At 2022-08-03T14:32:10+1000, steve jenkin wrote:
> Price didn’t win the market. IBM’s 5150 was never “cheapest” or
> technically “best” at any time - hence rapid rise of (variable
> quality) clones, built down to a price.
> 
> Wikipedia says:
> 
> 	1978: H11 US$1295 (kit) or US$1595 fully assembled ("4kword base system”)
> 			display advert
> 			<http://www.decodesystems.com/heathkit-h11-ad-1.gif>
> 			$1295 kit + postage/freight, bare system, 8KB
> 			(4kword), 6 Q-bus slots free. ROM ?
> 
> 	1981: IBM 5150(PC) US$1,565 for "16 KB RAM, Color Graphics
> 	Adapter, and no disk drives.”
> 			( I only saw 5150’s with 2x 5.25” 360KB floppies
> 			included - otherwise, can’t run programs & store
> 			files)

Yeah, you could.  You simply didn't store stuff to disks.

You used audio cassette tape.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_cassette_tape

Regards,
Branden