technology Looking back, what past prices on technology are crazy to look at now?

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,823]

This applies to any general technology by the way. Super disclaimer! 

 

Technology is fascinating. As it advances, it gets incredibly expensive as it grows, with new technology being wallet destroying potentially. The new VR technology is a good example of this. However, over time, as this tech becomes more mainstream and commonplace, the prices will eventually lower, sometimes to drastically lower levels than what they were at the start.

 

So in this thread, we should discuss this. What are some prices on technology that seem insane compared to what they are now? 

 

Here is an easy one: HDTV's. 

 

I actually have an Xbox magazine from over 10 years ago, January 2006, when HD was just starting to get attention and in that, there was a guide on what HDTV's would be good to get for the XBox 360. They discussed it and shed light on the prices. Holy wow.

 

Just for reference, I have a 32-inch LCD 1080p Smart TV which cost me a little over $200. In this guide, at the time, a 27-inch 720p LCD TV would cost, at minimum, $700, with 37+ inch units setting you back at least 4 grand. Yeah, that is incredible. The difference compared to today is mindblowing. 

 

Then there was this friggin' thing:

 

$700 at launch. Now, a PS4 and an Xbox One cost $350. 

[Megas 27,800]

FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE US DOLLARS

 

About a year or two after they dropped it by $300 and then the PS3 finally started selling

Edited March 16, 2016 by Megas

[Banul 3,831]

Looking forward to those VR headset price drops. 

[Shanks 10,816]

Microwaves, sure most of us including me weren't born until after they started to become affordable but they are a really good example of how some technologies start out ridiculously expensive and then become affordable. This is an article from 1955 about the first home microwave oven on the market, it was selling for $1295 and that dosen't even account for inflation.

 

http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4399387/1st-domestic-microwave-is-sold--October-25--1955

 

Now your average microwave depending on make and model will typically cost you somewhere in the low hundreds or maybe even lower than that if it is an older or used model.

 

Than there are cell phones which at age 30 I never really grew up with (I got my first one at age 18), the first cell phones were the size of bricks and only the rich had them (I still remember when some cars had car phones). A smartphone today can easily cost you a few hundred dollars or even in the low thousands for some really high end models but the first cell phone sold for $4000 which again dosen't account for inflation.

 

http://mashable.com/2014/03/13/first-cellphone-on-sale/#BNs92qouIaqy

Edited March 16, 2016 by Shanks

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,823]

Microwaves, sure most of us including me weren't born until after they started to become affordable but they are a really good example of how some technologies start out ridiculously expensive and then become affordable. This is an article from 1955 about the first home microwave oven on the market, it was selling for $1295 and that dosen't even account for inflation.

 

http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4399387/1st-domestic-microwave-is-sold--October-25--1955

 

Now your average microwave depending on make and model will typically cost you somewhere in the low hundreds or maybe even lower than that if it is an older or used model.

Wooooow. Microwaves back then were basically very luxury items then. I could see why though, considering all that they can assist you with in terms of food. Back then it was probably seen as extremely incredible technology hence the price, but I don't blame then. Microwaves are awesome. XD 

[Luminance 2,186]

Computer parts.

 

You spend at least $400+ on the best graphics card to have it obsolete within a couple years.

[Shanks 10,816]

Wooooow. Microwaves back then were basically very luxury items then. I could see why though, considering all that they can assist you with in terms of food. Back then it was probably seen as extremely incredible technology hence the price, but I don't blame then. Microwaves are awesome. XD 

Also like cellphones most microwaves back then were much much larger, the first microwaves were the exact same size as regular ovens. Before PC's were around many computers filled entire rooms as well and cost tens of thousands of dollars and up. This is what your average microwave looked like back then, if you didn't know any better your would swear it was a regular oven.

 

 

Another thing that delayed microwaves becoming popular was that some people were concerned about the radiation and it is true that microwaves emit small doses of radiation in order to heat food so I can understand peoples concerns about it. As a matter of fact microwaves were discovered completely be accident when this scientist was exposed to them in an experiment and noticed that this a chocolate bar that was in his pocket melted shortly after the exposure. They didn't know as much about radiation back then as they do now so early scientists who experimented with radiation often suffered from radiation poisoning as a direct result of their experiments and the lack of safety protocols back then. I found out much of this information thanks to this History Channel special I watched a while back which I highly reccomend to anyone interested in technology and its evolution called 101 Inventions That Changed the World along with a couple of other specials I saw on the History Channel and Discovery Channel.

 

https://vimeo.com/119415940

[Scrubbed user 3,417]

 

This is the Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan Black. For a single GPU (the Titan Z was dual GPU) Keplar card, you couldn't touch it. This card retails for $1000.

 

And then there is this card:

 

 

The GTX 970, one of the most popular GPUs around. Hell, I even bought one. Even though it's the newer Maxwell architecture, it actually does match the older Titan Black. The 970 however retails for anywhere between $320-$350. 

 

I imagine the future Pascal cards will make my 980 Ti and Titan X (which both share the same GM200 core) look weak and old.

[ErBoi 501]

I remember buying some Compact Flash cards back in high school.  At the time, they were generally priced around $100 CAD per Gigabyte.

 

Now, a 16GB SD card is around $25.

[ElectronicGamerBrony 18]

FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE US DOLLARS

 

About a year or two after they dropped it by $300 and then the PS3 finally started selling

The PS3 was my first thought when I saw the topic name.

 

I haven't seen it in person but a game (or games if you can even call it that) called Action 52 was being sold for $200 for a single NES cartridge when it came out. Its not even worth 1/4th of that price due to how terrible it is, heck some of the games didn't work at all, and the ones that did were buggy, unfinished, and just a mess to play or even look at. I don't think the price for it has gotten any better now though due to it being uncommon/rare to find.

[Celtore 2,770]

RAM. I remember when I bought Guild Wars Prophecies and my computer wasn't powerful enough to run it. I had 256 kb of ram on that thing and it ended up costing my parents $60 + servicing fees to add another 256 kb stick to meet the minimum requirements. Now, you could buy 8GBs of that stuff for the price.

[xenozfan3 189]

I found one I doubt anyone can beat. Over 3k for a hard drive. Not even the computer.