Someone got themselves a bargain

[alexh]

Originally Posted by mfletcher

@AlexH, dont worry, one day you'll walk into a Barnardo's and see a boxed pristine A530 sitting there for 5 quid, you'll complain to the old biddie at the till that its overpriced "like, who buys Amiga's anymore?!?!", and she'll sell it to you for 3 quid instead.

And then you'll wake up.

I wasn't bidding for myself.... I was bidding for BuZz of exotica as a present. £75 would have been a great price... wish I had not forgotton.

The only bit of hardware for the Amiga that I dont own and would like is a Cyberstorm PPC and then I am not that bothered as I have a CS MKIII.

Ooo... perhaps a G-Rex 4000D... but I have a Picasso IV, Concierto and X-Surf so it's not really that interesting.

[mfletcher]

Originally Posted by alexh

I doubt very much they get £1200 computers...

And get real... the 360 & wii cost £179 and a 15" LCDTV from the supermarket costs £120 and PAYG phones cost as little as £9.99... orders of magnitude out.

Kids over here regularly get parents to buy them Macs and MacBook Pro's. Which arent cheap.

Different era son, get over it.

[gklinger]

Originally Posted by alexh

I doubt very much they get £1200 computers...

My nephew's Mac Pro system set my sister back about $3000 and he's easily got that much worth of guitars and related doodads to say nothing of the aforementioned video game systems. I'm afraid to ask what his golf clubs cost.

And get real... the 360 & wii cost £179 and a 15" LCDTV from the supermarket costs £120 and PAYG phones cost as little as £9.99... orders of magnitude out.

Add up the cost of a Wii and an XBOX 360 and a PS3 and a proper LCD TV (I wasn't talking about some 15" piece of crap that gets dragged back to a council flat from Tesco) and the parent have spent multiple thousands of dollars. As for mobiles, round here every kid is walking around with an iPhone that costs a few hundred bucks only when you agree to a three year contract at $75+ per month.

My personal experience was that my parent's would drop ridiculous amounts of cash on computers although I suspect it was in large part motivated by their fear that if I wasn't computer literate I'd end up flipping burgers. For example, my 64 system was worth well over $3000 (in 1982 dollars). I can't bring the Amiga into this because by the time it came out I was paying my own way.

Anyway, blah blah blah, I don't think it's unreasonable that parents bought GVP A530s for their kids. Zetr0 was right, you do seem a bit bitter...

[alexh]

Either you're all upperclass... or perhaps I mistook myself for middle class and I am actually working class

Either that or you're all finance junkies? I've never bought anything I couldn't pay cash for 'cept my house.

After I've paid all my bills it would still take me months to save up $1500. And I earn a lot more than most and I'm not married or and I dont have any kids!

Do parents really get their kids such lavish phones?? I would just get the £9.99 PAYG phone, tell them they gotta pay for their credit out of their allowance and show them how to reverse the charges in an emergency.

[TCD]

Dunno if it's a differnce between America and Europe but here it's quite rare that kids get that amount of stuff (well the rich do). I had to put my birthday and christmas present together to get my first Amiga with 512K expansion and second floppy. For my C64 I had to rob my piggybank and nag my parents to add the rest . Every computer and console after the Amiga I paid on my own. I now some guys that are rather wealthy and even they refuse to buy their kids all latest consoles and mobiles. So having these parents those kids are quite lucky

[alexh]

Originally Posted by gklinger

For example, my 64 system was worth well over $3000 (in 1982 dollars).

A C64 in september 1982 cost $595 (the equivalent of $1340.95 today) but by June 1983 the price had fallen to $200 ($424.43 in todays money).

WTF C64 equipment cost $3000 in 1982??

[Shoonay]

My first Amiga, the A600 costed... about 600PLN

[gklinger]

Perhaps this is another one of the many European/North American differences. For instance, over here it is quite common for kids to get cars on their 16th birthday. It's certainly isn't seen as lavish or an indicator of great wealth.

One of the first indications I had of these differences was back in the mid 80's. I was surprised to learn how many people in Europe were using datasettes for mass storage with their 64s. It was very uncommon in North America. In fact, I didn't know a single person who still used one. Even kids from working class families had a 64 and a 1541. I guess it's a byproduct of our more consumer oriented society.

Originally Posted by alexh

A C64 in september 1982 cost $595 (the equivalent of $1340.95 today) but by June 1983 the price had fallen to $200 ($424.43 in todays money).

WTF C64 equipment cost $3000 in 1982??

A 64, two 1541s, a 1701, a high-quality dot matrix printer with interface, a modem with a VIC-1011a RS-232 interface and some misc. odds and ends (joystick, printer paper, diskettes etc.) You'd probably fall over if I told you what my SuperPET system cost.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by gklinger

One of the first indications I had of these differences was back in the mid 80's. I was surprised to learn how many people in Europe were using datasettes for mass storage with their 64s. It was very uncommon in North America. In fact, I didn't know a single person who still used one. Even kids from working class families had a 64 and a 1541. I guess it's a byproduct of our more consumer oriented society.

Yep I had a datasette for my C64. Well I had a flopy too, so not the biggest deal however. Regarding the time a game took to load from cassette (you could literally eat lunch while waiting for it ) it's astounding how long these medias were sold.

[alphonsus]

I had to talk my parents and sister into a joint birthday AND christmas present to get our C64 - in 198something.
I can't remember what our A500 cost, (second-hand) but that took some talking as well. (Still in cupboard somewhere)!