[bombcar]

Inflation goes up - someone who could buy a $500 computer in 2008 should be able to buy a $766 or so computer today (cite: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com)

But today, if you can finagle the EDU discount, you can get a MacBook Neo for $499 ($600 without) which apparently isn't really compromised in any major way.

[throw0101d]

> Inflation goes up - someone who could buy a $500 computer in 2008 should be able to buy a $766 or so computer today

It should also be noted that technological advances tend to be deflationary in general: regardless of real or nominal dollars, the chips/storage/etc you can buy today were sometimes not even available in the past at any price.

Edit: e.g., see 1991 Radio Shack add:

* https://www.trendingbuffalo.com/life/uncle-steves-buffalo/ev...

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45161816

[bombcar]

True, a high-end 386 would have cost upwards of $10k when it first came out, but a MacBook Neo probably beats the pants off a supercomputer from the same era.

[throw0101d]

An old Radio Shack ad from 1991 that often makes the rounds is illustrative:

* https://www.trendingbuffalo.com/life/uncle-steves-buffalo/ev...

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45161816

[brk]

Yes, I'm aware how inflation works, you missed my point. Many technology things have effectively gotten cheaper over time, when you account for overall performance/specs/capabilities/etc. The "we don't know how to make a $500 computer that doesn't suck" statement of today would be more like "we don't know how to make a $350 computer that doesn't suck".