How much classic consoles would cost in today's dollars

[Shabbadeux]

Like I said earlier, this whole thread is based on pure silliness. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop", and methinks he must have typed this himself. You can't work backwards in a simple, "today's money vs. yesterday's money" equation. The performance of today's electronics is exponentially superior to the "ancient" machines and formats. In 1993, a super VHS video cassette recorder, was about $600.00. At the point where standalone DVD recorders became affordable, retailers started selling off VCRs at as low as $40.00!

......

I think being a collector willing to pay ridiculous prices for an ancient item, is more or less synonymous with having, "more money than brains". But, with that said, if you had the foresight to buy the first Barbie dolls and leave the cellophane on them, you'll make a killing off the first, "a fool and his money will soon part company", sucker, you find to foist them off on. Likely as good a return as Apple stock bought at its first IPO.

I think you're missing the point entirely. The dollar amounts aren't "How much are these systems worth today," or even "How much would they sell for if they were introduced today." Rather, "What was the relative cost of these systems when they were introduced, expressed in terms of today's dollars?"

Pick some commodity whose price has remained somewhat stable and whose relative value hasn't changed much... For the sake of argument, let's pick a McDonald's Big Mac. It cost about $1.25 in 1980, and probably about that in 1979 when the Intellivision was introduced at $300. So, when the Intellivision was introduced at $300, it cost about the same as 240 Big Macs. In 1979, you'd have to forego about 240 Big Macs to save up enough to buy an Intellivision at $300.

These days, Big Macs go for around $4 apiece, on average. So, 240 Big Macs would cost you $960 dollars.

That's it. That's the whole comparison. Does that mean an Intellivision is worth $960 right now? No! Absolutely not! Nobody's saying that or even _implying_ that.

The whole point of the comparison is to say "Man, folks back then spent almost $1000 (today's money) to buy an Intellivision? You sure can get a lot more for that money these days."

 

[captaincranky]

I think you're missing the point entirely. The dollar amounts aren't "How much are these systems worth today," or even "How much would they sell for if they were introduced today." Rather, "What was the relative cost of these systems when they were introduced, expressed in terms of today's dollars?"

Pick some commodity whose price has remained somewhat stable and whose relative value hasn't changed much... For the sake of argument, let's pick a McDonald's Big Mac. It cost about $1.25 in 1980, and probably about that in 1979 when the Intellivision was introduced at $300. So, when the Intellivision was introduced at $300, it cost about the same as 240 Big Macs. In 1979, you'd have to forego about 240 Big Macs to save up enough to buy an Intellivision at $300.

These days, Big Macs go for around $4 apiece, on average. So, 240 Big Macs would cost you $960 dollars.

That's it. That's the whole comparison. Does that mean an Intellivision is worth $960 right now? No! Absolutely not! Nobody's saying that or even _implying_ that.

The whole point of the comparison is to say "Man, folks back then spent almost $1000 (today's money) to buy an Intellivision? You sure can get a lot more for that money these days."

And I think you're missing the bigger picture.

The escalating quality and capability of today's electronics product, combined with it's plummeting price relative to the rest of consumer durable goods, renders the whole concept pretty much null and void. You do have to take into account that there are articles here at Techspot which are basically filler. Then too there are other articles barely related to technology which get most of the contention paid to them.

But, you go get 'em tiger, it's fashionable for any and every noob to dispute my postings, even if they have to dredge then up from 4 months ago.. I think it's some sort of right of passage

Now, why don't you run along and try to figure out how much ENIAC would cost today, and how that room and a half full of vacuum tubes, compares with a full out Core i7 rig of today. Never mind, Wiki has done that for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC