I could do great things with my 48K Spectrum
My first PC was a 386DX 40MHz.
But!, we added a 1Mb Video card and a math co-processor!
It was blazing, knocking 486SXs out of the way in its path.
Never did fill up its 40Mb hard disk.......
What I find more strange is the way the price pretty much stayed the same until the last couple of years.
1000-1500 bucks could always get you a PC towards the low end of the curve, fast enough to keep up with MS bloat, slow enough to be affordable yet not in the bargain basement.