I remember in college we raised some money and bought 10 in kit form. It went so well that 2 weeks later we ordered 10 more kits. We were astonished to find the second order of 10 already assembled and tested.
Cool stuff… George Rachor > On Sep 27, 2021, at 1:49 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > >> 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 ci...@xenosoft.com
