There was a much smaller difference between high and median incomes in the early 80s, so the original Mac would have been around 1 month's salary - not trivial, but not an impossible reach for many people.

Lisa was far out of that bracket. But business S-100 systems had been selling for $2k to $20k and up since the 70s, so $10k for Lisa's advanced features would have seemed realistic.

Today most people are paying far more in student debt, health insurance, and housing costs. So although nominal income is three times higher, free disposable income hasn't kept pace.

It's true that hardware today is commoditised and much, much cheaper. But at the low end, those old II/Mac systems were still more affordable to middle class families than a straight inflation conversion suggests.