[Coco] TRS-80 Color Computer: Wikipedia Article

[Frank Swygert]

Well, they would be a good bit cheaper once the 16 bit CPUs were out in force and production was up. By that time I bet the 6502 was no less than half the cost of a 6809, maybe no more than 25% less for singles. But the fact that it was ANY less would make a notable difference to a large scale production, especially since the handful of special support chips (PIAs and the VDG for the CoCo... and was the SAM CoCo exclusive or stock Motorola?) were likely a few cents more each as well. Even at $5 more total for each machine that's $5 less profit x thousands.

An old Jameco or other supplier catalog (or Computer Shopper!) sure would come in handy now! I think I saved a couple old RS catalogs, but they wouldn't have market prices anyway. 

I checked my small cache of books I DID save, and found a 1986 BYTE magazine. Don't know why I saved it, but inside is a nice four page JDR Microdevices ad! 6809s were $5.95 each, 6502s were $2.79... just over half price!! That should put an end to THAT debate! Oddly, the support chips were all similarly priced for both processors. Maybe that's where MOS Technology made up for the processor price...

---------
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:01:22 -0500
From: Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu>

I remember having to replace my 6809 some years after I bought my CoCo, and
being a bit surprised at how INexpensive it was--around 7 bucks or so from
Jameco or some such company.  (And that was for quantity one--the price went
down a lot if you ordered a whole bunch of them.)  That was probably
sometime in the mid to late '80s.  If anybody has ancient issues of Computer
Shopper lying around, that'd be where to find what the price was in a given
year, and how it compared to a 6502.

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)