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points by kleiba2 3 days ago | 0 comments

The cheapest configuration of the original model was $329 in 2012 [0]. Even when corrected for inflation, that would still be less than $500 in today's money -- so quite a bit less than $700!

Is the comparison unfair because today's model is much more powerful than the one from 14 years ago? Perhaps. But perhaps it shouldn't be compared to the past, but to its relative competitors?

[0] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2012/10/23Apple-Introduces-iP...

[–] mahboi 3 days ago

In 2012, that iPad mini ran YouTube videos at the same resolution as today but without ads!

[–] 650REDHAIR 3 days ago

…progress?

[–] HumblyTossed 3 days ago

Oh I long for the days when every 2 years prices for compute FELL.

[–] Gigachad 3 days ago

On the plus side, devices are designed to last longer, be more repairable and be updated for longer than they were in 2012.

The upfront cost of a device is less important than the total cost of ownership, which highly depends on the lifespan of the device. An ipad that lasts 2.5 years needs to be half the price of one that lasts 5 years.

[–] rcoder 2 days ago

Sorry, but as someone who's owned a v1, the first 12" Pro, a Mini, and now an M4 Pro: hahahaha, no.

Durable, yes. Given how many hours each of my iPads has spend in my kids' hands I can't really complain on that front.

But repairable? Not in any meaningful way. When the battery gets too weak you can use it as a tethered control panel for media or smart home apps; when the screen cracks you can slap a protector on it. Aside from that, any hardware fault outside of warranty means it's DOA.

[–] xattt 3 days ago

Not really unfair, as the basic use case is still the same for either model.

A toilet from a hundred years ago in the same product tier serves the same function as one today. Old models were also more expensive when adjusted for inflation, but today's toilets can tackle more turds with less water.

[–] qlte 3 days ago

The alternative approach leads to those "costs have dropped by 7 orders of magnitude in the last 50 years" style of deceptive graphs popular among people with an agenda to insist AI memory price inflation isn't a real problem.

[–] mahboi 2 days ago

The CPI component for IT does also get adjusted based on quality, but it's not linear. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1WYYo Hm, would you say computers are similar in cost:utility as late 2022? I think that's fair if you aren't looking specifically at GPUs.