB of hard drive, with a 2x CD-ROM. I also got an Apple inkjet printer. Total cost: $2076.
A couple years later, while in college, I saved my pennies to upgrade my modem. I bought a 56k modem in 1998, upgrading from the 14.4k in the Performa, for only $149.
In 1998 I bought my first CD burner to complement the new Bondi Blue iMac I had bought. It was a SONY with matching rubber accents in Bondi Blue, USB 1 connection. Luckily, the cost of $500 included "FREE" 25 SONY CD-Rs, a value of $125 at the time ($5 per blank CD).
I love these kinds of articles. They inspire the weirdest feelings of brokeness with nostalgia. :)
My setup in 1993:
Amiga 1200 '020 @ 14MHz and 2MB RAM, 100MB Seagate HD ($600)
800 MB Toshiba 2.5" IDE HD upgrade ($440)
C60 Multisync 14" monitor, used ($350)
Brother HL-64 laser B/W printer ($400-$600, can't recall)
2400 Baud Supra Modem ($???)
=+-$1800 CDN
2000
iMac DV SE 400MHz with 64MB of RAM ($2400 CDN)
2003
iBook 14" 933MHz with 128MB RAM ($1800 CDN)
2005
PowerMac DualCore 2GHz with 512MB RAM and 20" Apple LCD display 16:9 ($2800)
I hope the PM DC holds me for at least 3 years!
Heh, my entry would be for the original, 128K Mac that my father purchased for us in March 1984: $2499 (and yes, I do have the receipt, lol) :-D
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
As a student, then researcher I spent all together way more than my budget on apple hardware. My investment eventually gained me a job as a technician. And I achieved cash nuetrality in year 2000.
1989 My first mac second hand in (Mac 128K with an Imagewriter 1 printer, and 800K external floppy for about NZ $3500, incl. Word 1.0
1991/2 upgraded to another SH 512KE with Image writer II printer and 20MB drive for NZ $2500. included Word 3
1992 Apples first laptop the "portable" er Lugable (best laptop screen ever) for NZ$2200 included excell 2.0, soft Windows, and Freehand. HP color injet NZ $371
1993/4 PB100 Laptop new for NZ$3100 plus second hand global village modem NZ$350 + second hand Apple Laserwriter IINT NZ $1200
1996 LCIII and Stylewriter colour second hand $350
1997 secondhand PB190 , external CD writer, Quark Express Illustrator, softwindows1.0 NZ $1100
1997/8 Imac Blueberry, ext 12GB, NZ $3700, HP Laser Printer? NZ $700 +Office 98 NZ $420
1999 Finally working fulltime as an apple tech an Imac 400FW, NZ $2400, FCP NZ $1400, then G4 400 +17" Sony monitor NZ $5600.
and lots of other bits. excluding year 1999 thats at least NZ $19000.
I still have the G4 though it now has a terabyte of storage, is a 1400mhz, and is complemented by a PB 400FW, and intel Imac.
The only computer purchases that were cost effective during the 7 years as a student was the HP Printer (I sold it 5 times on buy back deals) and the PB100 that proved to be an extraordinary earner salvaging data from floppy disks corrupted by various other branded PC's under early versions of windows.
cheers john
You should do more on this topic. I think its really fasinating what ppl use to spend on technology. We totally take it for granted now by thinking we are entitled to it all. Good job. Lets see some more!
Wow, I am 17 and have taken technology for granted always requiring the latest and greatest things (Apple). I never realized how far technology has come in the las previous years. Thanks for the insight and the cool article.
Thanks for very interesting article Rob. Can I translate your article into polish and publish at my weblog? Greetings
This is incredibly hilarious but also enlightening at the same time. Why did you keep all of those receipts for so long? Obviously you didn’t keep them around for the sake of tax deductions, although if you were running a business you will probably want to hit yourself in the head and start doing back taxes as soon as possible. I personally wasn’t around for most of these items to even have come out. I mean, in 1996, I wasn’t old enough to be out spending money on technology—in fact, I wasn’t old enough to have a job to get said money to spend on technology. But I definitely see the differences and I can appreciate them for all they are worth. I don’t know how I would run my business if I had to pay THAT much money for 10 DVRs! Holy cow. I don’t even like spending 20 bucks on 40 DVRs right now because I know that that is a rip off. It’s just incredible the difference in prices now that we have hundreds of people who can produce the technology, isn’t it?
Your post made me think about the essentials of spending too much for some gadgets. As far as my work is concerned I wouldn’t mind spending much since every time I spend there’s always a return in terms of my salary. However, there are times when I can’t help but look back at how extravagant I’ve been with regards to the electronics aspect of my life and career. /
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