The original price of a Model M

[1391406]

I've heard that the original price of the Model M was approx. $250. However, I haven't really seen any confirmation of this. After doing a bit of digging on Google, I managed to find an ad price for both the Model F XT and the 102 key version of the Model M in a 1987 edition of Infoworld(page 84):

http://books.google.com/books?id=BD8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA84&dq=5150+keyboard&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wN2iUcK4E8Ha0QG76oDADA&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Leslieann]

Woohoo look at those prices!
80meg drive $899
Flopp;y drive $185
2400 baud modem for $240

I find it interesting that toner for the laser printer, the Logitech mouse and the computer cases still cost the same. Even for similar aged printers.  My grandparents had a Laserjet 3 (workhorse!) and I currently have a Laserjet 4 (another workhorse).

[kelske]

Interesting! Someone do a conversion to current day dollar value

[Leslieann]

Interesting! Someone do a conversion to current day dollar value

$1 in 1987 is equal to $2.05 today, so just double everything.

However, on cars, it would actually be almost $3 per.

[therecorder]

In 1988, I had a Commodore PC (8088), with a 20MG hard drive, and I was a happy camper.

[1391406]

Even at today's prices, the cost of the Model M would come to $140 clams rather than the claimed $250.

[Leslieann]

Don't forget that this is at least 3 years after the first Model M was available. The price may be lower than it was initially.

[1391406]

Don't forget that this is at least 3 years after the first Model M was available. The price may be lower than it was initially.

Possibly, however they were being listed at the same price a year earlier.

[1391406]

Was the 102-key enhanced version available in 1985?

[rootwyrm]

No, the 102 key enhanced version listed there is not a Model M. The Model M was not offered for $69 through resellers - not when we already know Options was higher than that. Also notice how the "Enhanced 102" is listed as an XT part and not an AT part?

It was very, very common back then in the early clone days to reuse IBM terminology and part names because that's the term everyone knew. But IBM parts were also much more expensive than everyone else, which is what caused clones to really take off. And yes, 5150 parts came in clone and third party flavor frequently. IBM also frowned on mail order resellers, as they'd rather sell systems direct by and large. And NDRC was a clone specialist.

So it's far, far more likely that the "5150 keyboard" referred to there is a Keytronic KB5150jr - which is basically identical to a 5150 but minus the infrared (no mention of the IR capability) and rubber dome.

(Image courtesy Mike's PCjr page.)
The XT also didn't support F11-F12 except with selected clones. So it's most likely an XT/AT clone board manufactured by Keytronic or possibly Silitek who also had an XT/AT switchable at the time. Also, IBM never referred to the Model M as a 102 key. The Model M was always the 101-key Enhanced AT.

[kaiserreich]

And Unicomp can make one for $80 ?
What happens if they charge Double or triple the current price, will we get a Model M that is as good or better than the old ones?

[davkol]

Nothing would happen. Actually, they'd go probably out of business sooner or later.

BTW brand new unicomps go for about 150 EUR in Europe (or imported to Europe). That's not cheap.

[fohat.digs]

Rootwyrm is right, as usual. I bought my first computer in the summer of 1986, and every part was a "clone" of some flavor (the computer itself was a "PCs Limited" which later morphed into Dell) which is why I got it so cheap - $2800 without a printer.

You will probably never find IBM prices in writing, because their sales structure was so byzantine and every customer paid a different price.

PS -Unicomp did not have to do any R&D, and got an intact factory including all the machinery, ready to continue churning them out.

[1391406]

Found it. Granted, this is the list price in 1992.

PC Mag (1992)

[Peter]

So, what was the original price of that NorthGate OmniKey ??

[fohat.digs]

Woah!

Look at the bottom of the page where the SSK was "only" $156.

I am surprised that the February 1992 issue (which hit the newsstands in December 1991) already listed it as an "IBM/Lexmark"

Also, the price would have had half a decade to drop, due to competition, at that point.

[1391406]

So, what was the original price of that NorthGate OmniKey ??

[1391406]

I am surprised that the February 1992 issue (which hit the newsstands in December 1991) already listed it as an "IBM/Lexmark"

So, technically, it would be the list price in 1991.

[fohat.digs]

Actually, I was referring to the hand-off date of the Lexington factory. I though that it happened mid-late-1992.

[1391406]

Actually, I was referring to the hand-off date of the Lexington factory. I though that it happened mid-late-1992.

Extraneous to that though, it occurred to me that if the PC Mag issue hit newsstands in 1991, the list price would apply to that year.

[1391406]

According to this, the Lexmark buyout occurred in March of 1991.

[fohat.digs]

Hard facts trump failing memories any day ......

But I don't think that the word "Lexmark" started showing up on Model Ms until a couple of years later.

[SpAmRaY]

thanks for sharing this. i still remember when we bought our first 'pc' with color monitor and an intel chip from radio shack. it was over $3000

[clickclack]

CAKE! And you can eat it too!



Made from 100% smiles.

Courtesy of 1391406's link in reply #13

[SmallFry]

That's a cool board. Looks a lot like the Levitron(?).

[1391406]

Is it true that you had to buy a new PC to get a Model M? They weren't sold separately?

"The only drawback to the I.B.M. enhanced 101-key keyboard is that you have to buy a new computer to get one."
Excerpt from a New York Times article in '88.

[rootwyrm]

Hard facts trump failing memories any day ......

But I don't think that the word "Lexmark" started showing up on Model Ms until a couple of years later.

Actually, Lexmark was IBM's printer business prior to 1991 when IBM divested it. As part of the leveraged buyout deal, Lexmark and IBM did a lot of cross-branding where Lexmark printers would bear IBM logos and IBM keyboards would bear Lexmark logos. That deal was in place from day one, as IBM didn't want to lose all access to branded printers - they were considered crucial to many large deals.

Back then, a lot of us commented on the irony of IBM selling off their printer business when in fact, IBM's original start came from tabulating machines which no surprise, involve printing technology to handle the punched cards they used.

Also, the NYT is absolutely and unequivocally wrong - as usual. IBM offered the Model M within 3 months of it's original introduction as an Options catalog part. (I forget if it was called Options back then or something else.) IBM would always, without exception, offer the peripherals as a separate purchasable item for up-selling and service reasons. If a customer spilled water in their keyboard or dropped it, that wasn't a warranty covered repair, so it was pretty much a necessity to offer these items separate.

[Leslieann]

No, the 102 key enhanced version listed there is not a Model M. The Model M was not offered for $69 through resellers - not when we already know Options was higher than that. Also notice how the "Enhanced 102" is listed as an XT part and not an AT part?

I wondered about that as well. IBM stuff was pretty much gold and would have been labeled as IBM and you usually had to buy direct or through a reseller. It would be like listing a quad core processor without saying Intel in front of it.

[1391406]

Actually, Lexmark was IBM's printer business prior to 1991 when IBM divested it.

And they used the name Lexmark?

[rootwyrm]

Actually, Lexmark was IBM's printer business prior to 1991 when IBM divested it.

And they used the name Lexmark?

Ayup. "Lexmark by IBM" to be more specific, but I don't know exactly when they started using it. I can tell you for a fact that the IBM Form Printer model 2380's were introduced prior to 1991, and were parallel branded IBM and Lexmark depending on the customer and seller. They also did typewriters in the 1980's onward, to the best of my knowledge.

Here's some crossbranding examples.
IBM by Lexmark Wheelwriter 1000
IBM by Lexmark Wheelwriter 2
IBM - Lexmark EasyStrike Lift-Off Tape
Lexmark Model 4226 Forms Printer (which prints an IBM 4226 demo page and uses IBM panel fonts!)
Lexmark Model M5-2

p.s. the prize for reading this post is the chance to get a rare Lexmark M5-2 cheap - and it looks like the original high resolution version, too.

[1391406]

Were any of those products cross-branded (or bear the Lexmark moniker) prior to 1991?

[rootwyrm]

Were any of those products cross-branded (or bear the Lexmark moniker) prior to 1991?

Unless you want to claim Lexmark just casually created IBM test page in firmware and also developed the IBM PPR XL III data stream and put in PC5250 support and OS/400 support and System/370 support via a TwinAx interface and created this IBM OSR.

Of course, Wikipedia is also wrong and damn my faulty memory for taking this long to remember. Not that Wikipedia is full of &*#$&@ more often than not - because it is - but the exact details of the Lexmark spinoff.

IBM ramped the Lexmark brand in order to spin out Lexmark as a separate entity they would maintain part ownership of. But the fact is that IBM actually spun out Lexmark International as a wholly owned subsidiary before selling it. And Lexmark lost rights to use the IBM name in1996. However, they also had a habit prior to that of rebranding IBM products as Lexmark to gain recognition.

To understand this requires an understanding of the early-mid 1990's Akers-Gerstner era. Akers in fact, is considered by folks in the know to be the worst CEO IBM ever had. His policies weren't even remotely progressive (for example, he did not become CEO till 1985 - John Opel introduced the revised non-discrimination policy in 1984.) He essentially expected IBM to sit on it's laurels and win because "nobody got fired for buying IBM."
Yeah. Well. Guess what? Akers basically got fired. Hard. It was not pleasant and it was not delicate. Akers is the idiot who engineered things like the Lexmark sale to try and mask the fact that he was mismanaging IBM right into the ground - and had done the sale and layoffs to try and make dividend payments. (It didn't work.) He oversaw a $5B loss - the worst loss in IBM's history - and they replaced him with Gerstner as quick as they could.
Gerstner is the man who relaxed the dress code, forced them to face the fact that they couldn't hold a PC monopoly as they had, realized that OS/2 was losing money, and that Akers' idiotic plan to sell off everything would ruin the company. If they hadn't fired Akers, there wouldn't be an IBM today.

*bows*

[1391406]

Were any of those products cross-branded (or bear the Lexmark moniker) prior to 1991?

Unless you want to claim Lexmark just casually created IBM test page in firmware and also developed the IBM PPR XL III data stream and put in PC5250 support and OS/400 support and System/370 support via a TwinAx interface and created this IBM OSR

There's no question IBM owned the Lexington plant, however did it operate under the name Lexmark prior to 1991?

[rootwyrm]

Were any of those products cross-branded (or bear the Lexmark moniker) prior to 1991?

Unless you want to claim Lexmark just casually created IBM test page in firmware and also developed the IBM PPR XL III data stream and put in PC5250 support and OS/400 support and System/370 support via a TwinAx interface and created this IBM OSR

There's no question IBM owned the Lexington plant, however did it operate under the name Lexmark prior to 1991?

You mean besides the proof above like IBM having spun it off as a wholly owned subsidiary prior to January 1991 that you clearly didn't bother to read?

(BEGIN SARCASM) Oh no, none at all. (END SARCASM)

[1391406]

Were any of those products cross-branded (or bear the Lexmark moniker) prior to 1991?

Unless you want to claim Lexmark just casually created IBM test page in firmware and also developed the IBM PPR XL III data stream and put in PC5250 support and OS/400 support and System/370 support via a TwinAx interface and created this IBM OSR

There's no question IBM owned the Lexington plant, however did it operate under the name Lexmark prior to 1991?

You mean besides the proof above like IBM having spun it off as a wholly owned subsidiary prior to January 1991 that you clearly didn't bother to read?

(BEGIN SARCASM) Oh no, none at all. (END SARCASM)

I'm aware of the formation in 1990, but apparently Lexmark wasn't 'ready to roll' until the buyout closed:

"When the buyout closed in March 1991, Mann had Lexmark ready to roll."

Link

Either way, the Lexmark name didn't exist prior to 1990.

[1391406]

Did Lexmark slap their name on any products in 1990?

[Peter]

So, what was the original price of that NorthGate OmniKey ??

The last NIB NorthGate I saw on US-ebay sold for 250USD, 'BIN' ..
Price did include a DVORAK conversion-set and all the original 'extras' ...