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Approximate computer and component costs

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Initially the high cost of computers inevitably lead to the requirement for a number of highly competent staff to maximise their usage.
The custom-built Nicole and Carine systems must have cost a lot at the time, far more than the standard central DEC system, which was finally acquired after 1975, when third party peripherals could also be added.

Very approximate purchase prices (from memory!) are shown with post-inflation conversion to 2017 Euros in brackets.

Year Hardware Original price 2017 price

1979

Tektronix 4010 graphics storage screen terminal

70 000 FRF

36 500 €

1981

The DEC-1091S replacement, 1 Mword memory, 2 GB fixed disks, 4 tapes, etc.

8 000 000 FRF

3 300 000 €

1981

VT100 alpha-numeric vdu terminal

10 000 FRF

4 100 €

1984

VAX11/730, 2MB memory/ R80 128MB fixed disk/ RL02 10MB Cartridge disk/ 2 DECtape-II cassettes (for 8085 boot processor),
LA100 console. Here the cost of the first machine bought for initial software development  (1984)
With the potential of three further acquisitions (D11, D17, D22) DEC reduced the price for D11;
A second-hand 11/730 was found for D17, and D22 was finally fitted with microVAX-II.

358 358 FRF

107 000 €

1985

!MB ECC 32bit VAX memory

10 000 FRF

3 000 €

1984

PDP11/24 system (IN20) with RL02 disks, graphics terminal, etc.

400 000 FRF

119 000 €

1985

IBM PC-AT cpu/ 640 kB memory/ 20 MB disk 2x5" floppies
Hercules Graphics (720x350 pixels)
Keyboard

50 000 FRF
15 000 FRF
10 000 FRF

13 900 €
4 100 €
1 300 €

1985

Macintosh plus 1024 K + external 800K floppy drive + Imagewriter II
External hard drive 20 MB

28 000 FRF
7500 FRF

7 300 €
2000 €

1986

ATARI 1040ST/ 640x200x16 colours/ 1 MB memory/ 1 3.5" floppy
Sony 13" trinitron monitor

4 000 FRF
2 500 FRF

1 150 €
700 €

1987

ATARI memory 1 MB

1 600 FRF

500 €

1987

IEC11 GPIB (IEEE-488) UNIBUS interface

33 000 FRF

8 400 €

1988

DEC LN03R PostScript printer

72 000 FRF

17 800 €

1988

DEUNA Ethernet UNIBUS interface

30 000 FRF

4 500 €

1988

microVAX 3500 (IN5)

400 000 FRF

99 000 €

1989

VT220 alpha-numeric vdu terminal. (these were bought in packs of 5!)

2 500 FRF

600 €

1989

VAXstation 3100/30 8 MB, 128MB disk TK50 tape ethernet 14" display  (D11,D17..)

100 000 FRF

24 000 €

1990

MicroVAX-II (D22)

100 000 FRF

24 000 €

1990

VAXstation

90 000 FRF

21 000 €

1993

SGI indy, 20" CRT

14 0000 FRF

29 900 €

1993

Mac PowerBook 180 33MHz 68030/ 4 MB memory/ 120 MB disk/ 9.8" color TFT

26900 FFR

5800 €

1999

SGI-O2 64 bit workstation  (no monitor)

110 000 FRF

21 300 €

2000

Sony VAIO PGC-Z600TEK laptop 600 MHz/ 256 MB memory/ 20 MB disk

3 000 €

3 800 €

2002

IBM XEON workstation 3 GHz cpu/ 4 GB memory/ 200MB disk

4 000 €

4 939 €

2002

Samsung 19" TFT display

2 500 €

3 000 €

2005

Sony VAIO laptop S4-XP PC 2 GHz/ 1 GB memory/ 100 GB disk

£ 2 000

2 324 €

2008

MacBook white 13" 2.4 GHz Core2 cpu/ 1 GB memory/ 120 GB disk

£ 800

1 250 €

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