$7K in 1985 would get you one of these: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/d...7/apricot-f10/

What's worse is that I was writing software (in MS BASIC) on these when they were new! :(

They were really nice machines, I remember being impressed with the keyboard and trackball being infra-red.

These days I always buy reconditioned computers. That has several advantages:

• Less impact on the environment since I am 'recycling' hardware
• No 'Microsoft tax' since an operating system pre installed is an option (and costs extra)
• Since the machines are a couple of years old, most drivers will be in the kernel
• And finally, it's cheap!

But, the most expensive computer I ever bought was probably this.