knudsen@ihnss.UUCP (08/29/83)
I should add that in '77, the Apple was good value for the money (about $1000-1500, someone correct me please). Some non-hacker who wanted a plug-in & go system could pay $600 for a PET with lousy keyboard, or about the same for the first TRS-80. Neither of these had what I'd call graphics, color, nor analog joysticks. And the Apple looked better and more solid, all in one piece. It wasn't till 1980 that AAtari and the TRS Coco appeared to give Apple any competition in the color graphics arena. By that time, third-party hard & software had pretty well nailed down the Apple's place. That kept the Apple selling even after cost-efffective technology had passed it by. (The 1980 Colro COmputer at $400 had almost identical functional specs to an Apple, using dynamic RAM and a better microprocessor. The Atari 800 was better in most respects, tho for $900). mike k PS: Has anyone seen a really comprehensive history of home computers? Sounds like we have the makings of it on this net!