Miscellaneous Operating Systems/Hardware

Following up on the two recent BeBox auctions where 66Mhz systems were sold between $1000-1300, now NeXTStations also appear to be increasing in value... working systems listed at $699, $799 and $1200 at the moment. And the $800 unit doesn't even boot into an OS.

$1200
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Next-NeXTstatio ... SwdjNZAqrV

$800
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1992-NE ... Sw0hlZN0ef

$700
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Museum-Quality- ... Sw~y9ZOAx7

Hoard your SGIs I suppose!

They don't have the "Steve Jobs" factor, but your 20 Indys will surely be worth something someday. The days of the $25 decommissioned Onyx are (far before I ever got into SGIs) over.

List price tells you nothing—you can find countless muppets shilling things for inflated prices.
What an item is worth is what someone is willing to pay, not a cent more. The history of mono stations for pickup only in California shows that the first listing you cite is overpriced by a factor of 10.

(You should also do readers a favor and remove the tracking tags from your links.)

In general, I have the feeling that prices are slowly rising. It used to be you get an Indy, Indigo2 or Indigo for $0 ... $50. I still frown when people ask $200 for an Indy because I'm so used to them costing ~ $25. I pulled PowerSeries desksides out of garages for $25. But those were all systems that either came from their first owner, or somebody who took it home from work (= first owner). Then when they're done playing they want their space back and you can (could) have it for little money.

Those systems are all gone now. The rest is a matter of supply and demand I guess.

robespierre wrote: (You should also do readers a favor and remove the tracking tags from your links.)

Not sure what you mean.

What "tracking links" and what favor would I be doing them?

jan-jaap wrote: Those systems are all gone now. The rest is a matter of supply and demand I guess.

Exactly! This is a broad trend. Apple II prices have gone up tremendously, as have BeBox prices... NeXTStations and Indys, as you say, are heading in the same direction.

Dodoid wrote: Hoard your SGIs I suppose!

those prices aren't aimed at hobbyists like us, they're aimed at people with corporate budgets who need to replace dying legacy hardware which can't be upgraded (at least in theory). its the same reason you see $200+ prices on 20mb MFM/RLL hard drives and even more on floppy drives. the problem is that the businesses have got the sellers who don't have any idea what they're selling thinking it's worth serious money, except in theory the business-to-business sellers will back up what they're selling with repairs and some level of warranty, which is why they expect a premium.

similar things happen with music equipment

bifo wrote: those prices aren't aimed at hobbyists like us, they're aimed at people with corporate budgets who need to replace dying legacy hardware which can't be upgraded (at least in theory). its the same reason you see $200+ prices on 20mb

That may be the case for SGIs, which were widely used in commercial settings, but harder to believe for BeBoxes, Apple IIs and NeXTStations.

Prices are aimed at anyone who will buy.. including hobbyists. I don't have a BeBox yet.. what are my choices if I did want one? Only today's high prices. Supply and Demand as jan-jaap said.
These are no longer just old PCs nobody wants. They are collectable items of value never to be recreated again.

Plus, the value of the 1$USD is not the same as it was last decade. (inflation). Last decade's 200$ NeXTstation is now the new 800$ NeXTstation (but I did buy mine from BlackHole last decade for 800$). Even my grocery bill was <100$ last decade and now doubled to 200$ (at least) today.

However, if the eBay seller has an inflated price but is open to offers you can usually get them for not-so-inflated pricing Ebay does not seem to record the actual sale price but instead shows the inflated price as what it sold at.

necron2600 wrote: Last decade's 200$ NeXTstation is now the new 800$ NeXTstation (but I did buy mine from BlackHole last decade for 800$).

A Color Nitro, at that price I hope. BlackHole is selling mono stations for $85 right now!
When prices on eBay are wildly out of control, the first suspect is a shill transaction. See below.

necron2600 wrote: Ebay does not seem to record the actual sale price but instead shows the inflated price as what it sold at.

This is an underhanded strategy by eBay to corrupt the market through unequal information. They also do not show any information about the buyer for such listings, as is available for auctions (where the buyer's identity is concealed, but it shows their feedback and recent purchase categories). This information can reveal shill bidders, so concealing it is simply a way to encourage shill transactions.

sgifanatic wrote:
Exactly! This is a broad trend. Apple II prices have gone up tremendously, as have BeBox prices... NeXTStations and Indys, as you say, are heading in the same direction.

Sweet! Then I'm sitting on a gold mine!

necron2600 wrote: Prices are aimed at anyone who will buy.. including hobbyists. I don't have a BeBox yet.. what are my choices if I did want one? Only today's high prices. Supply and Demand as jan-jaap said.

Spot on. And for the historical significance of the BeBox, combined with the near-zero supply and low production numbers, they should really go for even higher than they do.

What do you make of this Tandy 100:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-RADIO-S ... 2747974546

(everything in an eBay link after the item number is for tracking, and has been deleted as a courtesy to the readers.)

My best guess is that the external battery/ROM bank is what is actually so valuable. Tandy 100s have gone up in price, but still sell in the $50 range every day of the week.

jan-jaap wrote: In general, I have the feeling that prices are slowly rising. It used to be you get an Indy, Indigo2 or Indigo for $0 ... $50. I still frown when people ask $200 for an Indy because I'm so used to them costing ~ $25. I pulled PowerSeries desksides out of garages for $25

JJ, sometimes I find you very irritating, as someone uses to be in bazaar. You and he, you both miss that *YOU* are used to them costing, and *YOU* is not the measure of the universe!

Here you look as annoying as the petulant dude of this forum who only writes me PM repeating two thousand times in the same period on HOW GOOD he was in finding a MaxImpact gfx for less than 25 USD whereas e.g. Ian sells it at 900 euro.

So, since *HE* is continuously used to them costing a couple of bottle of wine (not a good bottle of wine), he also continuously assumes that I MUST sell him things for the same low-price although my answer is always the same: do you want my Impact? I want 900 euro for the whole machine, plus shipping. Is it ok? Good. Is it not good? Have fun on those-places (like ebay?) where prices are slowly rising because machines and related parts are becoming more rare, especially in good working condition.

I definitely find it irritating since I tired to hear those "I'm so used to them costing".