[defrost]

That was the entry price of legit Compaq Deskpro 386 on first release.

Within six months hobbyist computer enthusiasts were paying half that (or less, IIRC) for PC clones direct from asia.

Source: That's about what I paid for a Doom capable PC at the time.

A pair of second-generation T800 transputer chips and a 4-chip array board to fix them to cost way more at about the same time.