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From: savage@ssc-vax.UUCP (Lowell Savage)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Base price for popular micros
Message-ID: <815@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Jun-85 15:44:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.815
Posted: Tue Jun 11 15:44:48 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Jun-85 01:09:23 EDT
References: <5864@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 34

*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MICRO ***

> I just read that Apple's cost of building a Mac is $200.
> I wonder what the cost is to build an IBM/PC! I find it
> hard to believe they can do it with so little money.
> 
> Could somebody provide an explanation? If these are
> the real numbers, why don't we get cheaper stuff?
> Can we extrapolate and say that a Sony Trinitron
> costs $50?
> 

	What is probably left out of the calculation is
the Engineering cost of designing the composite of components
that is the IBM/PC, Macintosh, et al.  Counting up the
components and their costs doesn't quite cut it.  I'm
not saying that the profits aren't there (they are probably
obscene), but the only way that you can count the REAL cost
of making anything is after you stop making it.  Then you can
add up the cost of materials (including bad parts), what you
paid your parts people, engineering, manufacturing (including
management), marketing... and divide the total by the number
of units produced.  That's how much it costs to make one.  Then
a company needs to have profit enough to cover the units that
don't sell....  I doubt that it only costs Apple $200/Mac to
build them.

			There's more than one way to be savage

			Lowell Savage

			(The opinions expressed above are obviously those of
			every sentient entity in the universe--including my 
			left shoe.)