Thanks. I wasn't thinking about currency only but also the very different situation. UNIX hegemony was still alive back then. Wintel was about to take off. Internet existed but was different. Universities had different needs and budgets.
(I actually owned various SGI machines. They are very nice.)
Please take a look at the SGI workstations of old.
A $6k computer does not deserve the ‘Pro’ moniker.
/s