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The UNIVAC 1, which was the first commercially produced computer in the United States, cost around $1.25 million in the early 1950s. Adjusted for inflation, this would be equivalent to roughly $12 million in today's currency. The high cost of the UNIVAC 1 made it prohibitive for many organizations, but its groundbreaking technology paved the way for the modern computer era.

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When was the UNIVAC computer made?

On March 31, 1951, the Census Bureau accepted delivery of the first UNIVAC computer. The final cost of constructing the first UNIVAC was close to one million dollars. Forty-six UNIVAC computers were built for both government and business uses.


What was the size of the UNIVAC computer?

There have been many UNIVAC computers over the years, from the UNIVAC I to the Sperry UNIVAC 1100 series machines and beyond. Can you be more specific?


What was the first used computer by the census bureau?

A UNIVAC I computer was accepted by the Bureau in 1951


How much did he first desktop computer cost?

The first computers had no fixed selling price. They were usually built on cost plus fixed fee contracts, because the people making them could not guess at final cost to build them. For example the ENIAC was estimated at $50,000 when the Army signed the cost plus contract. The Army eventually payed a bit more than $500,000. The UNIVAC I original fixed price contracts were for $250,000 but when the machine went into production its actual price was $2,500,000. Remington Rand lost lots of money on the first two UNIVAC's sold as the company had to pay the difference between cost to build and what the customer payed!


How much did the first UNIVAC system cost to build?

The first UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) built was sold at a dramatic loss for the Remington Rand company to the US Census Bureau for the agreed contract price of $159,000. The second and third UNIVACs built were sold at the same dramatic loss for the Remington Rand company to the US Air Force and the US Army Map Service respectively for the same agreed contract price.I cannot find figures, but a reasonable guess might be that the cost to build each UNIVAC system was between $250,000 and $500,000 for Remington Rand.To recover these losses and make a profit on later UNIVACs built Remington Rand raised the price on each subsequent system, until the price stabilized at just below $2,000,000 which paid for both building the machine and a reasonable profit (which shows how badly wrong Eckert and Mauchly were at cost estimates when they negotiated the original sales contracts for UNIVAC, they made a similar error on ENIAC's costs back in WW2 estimating $50,000 when the finished ENIAC cost $500,000 the only thing that saved the project was the ENIAC contract was written as a "cost plus fixed fee" contract instead of a "fixed price" contract as UNIVAC's contracts were written).

Related Questions

Which computer predicted the 1952 presidential election?

UNIVAC


When was the UNIVAC computer made?

On March 31, 1951, the Census Bureau accepted delivery of the first UNIVAC computer. The final cost of constructing the first UNIVAC was close to one million dollars. Forty-six UNIVAC computers were built for both government and business uses.


How much did the printer that came with the first UNIVAC system cost?

The printer was approximately $19.99 but remember prices were low those days!!


What is expansion of UNIVAC?

Expansion of UNIVAC is


When was UNIVAC I created?

UNIVAC I was created in 1951.


How big is the UNIVAC?

There have been many UNIVAC computers over the years, from the UNIVAC I to the Sperry UNIVAC 1100 series machines and beyond. Can you be more specific?


What was the size of the UNIVAC computer?

There have been many UNIVAC computers over the years, from the UNIVAC I to the Sperry UNIVAC 1100 series machines and beyond. Can you be more specific?


When was UNIVAC III created?

UNIVAC III was created in 1962.


When was UNIVAC LARC created?

UNIVAC LARC was created in 1960.


When was UNIVAC II created?

UNIVAC II was created in 1958.


How do you find out about possible pension from Univac?

How do I find out about possible pension from Univac


What year was the first computer sold?

In the US the first UNIVAC I was sold to the Census Bureau for about 1/10 of what it cost to build, in 1951. Prior to this computers were not "sold" as products, but built as one of a kind machines on "cost + fixed fee" contracts.