Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!milano!uudell!texbell!texsun!newstop!sun!m-5!admiral From: admiral@m-5.Sun.COM (Michael Limprecht SUN Microsystems Mt. View Ca.) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: A different review of the A3000 Summary: Missing the point Message-ID: <135378@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> Date: 8 May 90 21:08:55 GMT References: <135251@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM Lines: 53 In article , eachus@linus.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) writes: > In article <135251@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> admiral@m-5.Sun.COM (Michael Limprecht SUN Microsystems Mt. View Ca.) writes: > > - Calling it a workstation. When you do this you put this machine up > against some real heavy hitters (Sun, DEC, MIPS and to lesser extent, > Apple). This box has a nice price-point and that will help but not that > much. > > Come on!!! The A3000 out benches and outperforms ALL Sun-3's and > before, and is in the same performance ballpark as the SparcStation. > I would really have to do a lot of side-by-side benchmarking to > determine which is "faster," but the user percieved reality seems to > be close to no difference. Benchmarks running in that small cache or Fast Ram maybe but Chip ram is another thing. Also, comparing a brand new A3000 to 3/50-80's which are outdated today isn't a very strong comparison. If your trying to tell me that a 25 Mhz A3000 is comparable to a 25 Mhz SS-1+ or it's new cousin you need a strong dose of reality. And this isn't just because I work at Sun. The numbers just don't add up. ( This is where I ask CBM to publish Specmarks for the A3000 again...) > > Check out Friday's S.F. Chronicle. There's an article on Sun > releasing a new workstation in the $4-5K range (list). And it will be > I figure 4X's faster. This trend of high speed/low cost workstations > isn't going away. As a personal computer the A3000 is fast but as a > workstation it's a slug. > > Its nice that your company (Sun) is coming out with new products, > but what has that got to do with the definition of a workstation? And > if the Amiga 3000 at 6-7x an Amiga 2000 is a slug what is a Sun-3? I > prefer the response of the Amiga to that of any Sun, and I will often > flip screens (on my 2000) to do something else while waiting for a Sun > to finish some complex command like a directory listing... > Again, Sun-3 is old stuff. Nobody in the market compares older, no longer sold machines to new ones. As to the definition of a workstation. What a meant to say is that when you call your machine a workstation you invite comaparisons to others who also call their machines a workstation. What I would like CBM to do is to AVOID this intanglement and really show their strength which is multimedia and price (not speed). That's what brought on the idea of Media-Station" or maybe "Multi-Station" to mind. Anyway to each his own. Mick ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I think there's a world market for about 5 computers." - Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of the Board, IBM (around 1948) ------------------------------------------------------------------- uucp: {anywhere}!sun!admiral -------------------------------------------------------------------