Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!thyme!kaleb
From: kaleb@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley	)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: price for a system
Keywords: AT compatible, desktop publishing
Message-ID: <1990Nov27.161742.17819@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: 27 Nov 90 16:17:42 GMT
References: <7066@brspyr1.BRS.Com>
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 51

In article <7066@brspyr1.BRS.Com> hollyr@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Holly Raab) writes:
>A friend of mine asked me to post this.  What
>can you expect to pay for the following items?

That's like saying "What would you expect to pay for a car"  What kind
of car, what kind of warrantee, etc. etc. etc...  Do you want a name
brand computer (with a name brand price) or are you willing to settle 
for no-name equipment purchased at the swap meet.

Get a copy of Byte or PC World; Dell, Everex, Compaq (to name a couple) 
plus hundreds of discount outfits advertise, and quote prices on hardware 
and software.

>
>1.  A 386 computer with a 80 mb hard disk, 4 mb
>    of RAM, one 3 1/2 HD floppy, one 5 1/4 HD
>    floppy?

Do you want a 20mhz 386, a 25mhz 386 w/ or w/o cache, do you want a
33mhz 386 w/ or w/o cache.  Would a 16mhz or 20mhz 386SX do the job.
Prices vary from $300 to over $1000 depending on which you choose.
And yes, I've seen 20mhz motherboards, brand new in the box, they're
still available at the swap meets.  

Do you want a fast hard disk, say 28ms access time, or would you settle 
for a slower one.  Do you want MFM, RLL, IDE, ESDI, or SCSI?  Do you want 
a 1:1 controller?  Various combinations can start as low as $700 and
go up from there.

If you were to choose a middle of the road system, say a 25mhz 386 w/o
cache, get a Micropolis 1355 hard disk with a WD 1:1 RLL controller,
you could get out the door with the above system for < $1500 at the swap
meets.  Or you could pay Compaq $5000+.

>2.  A full-screen monograph monitor (for desktop publishing)?

Full screen?  They're all "full screen."  Do you mean a full page monitor.
For a conventional 14" mono VGA, swap meet prices are around $100 for the 
monitor, Paradise or Orchid VGA clones as low as $45.  Name brand stuff 
is considerably higher.  I've never looked at full page monitors, so I
can't tell you swap meet prices.

>5.  Laser printer (300 dpi)?

I've seen the low end HP LaserJet for < $1000 at the swaps.

-- 
Kaleb Keithley                      Jet Propulsion Labs
kaleb@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov

Good girls get to go to heaven, but bad girls get to go everywhere!