Prices in the 80s?

[ralphb]

Does anyone have an old advertisement or catalog at hand that lists prices for the TI 99, the PEB with one floppy, the 32K, and maybe even the Speech Synth back in the day? I'm interested in the prices before the curtain fell, maybe first half of 1983.

 

Bonus points for German prices. (I perused the magazines I have, but all are from 1984 and onward, have very few ads for the TI, and none list the TI 99 console itself.)

 

[+boxpressed]

I don't know the retail price, but in the US, many owners received a $50 rebate and a free speech synthesizer.

[Shift838]

Does anyone have an old advertisement or catalog at hand that lists prices for the TI 99, the PEB with one floppy, the 32K, and maybe even the Speech Synth back in the day? I'm interested in the prices before the curtain fell, maybe first half of 1983.

 

Bonus points for German prices. (I perused the magazines I have, but all are from 1984 and onward, have very few ads for the TI, and none list the TI 99 console itself.)

 

 

I know in Spring of 1985 Triton was selling a PEB with 90k drive, 32k ram, DM2 cartridge and flex cable for $300.00 US.

 

The Triton catalogs are on the FTP site. They start with 1984.

[mizapf]

Does anyone have an old advertisement or catalog at hand that lists prices for the TI 99, the PEB with one floppy, the 32K, and maybe even the Speech Synth back in the day? I'm interested in the prices before the curtain fell, maybe first half of 1983.

 

Bonus points for German prices. (I perused the magazines I have, but all are from 1984 and onward, have very few ads for the TI, and none list the TI 99 console itself.)

 

Da hätte ich doch etwas für dich...

[mizapf]

For your information: The exchange rates of DM and US$ were

 

1983: 1 US$ = 2.55492 DM

1984: 1 US$ = 2.84631 DM

1985: 1 US$ = 2.94125 DM

[Omega-TI]

 

I know in Spring of 1985 Triton was selling a PEB with 90k drive, 32k ram, DM2 cartridge and flex cable for $300.00 US.

 

That is bloody CHEAP compared to what I paid (pre-abandonment) BITD! Adjusted for inflation my first TI and all of it's components is still the most expensive computer I ever purchased.

[ralphb]

Thanks Michael, that's a blast from the past! Are the RADIX ads also from 83? The cheaper one looks identical to my TI Revue 3/84 I had been looking at, so the other one seems more accurate. That would make it a 475,- console with a 1900,- PEB (containing standard floppy drive and 32K).

 

The Triton catalog is also a great suggestion -- thanks!

[mizapf]

No, Radix are from 1984 (check the file names and the dates in the ads).

[ralphb]

I know in Spring of 1985 Triton was selling a PEB with 90k drive, 32k ram, DM2 cartridge and flex cable for $300.00 US.

 

Yes, confirmed. In Spring 1984, though, they didn't offer any original TI hardware at all, except for (you guessed it) joysticks and cassette cables.

[ralphb]

There are lots of magazine scans on WHTech, so in Compute! 2/83 I found an ad with prices for all components:

 

[+Schmitzi]

here is one more:

 

TI-99-Pricelist-TI-Germany-1983-August.pdf

[Shift838]

My parents bought mine before TI jumped out as well and I know they paid if I recall correctly $1200.00 just for the stock PEB.

[mizapf]

I seem to remember that my father bought the TI console in June 1982 for DM 1000,- or even more (about $400). We got it from a department store (Kaufhof in Frankfurt).

[PeBo]

I bought my PEB used for $650 CAD in 1983. it came with 32K and a SSSD drive & TI controller. If I remember correctly, I believe the RS232 was $200 on top of that.

 

Of course those are Canadian $'s...

 

The bank exchange rate in 1983 was 1.23 so I'm guessing the consumer exchange rate would have been close to 1.29 meaning the total in US $'s would have been around $1096.

 

My original TI remains the most expensive computer I've ever owned (wage/cost ratio). I would have taken home around $1200 a month in '83, and we're just talking about the cost of the PEB...by the time I bought that, I had already parted with a sizeable bit of cash (there were no $99 TI's up here!!)

[Omega-TI]

I believe the RS232 was $200 on top of that.

 

I was lucky, I got both my RS-232 and my 300 baud acoustical modem at Sears on sale for $150.00 each, before sales tax, which at the time was only 7% IIRC, so just to get on the BBS it was $321.00. Adjusted for inflation that was the equivalent of $807.71 in today's dollars.

 

Now I really bit the bullet on the TI printer... damn THAT was expensive!

[ralphb]

here is one more:

 

TI-99-Pricelist-TI-Germany-1983-August.pdf

 

Awesome! So consumer prices would be like + 14% tax + 30% markup?

[Torrax]

Here is TI's official Canadian Retail Price List from Jan 1, 1982. Scanned in at 300 DPI B&W and saved to JPEG format.

 

TI Price List CAN (Jan-01-1982).zip

Edited August 30, 2016 by Torrax

[Omega-TI]

I use << THIS INFLATION CALCULATOR >>

 

Just punch in the dollar amount and select the years you want a report on.

[mizapf]

Ever hesitated to buy a current game for the PC, e.g. Fallout 4, because it is "too expensive"?

[Omega-TI]

Ever hesitated to buy a current game for the PC, e.g. Fallout 4, because it is "too expensive"?

 

ROFL! I get your point. IIRC I paid something like $100.00 bucks for TI writer, another $100.00 for Multiplan, another $100.00 for the E/A. The "good olde day's" of classic computing... my hairy a**!! THESE are the real good old days!

[Fredrik Öhrström]

Swedish ad from 28 nov 1982. The price was 2995 SEK inc tax for the console only, I think.

6SEK~=1USD in that year so 500$

[justacruzr2]

This will make you cry. I bought an extra PEB (and some other things which included the European version of the Starter Pack 1&2 and the Game Writers Pack !&2. Not sure but I think these were only released in UK) when Triton was going out of business. They were selling the PEB, brand new in sealed box, for $50.

[PeBo]

Ever hesitated to buy a current game for the PC, e.g. Fallout 4, because it is "too expensive"?

Games are soooo much cheaper now! I bought my first computer (my beloved 4A) because a friend, who had an Atari 400, had just paid $150 for "Captain Beeble" and "Popeye" in a package "deal"...

 

To which I said " $150??? What's the use if owning a computer instead of an video game machine, if you're not going to make your own games".

To which he said "If you think it's so easy to program a computer, why don't you buy one and show me!"

 

Never one to turn down a snooty challenge, he set the ball rolling for me to meet all you fine people over 30 years later!!!

 

(Captain Beeble WAS a kick-a$$ game though!)

[PeBo]

Here is TI's official Canadian Retail Price List from Jan 1, 1982. Scanned in at 300 DPI B&W and saved to JPEG format.

 

Holy poop! Thank You so Much for this. Makes me want to head down to CompuCentre, Marketron, Simpson-Sears or Eaton right now!

 

(Marketron was the best, hidden under Toronto's TD Centre they had an entire wall of TI software, and he'd order any hardware your wallet would allow!)