Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!snorkelwacker!spdcc!merk!alliant!linus!gateway.mitre.org!carlson
From: carlson@gateway.mitre.org (Bruce Carlson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Anyone familiar with AST's Fastboard for the 286?
Keywords: AST Fastboard
Message-ID: <76093@linus.UUCP>
Date: 27 Oct 89 12:41:19 GMT
References: <1845@eric.mpr.ca>
Sender: news@linus.UUCP
Reply-To: carlson@gateway.mitre.org (Bruce Carlson)
Organization: The Mitre Corporation
Lines: 23

In article <1845@eric.mpr.ca> nakamoto@joplin.mpr.ca (Alan Nakamoto) writes:
>	I currently own an AST Premium /286 but want to upgrade
>to a 386 computer. I am interested in getting their Fastboard /386
>which will plug into the Smartslots but I have a some questions
>that I hope that someone might be able to answer.

>material deleted ...
 
>Alan Nakamoto

I called AST and asked about this upgrade - you might want to do the same
thing to resolve the questions about your bios and memory card.

However, I found one major disadvantage with this upgrade - price!
The retail was $2000 and the dealer discounted price was about $1500
(the board includes one mbyte of memory).  For $1500 I could 
buy any of several replacement motherboards, or I could buy a complete
80386 PC and move all the accessories (disk, video, etc) over from
my AST 286.  I just don't think it is cost effective to spend $1500 to
convert when there are many other alternatives in this price range.

Bruce Carlson
Mclean, VA  (703) 883-7644