1988 vs. 2008 How Do Tech Prices Compare?

[alaskaguy]

Here is a fantastic article comparing both prices (nominal and inflation-adjusted) and features of technology products now versus twenty years ago. I especially appreciate the features comparison, because even inflation-adjustment can't account for quality improvements. Despite the naysayers, the world just keeps on getting better in many ways.

Home Desktop PCs

1988: Tandy 1000 TL

• Price: $1,400 ($2,454 adjusted for inflation)
• CPU: Intel 80286
• RAM: 640KB
• Storage: 3.5-inch floppy
• Monitor: 14-inch, 640-by-200 RGB CRT, 16 colors

2008: HP Pavilion Elite m9100z series

• Price: about $1,000
• CPU: 2.8-GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ dual-core
• RAM: 2GB
• Storage: 750GB HD, CD/DVD recorder
• Monitor: 17-inch, 1440-by-900 LCD, 16.7 million colors

Laptop PCs

1988:Toshiba T1200H

• Price: $4,098 ($7,182 adjusted for inflation)
• CPU: 4.77-/9.54-MHz Intel 80C86
• RAM: 1MB
• Storage: 20MB hard drive, 720KB floppy drive
• Display: 9.4-inch supertwist LCD
• Weight: 14 pounds (including modem, charger, and case)
• Battery life: 2 hours

2008:Lenovo ThinkPad X61

• Price: $1,724
• CPU: 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300
• RAM: 2GB
• Storage: 160GB HD, PC Card slot, SD Card slot, external CD/DVD recorder
• Display: 12.1-inch 1024-by-768 LCD, 16.7 million colors
• Weight: 3.6 pounds (6.1 pounds including adapter, ultrabase, and DVD burner)
• Battery life: 6 hours

Color Printers

1988: AlpsALQ300

• Price: $995 ($1,744 adjusted for inflation)
• Printhead: 24-pin color dot-matrix
• Speed: 31 seconds/page in letter-quality mode, up to 10 minutes/page for color graphics
• Interface: Serial

2008: Canon Pixma iP3500

• Price: $80
• Printhead: 4800-by-1200-dpi color, 1,600 nozzles
• Speed: as fast as 3.5 seconds/page in color
• Interface: USB 2.0 and PictBridge

Modems

1988: Hayes V-Series SmartModem 2400

• Price: $399 ($699 adjusted for inflation)
• Speed: 2,400 baud
• Interface: serial
• Standard supported: v.22bis

2008: Motorola SurfBoard S5101 Cable Modem

• Price: $60
• Speed: 38 mbps down/30 mbps up
• Interface: Ethernet and USB
• Standards supported: DOCSIS 1.1 and 2.0

Big-Screen TVs

1988: Mitsubishi Diamond Vision II 3503

• Price: $3,000 ($5,258 adjusted for inflation)
• Size: 35 inches
• Resolution: 480 lines, interlaced
• Format: NTSC
• Display technology: CRT

2008: Panasonic TH-50PZ77U HDTV

• Price: $2,300
• Size: 50 inches
• Resolution: 1080 lines, progressive scan
• Format: ATSC
• Display technology: plasma

1988 vs. 2008: A Tech Retrospective - Page1 -  MSN Tech & Gadgets - Products

 

[CYKID]

I remember when my roommate came back from winter break with a Compact Disc Player. It cost him $600. This was January 86. I think it was the first one on our dorm floor.

 

[Phaedrus]

My roomie drug home a non-compact laserdisc player. Those disks were huge! And heavy.

It's amazing how tech has advanced in that time, and how the prices for the goods have fallen, relative to what you get.

 

[pulse]

That 208lbs 36" Toshiba from 2001 seems like a relic now. The drop in LCD/Plasma has been astonishing.