Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's a cigarette pack? /s
It's a drug, shipped in a pack roughly the size of a desktop mouse :P
Alternately it's about the same size as a double cassette tape box.
Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
91–100 of 186 posts
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#92Trying to understand Steve Jobs is an effort in futility I know, but I've never understood what he was thinking around this time. He refused to accept responsibility for his daughter when she was born in 1978, and even 5 years later, he was still questioning the accuracy of DNA paternity tests in Time Magazine and despite being a multi-millionaire, only grudgingly paying $500 a month for child support. But then he go…
Maybe she was named for the same muse that the computer was named for?
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#93This makes the new Mac Pro look like a bargain... especially after you adjust for inflation.
I think the difference is between productivity gain. In these early days, you bought a computer or you had to use a calculator and paper. It's the difference between automating a dentist or realtors office or not doing automation. Now, buying a new computer results in marginal productivity gains because likely it's just replacing another computer and maybe improving things or maybe just adding a touch-bar.
You mean adding fresh bugs and anti-usable features.
There are a few things you can do by adding expensive hardware, but they're generally limited to advanced media processing, like video editing and raytracing. Maybe a few medical tricks.
(Gaming does not count, it scales to generally available hardware.)
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
My dad paid $6k+ for a IIci in 89. I had no idea at 9 years old and really no appreciation for what kind of money that was. In 2000 I bought a Power Mac G4 for around $2k. Being young with lots of disposable income, I didn't appreciate then either what kind of money that was. It's only recently that I've started to understand what a computer costs as I've bought computers while paying living expenses.
In 2000, you were 30 years old. That's hardly young :)
30 is still pretty young, but your math is off.
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#95My favorite part: Instead of typing a sequence of commands on the computer keyboard; the user merely points to tiny "icons" or commands on the screen by sliding the "mouse" (a plastic control box the size of a cigarette pack) on the desktop beside the computer. As the mouse rolls, an arrow called a cursor moves across the screen. To erase obsolete information, for example, the user moves the mouse to point first at w…
And just a few years later in 1986, the "Scotty uses a Mac" scene from Star Trek IV: https://youtu.be/LkqiDu1BQXY?t=64
You can say he tried to use Siri before Siri was developed. Talked into the mouse "Hello computer".
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#96If you convert the retail price of a usable configuration of Lisa into 2019 currency it is pretty nuts.
It debuted at $9995, which is about $26,500 in today's money.
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#97My favorite part: Instead of typing a sequence of commands on the computer keyboard; the user merely points to tiny "icons" or commands on the screen by sliding the "mouse" (a plastic control box the size of a cigarette pack) on the desktop beside the computer. As the mouse rolls, an arrow called a cursor moves across the screen. To erase obsolete information, for example, the user moves the mouse to point first at w…
And just a few years later in 1986, the "Scotty uses a Mac" scene from Star Trek IV: https://youtu.be/LkqiDu1BQXY?t=64
Fun fact: "transparent aluminum" is a reality, albeit insanely expensive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn't unless they were well off. Only 8% of houses had a computer in 1984. 15% by the end of the decade. C64 was $595 new, if you had one I doubt your family was poor.
I'm surprised only 8%. My memory of growing up in the UK in the early 80's was that ZX81'S and ZX Spectrums were super common. I bought my ZX81 in 1982 for £50 new which looks like it was maybe $80.
One of the reasons the Spectrum was so common was the low price. And of course using taps for games meant that most weren't paid for, but copied and shared around at school.
I grew up with the ZX Spectrum, like so many others, and it is what started me programming/developing/being interested in computers.
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
And just a few years later in 1986, the "Scotty uses a Mac" scene from Star Trek IV: https://youtu.be/LkqiDu1BQXY?t=64
Fun fact: "transparent aluminum" is a reality, albeit insanely expensive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride
Corundum is also transparent aluminum and it's insanely cheap.
Re: Apple Reveals ‘Lisa’, Its $50M Gamble (1983)
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am really curious about how anyone could afford computers at these prices in the 1980s. I guess my family was really poor then. We had a C64 and later an Amiga.
If your family had a personal computer at all you were very well off indeed.
My Dad bought a 386 with a whopping 40mb Hard disk in 1991 I remember him mentioning it cost a small fortune and he could have purchased a car for the same price he paid.
I remember one of my friends had a Tandy the 386 ran rings around it (it supported vga graphics for one - I can remember playing the original Civilization game and Prince of Persia on the 386).