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Comment by pluijzer | Hacker News Reader

For more than 20 years a have a reaccuring dream for a couple of times a year. In the dream I find a shop or flea-market with vintage computers. It is chuck-full of the most wonderful vintage computers, quirky handhelds and other special electronics. I am in heaven but always I am just to late and the place is permanently closing. It is closing hour and I cannot buy anything anymore.

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It sort of happened to me in real life in the early 90s. There was a small used music instrument shop in a small street. That Friday afternoon I got in and there was a Rhodes seventy-three, good as new. I lifted the cover and there still were the spare "hammers" in a plastic bag inside. I plugged it in an old amp that was around and it sounded just beautifully. I was a poor student back then, but the nice old guy in the shop told me it was less than $300. OK, I'll be back Monday! The following week, the shop was closed, never to open again.

The next time I've seen a Rhodes 73 for sale a couple years later, it was more than 6 times more expensive. At some point a good 73 cost as much as $8/10000, though they're now down to $4/5000.

In my dream I always find a flea market with all sorts of vintage electronics, but it's invariably selling for insanely high prices because "retro" has become a fad among greedy collectors hoping to make a quick buck. At least the high prices act as an incentive to keep the stuff out of landfills.

In some respects, we are lucky. Most vintage computers sell for less than they were new. That is before accounting for inflation. Many collectables cost an order of magnitude more (if not more) after accounting for inflation. In other words, there is a better chance that we can afford to relive our childhood than those who had other interests! Then there is the community itself, where it still seems to be possible to get vintage gear on the cheap if they're convinced it will go to a good home.

> Most vintage computers sell for less than they were new. That is before accounting for inflation.

If you base it on original MSRP, I have well north of a million dollars in older and/or vintage hardware, not accounting for inflation. Resell value today? Maybe a couple grand, if I really tried hard enough.

Yeah. Design aesthetics were just so much better twenty years ago. I'd kill for a Sony X505 with modern internals: https://scr.wfcdn.de/9699/Sony-VAIO-X505-mit-Mac-OS-X-139161...

Why is there OS X on its screen?

There was a story in 2014 that Jobs had considered partnering with Sony on projects: http://nobi.com/en/Steve%20Jobs%20and%20Japan/entry-1212.htm...

> Steve Jobs and another Apple executive were waiting for us at the end of golf course holding VAIO running Mac OS" recalls Ando; 2001 is the year,

A German site picked up the story and created that mockup (which wouldn't've fit the story; the X505 shipped in 2003): https://winfuture.de/news,80151.html

It's a mockup but it's the nicest picture of the X505 I could find.

This sounds like a pretty clear message from your subconscious...

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