Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Nineteen years ago …

by Rob - August 17th, 2007.
Filed under: Uncategorized.

… on Friday, August 19, 1988, I bought what was then, and still is, the most expensive computer I’ve ever owned (and, at that time, was the most expensive thing I’d ever bought — and, come to think of it, I think it still is, except for cars and real estate). Moore’s Law rocks — it’s amazing to think of how cheap computers are today. The computer I bought that day was:

An AST Premium/386 Model 300 computer: the original system, with no video card or monitor (I migrated those from my older PC/XT clone), two megabytes of RAM, a 71-meg hard drive, a 5.25″ floppy, and a 3.5″ floppy, cost a whopping Cdn$6,725, plus 8% PST for a total of $7,263.

Carolyn took over using that computer in 1994, and kept using it until the system was nine years old, on August 18, 1997. The final configuration, after numerous (expensive!) upgrades included 6 megs of proprietary AST RAM and an ATI VGA Wonder Card.

Yeah, it was way expensive. Still, amortized over 260 business days a year over nine years, the base system cost me $3.10 per business day — which, of course, was worth it.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

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