<p>The valuation of an industrial or lab instrument works like fiat currencies or company stocks. When it's still officially supported by the vendor, the pricing often has nothing to do with the technology itself, and is made as expensive as possible (sometimes 1000% of its manufacturing cost), just because it's a funding source of the company. Customers are willing to pay mostly because it's seen as trustworthy (perhaps from vendor's reputation, confidence of its reliability, official tech support, or perhaps it's the only approved tool). When it becomes obsolete or when it's resold on second-hand market, it's often at 10% or 1% of the original price simply because it's no longer trusted - even if it has better technology than many more expensive "new" tools, so again the pricing has nothing to do with the technology itself.</p>