Mark Twain's [1] “new fangled writing machine [2]” cost him $125 back in 1874, which in today's dollars is around $2,500 [3]. That was about how much the original Apple Macintosh cost [4]. Even today, $2,500 will get you a fairly tricked out Apple computer [5]. I find it kind of odd how that works.
[1] http://www.cmgww.com/historic/twain/
[2] http://kottke.org/15/10/mark-twains-new-fangled-writing-machine
[3] http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/result.php?year_source=1874&amount=125&year_result=2014
[4] http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2012/12/the_original_apple_macintosh_c.html