The dynamics of the market, of what platforms end up being used at what times in what contexts, depend not only on what is technically possible, but even more on what can be done for what price, so manufacturing cost can provide insights into why one computer succeeded, only to be replaced by another. To this end, I've found this breakdown of the manufacturing cost of the Commodore 64 highly illuminating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#Manufacturing_cost
Is there available anywhere, a similar breakdown of the manufacturing cost of any 16-bit computer? I would, for example, be very interested in knowing exactly why the Atari 520ST was many times more expensive than contemporary late-model 8-bit machines from the same company, despite being designed for simplicity at a time when RAM and the 68000 CPU were both cheap.
Edit: I found a reference for the price on the 68000. From https://www.amazon.com/Commodore-Amiga-Years-Brian-Bagnall/dp/0994031025/ hardback edition page 58, on the selection of a CPU by the Amiga team:
'However, Motorola stood out for price. "We were being quoted $12 apiece in large quantity," says Decuir. "That was better than the Zilog people for the Z8000 were offering. And it was much better than Intel was asking for the 8086 family."
Motorola unveiled the chip in 1980, but samples were not publicly available until 1982, just in time for Miner and his engineers to begin work on their new system.'