20 Years of Microsoft Windows

In November of 1985 Microsoft released for sale Windows version 1.0 which ran on top of DOS 3.0. So I though it would be interesting to list the cost and performance of a PC at that time and every five years thereafter to the present day. As a side note 1985 was also the year that Gateway computers was founded, then known as Gateway 2000.

I contacted Gateway (my thanks to Lisa Emard, Gateway Media Relations) and she was able to provide the cost for a 1988 Gateway (which I’ve included in the list below), as it gives a good idea as to how much PC prices dropped when sold by what were then called ‘IBM Clone’ manufacturers. Note that Gateway stated “Completely IBM Hardware and Software Compatible” as not all PC clones were 100% compatible back then. Also by 1988 the Intel 386 processor was king of the hill and a 16MHz 386 PC cost about $3,600.00.

Note: The cost of the year 1985 was derived from various articles on the web. Pricing for all other systems (except 1988 as stated above) are based on actual advertisement from that time period, mostly in the Fall of each year.

1985 IBM PC AT – Approx. $6,000.00
8Mhz Intel 286 processor
512KB RAM
1.2MB 5.25 inch floppy disk
20MB Hard Drive
14” EGA Color Monitor – 640x350 resolution (64 colors) - $800.00
MS DOS 3.0 and Windows 1.0
Serial & Centronics Printer ports
IBM Dot Matrix Printer – $595.00

1988 Gateway 2000 Model A12 - $1,995.00
12 MHz 80286 Processor (Switchable to 6)
1 Meg 0 Wait State RAM (100 NS)
1 – 360K Floppy Drive and 1 – 3.5” Diskette Drive (Made by Teac)
40 MB Seagate ST251 Hard Drive
1-Parallel and 2-Serial Ports
101 Key Enhanced Keyboard (Keytronic)
14” Samsung EGA Monitor (640 x 350) with Sigma Designs Autoswitch EGA Card
200 Watt Power Supply and Battery Backed-Up Clock Calendar
8 Expansion Slots (6-16 Bit, 2-8 Bit) and Space for 5 ½ ht. Storage Devices
Completely IBM Hardware and Software Compatible, 1 Year Warranty
Not included in the above package was Windows 2.0 – Price $100.00

1990 Gateway 2000 - $5,295.00
25MHz 486
4.0MB RAM
1.44MB 3.5 inch and 1.2MB 51/4 inch Floppy Drives
150MB Hard Disk
16 Bit VGA card with 512K RAM
14” Monitor
DOS 3.3 and Windows 3.0
CD-ROM Purchased from Tiger Direct - $800.00
HP DeskJet 500 – List Price $729.00

1995 Gateway 2000 P5-133 - $3999.00
133MHz Pentium processor
256K Cache
16MB EDO RAM
1.6GB 9ms DMA Mode 2 EIDE Hard Drive, 1.44 Floppy
17” CRT Monitor + 64 Bit Matrox Millennium with 2MB WRAM
6X EIDE CD-ROM, 16 Bit sound card and Speakers with subwoofer
28.8 Fax/Modem
Windows 95, MS Office95
HP DeskJet 560C - $499.00 (Approx.)

2000 – Dell 8100 Series - $3,248.00
1.5GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor
128MB Rambus 400 MHz RDRAM Memory
80GB Ultra ATA-100 (5200 RPM) Hard Drive
19” CRT Monitor, 64MB AGP-4X NVIDIA GeForce2 Graphics
12X DVD ROM and 12X CD-RW Drive
Digital Sound Card, Surround sound speakers with Subwoofer, 56K V90 WinModem
Windows ME
Printer, HP DeskJet 990Cse (2400 x 1200 dpi on photo paper, 17 pages per minute) - $399.00

2005 – Gateway FX-400XL - $3,179.96
3.0GHz Intel Pentium D (Dual Core) Processor
2.0GB (2048MB) DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory
500GB (Two 250GB Serial ATA II drives, 7200 RPM) and 1.44 Floppy drive
21” Widescreen High-Definition LCD Flat Panel display
16x Double Layer DVD+/- Read/Read/Write and second DVD-ROM drive
256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 Graphics with DVI and TV Out
Integrated Intel 7.1 Sound with Logitec Z-2300 THX Speakers, 56K data/fax modem
Integrated Broadband Ethernet (10/100/1000 Gigabit) Network interface.
Windows XP SP2 with Backup CD, Price includes 3 years part/labor/tech support plan
Printer, HP Photosmart 8250 (4800 x 1200 dpi, 31 pages per minute) - $199.99

If you are interested in more detailed information of how Windows matured over the years see the article recently published by PC Mag.com.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1868492,00.asp
and Computer Hope.com at:
http://www.computerhope.com/history/windows.htm

Some PCs may have included some minor additional hardware, software and service contracts included as part of the advertised configuration but are not listed in this article. Printers were priced as a separate item. Windows was usually an option in the early years. Today Windows XP Home is standard and XP Professional is still priced as an option from a number of vendors for home computers.

Note: Configurations are for high end or near top of the line systems available for a given year, therefore some PC configurations may have cost more or less than the prices shown above. Today’s entry level PCs can cost as little as $500.00 and can go easily over $4,500.00 if you want all the bells and whistles.

Inflation factor
$6,000.00 in 1985 is the equivalent of $10,650.00 today!
$3,999.00 in 1995 is the equivalent of $4,975.00 today!
Source: The Inflation Calculator at: http://www.westegg.com/inflation