Tech regrets

[exxos]

When I quit Atari stuff few years back, I sold pretty much all my Atari stuff somewhere around early 2000 ish.. Though thankfully I kept my Falcon.. But even so it was still a lot of money even when I brought it new in the late 90s. I regretted for a long time selling a lot of my hard drives and various other things.. But like others, I needed the cash. I pretty much was selling huge boxes of stuff, even electronic parts for £50. Some stuff just got dumped people did not want it.

As others have said, pretty much every machine was selling for like £5-£10. I bought a load of machines and "killed" loads back then. It did not really matter as the machines were cheap. But like now, you be pushed to get a machine for less than £70 now.. Servicing, might not even work, then you have to do all the mandatory fixes etc etc.. Then when you have several machines fail for just no reason.. They are just too expensive to keep replacing.. Just another viewpoint on why creating the H4 was done.

As for prices, they have been going up for a long time again as others have said. There must be a peak around now where prices will stabilise out and eventually start dropping to nothing again. I think when machine prices start dropping like that people no longer interested in them, in which case I can probably retire around that time

[bfollowell]

I never really sold anything, but I've had a couple of those moments.

First of all, when the space bar on my original 800 broke in my sophomore year of college from too many dorm-mates playing Karateka. It was broke, to I bought an 800XL and just threw away the 800. I still can't believe it!

Secondly, when I started my first real, post-college job and was looking into replacing my 800XL with something a little more modern and powerful. I looked into the Falcon, drooling over it for months. I had my heart set on it since I'd wanted an ST, and then an STE all through college but couldn't afford one. In the end though, everything at work and everyone I knew used PCs, so I wound up buying a 486 system, my first PC. I've upgraded and built so many systems since then. I really wish I'd delayed my first PC purchase to the late 90s rather than the early 90s, and that I'd bought that Falcon instead!

Oh well, if those are the biggest regrets I have in life, I must be doing pretty good.

[Cosmic Puppet]

New regret. Selling a brand new Atari mouse and then spotting a really nice optical conversion.

Although I'm not certain the high profile of the buttons wouldn't screw my fingers up long term.

[WDB]

I regret getting rid of my Atari PS3000 monitor, but mostly regret not picking up a TT or Falcon back before the prices went through the roof.

[stephen_usher]

Giving away my Research Machines 380Z, along with lots of software and documentation, including bill of sale from 1978, to someone with a sob story about their old maths teacher and supposedly this being a present.

And all I have now are a few photos.

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