[300bps]

I had the same reaction to the pricing in the article. I got a Commodore 64 for Christmas 1982. I think it was a few hundred dollars at most.

I got it because I begged my parents to buy it for me. My two older sisters had zero interest. None whatsoever. I spent 12 hours a day on it especially after I got my first 300 bps modem in 1985.

[Avernar]

I got mine for Christmas and it was $300 just for the computer. The floppy drive was another $300. Got the monitor which was another $300 about six months later.

Add in the dot matrix printer and 1200 baud modem and it was over $1000 for the complete system.

[abecedarius]

It cost about $1500 in today's money. Not-rich families would buy one for their kids, but it was a nontrivial expense to them.

My first computer was a TI-99/4A at about half that, and I was grateful.