How much computer / laptop power did you get for $5995.00 or less?
Compare your configuration to the picture below.

That was the state of the art high end home computer of its day.

How does yours compare to that one?

check out the price of a 10MB yes 10 MegaBite Hard disk.

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1985 called...

Haha, compare RPi Zero for $5:
CPU - 1000 MHz
Memory - 512 MB RAM
Power - 0.8 W
and a MicroSDHC slot.

Compare the sizes, too:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-conte...z_img_4054.jpg

Imagine what you could get today for $5995. It'd be interesting to see what a bunch of geeks would spec out if they had $5995 to work with.

My budget for "new-to-me fast ooh and aah worthy computer" has remained exactly the same since 2001.

PII then, i7 now
64 MB RAM then, 16 GB now
2 Gig HD then, 500 gig now

$200 then, $200 now

if I had 5995.00$ to spend.

I'd get the latest fastest Intel Processor 4 core or more, with two threads to each core, a motherboard to match it, max it out on RAM, a Nvidia Card best on the market, 2 ssd's biggest possible, and two fastest matching size (normal) Hdds to back them up on, and a box to put it all in, then with what ever money I had left over I'd use it to buy the biggest flat screen, maybe two to hook it up to.

If I had this amount 5995.00$, I would buy a basic server, plus a lot of Pi's.

The CDC 300mb SMD disks, popular in the 70's on DEC and other mini systems, were over 25K US. I once submitted a repair bill from servicing one that was over 10K just for the fix.

I would build a backblaze storage pod.

The sad thing is after I build my System, Approx 3 months later it would out dated. lol

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <General> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

You are missing a tiny factor here. $6k in 1985 is the same as $13.5k today.

$13.5K?!?!?!

I'd buy a new John Deere tractor!

Biggest Bang for the Buck! Pshaw! I buy what I buy, and it has whatever "bang" I desire. I'm really not interested in competing with the NSA for computing power. Further, what "programs" would I run on it? I barely run programs now, it's all on the web. My compilations run fast enough.

Years ago when things sped up enough, we joked that you no longer could go get a cup of coffee or a cigarette while you had a build running.

I realize it's academic. I'm concluding that my point is if I had $6K or $13.5K free spending money, I'd not be spending it on a computer.

You know that the rate of technology is good when you can go high end specs for less then $1000, even the infamous apple iTrashcan which costs $3,999.00 at the highest is half the price of those old computers.

Assuming you'd depreciate the $6K over 3 years I'd rent one of these: https://www.ovh.com/us/dedicated-ser...NT&id=SP-128-S and still have $1600 to buy a decent home workstation!