Reading through IBM computer brochures and fooling around with the desktops and laptops in our local Costco were favorite past-times of mine.
Cheap desktops existed but were universally terri-bad. Low spec Celeron processors with anemic memory and disk space. They _just barely_ ran Windows and ground to a halt after most users got done installing their IE toolbars and some form of Office. (Remember when Office Professional was EXPENSIVE?!)
Cheap laptops didn't exist before netbooks. Like, they just _weren't_ things.
You can get an M4 MacBook Air these days for $999. A laptop that can do just about anything, including and up to CAD and photoshop work, for at least $1000 (today's prices, NOT today's real prices) less than a middling Thinkpad 600 that had maybe three hours of battery life and was good enough for word docs but not much else.
Comments
Spot on.
Reading through IBM computer brochures and fooling around with the desktops and laptops in our local Costco were favorite past-times of mine.
Cheap desktops existed but were universally terri-bad. Low spec Celeron processors with anemic memory and disk space. They _just barely_ ran Windows and ground to a halt after most users got done installing their IE toolbars and some form of Office. (Remember when Office Professional was EXPENSIVE?!)
Cheap laptops didn't exist before netbooks. Like, they just _weren't_ things.
You can get an M4 MacBook Air these days for $999. A laptop that can do just about anything, including and up to CAD and photoshop work, for at least $1000 (today's prices, NOT today's real prices) less than a middling Thinkpad 600 that had maybe three hours of battery life and was good enough for word docs but not much else.