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Comment by behnamoh

12 days ago

> Home PCs are as cheap as they’ve ever been.

just the 5090 GPU costs +$3k, what are you even talking about

“A computer in every home” (from the original post I was replying to) does not mean “A computer with the highest priced version of the highest priced optional accessory for computers in every home”

I’m talking about the hundreds of affordable models that are perfectly suitable for everything up to and including AAA gaming.

The existence of expensive, and very much optional, high end computer parts does not mean that affordable computers are not more incredible than ever.

Just because cutting edge high end parts are out of reach to you, does not mean that perfectly usable computers are too, as I demonstrated with actual specs and prices in my post.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Man you positively demolished that straw man.

How much as a base model MacBook Air changed in price over the last 15 years? With inflation, it's gotten cheaper.

  • Some numbers to drive your point home:

    The original base MacBook Air sold for $1799 in 2008. The inflation adjusted price is $2715.

    The current base model is $999, and literally better in every way except thickness on one edge.

    If we constrain ourselves to just 15 years. The $999 MBA was released 15 years ago ($1488 in real dollars). The list price has remained the same for the base model, with the exception of when they sold the discontinued 11” MBAs for $899.

    It’s actually kind of wild how much better and cheaper computers have gotten.

  • It's also gotten cheaper nominally. I just got a new base MBA for $750. Kinda surprised, like there has to be some catch.

    • I feel bad for their competitors. We need good competition in the long run but over the last few years it's made less and less sense to get something other than an Apple laptop for most use cases.

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    • Also, the MBA vs MBP lineup is different now. MBP was the default choice before even for students, so MacBooks sorta started at $1300. Now the MBA is decent, and the MBP is really only for pros who need extra power and features.

A home PC has to have a SOTA gpu?

  • Probably upset that the high-end video game "hobby" costs more than it used to. Used to be $1-2K for the very best gaming GPU of the time.

    • I mean, yes. Very much so. People should be upset about a relatively affordable hobby getting to this point.