Yes, you're right. They're validating Moore's Law with historical facts and statistics. That does not make this the right data to use, nor does this invalidate use of inflation as a metric.
I'm not questioning the data, I'm saying you are using it incorrectly.
This is not the right data with which to evaluate prices for new products in the market, this data is showing prices for equal-spec computers. A brand new MacBook Pro with a new touch strip interface and SSD and larger ram and brighter display and longer battery life and lightning connectors, does not compare dollar for dollar to the 2010 MacBook Pro. The price for the new one is expected to be higher than what the CPI shows.
Inflation isn't perfect for evaluating new products, but it's actually better than the CPI, because manufacturers are trying to get the same amount of money or more out of consumers every year, they are not allowing products to cost less and less. Historically, that's exactly what's happened. My family spent about $2500 on our first computer in 1983. Today I spend about $2000 on a computer. I've spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 on every computer I've ever bought between 1983 and now. My expenditure doesn't track the CPI, and it never has. Nobody else's does either.
I'm not questioning the data, I'm saying you are using it incorrectly.
This is not the right data with which to evaluate prices for new products in the market, this data is showing prices for equal-spec computers. A brand new MacBook Pro with a new touch strip interface and SSD and larger ram and brighter display and longer battery life and lightning connectors, does not compare dollar for dollar to the 2010 MacBook Pro. The price for the new one is expected to be higher than what the CPI shows.
Inflation isn't perfect for evaluating new products, but it's actually better than the CPI, because manufacturers are trying to get the same amount of money or more out of consumers every year, they are not allowing products to cost less and less. Historically, that's exactly what's happened. My family spent about $2500 on our first computer in 1983. Today I spend about $2000 on a computer. I've spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 on every computer I've ever bought between 1983 and now. My expenditure doesn't track the CPI, and it never has. Nobody else's does either.