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1981 Personal Computer Catalog

Posted by michael on from the old-skool dept.

edibobb writes "I just fired up my scanner and uploaded the 35-page 1981 (+/- 1 year) personal computer catalog from American Small Business Computers. 16K RAM for $22; 10 megabyte hard drive, 5 meg fixed and 5 removeable, with 14-inch platters; 25-character per second printer. Things have changed a bit since then!"

3 of 437 comments (clear)

  1. 1981? Not Later? by angst_ridden_hipster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I suspect that was actually from later than 1981.

    In 1980, I spent $269 for 16k RAM for my TRS-80.

    That was 4116s, too. I can't believe I spent nearly an order of magnitude too much, since I watched prices in 80-Micro and Byte like a hawk.

    My (ahem) memory could be failing, but I think this may have been more recent than 1981...

    --
    Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
    www.fogbound.net
  2. Re:1981? Not Later? (geezing!) by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    n 1980, I spent $269 for 16k RAM for my TRS-80.

    Ugh, that's way worse than me first populating my Apple II 1mb RAM card at about $100 per 128k with those silly bank of 8 chips. I was forever bending those little feet. I almost got a woody when Macs with SIMMS came along. :)

  3. Something similar by danuary · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Check out this unix ad, also from 1981 (hi Bob! -dp). Brought to you by Bell Labs. It's amazing how times have changed......