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From: bparsia@eagle.wesleyan.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: The Amiga 3000--what does it mean for the Mac?
Message-ID: <20660@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
Date: 3 May 90 18:35:33 GMT
Lines: 45

Having followed the Amiga 3000 post in comp.sys.amiga, and having just read the
Byte article on the same, and having seen the Wall Street journal add on the
very same, I now post.

What do people think about this machine? On the cover of Byte the byline is
"Mac II power...at a Commadore price". From what I can tell, this just might be
the case. It has a '030 running at 16 or 25 mhz, enhanced special chips for
everything from DMA to graphic acceleration. It comes with 16-bit (I
think-4090 colors)
color *standard*, though it cannot be upgrade futher (at least, not with any
ease), yet how many people would just like *some* color and don't really need
24-bit color (after all, up until recently, a Mac II could only access 8-bit
color--256 colors at one time).

The operating system has been enhanced in many ways including a preferences
option which allows one to change various aspects of the GUI (something badly
needed as a standard feature on the mac--the shareware stuff is nice, but often
it causes endless trouble and can be difficult for many of us to get a hold
of), the famed multitaking, and a macro language that allows the welding of
many small programs into a large, multifunction one that takes advantages of
the new, standardized file formats.

All this, and more, for around and under $3000 list (with, I might add,
*excellant* upgrade offers).

(Note: All this stuff above is hearsay. I haven't seen the machine, and I don't
know much about it. I can't even be sure that I remember what I seem to know
correctly. Take it all with salt.)

I'm curious about a few things (and I'm sure everyone is wondering why I post
this article in the mac section): 1) What do people think this machine will
mean to us  as Mac users? Will it force Apple to lower prices? What will this
mean for the 'multimedia' hype (C= is marketing the A3000 as the ideal
multimedia machince)? 2) If mac emulation comes to this powerhouse (as I'm sure
it will) will the A3000 become the Mac II clone many of us would like? 3) Now
that C= has a great high-end machine, will the lack of a low-end Mac entice
people into investing in Amigas as they have a complete (and cheaper) line?

I think that this thing is important to us as Mac users, and should be (nicely)
discussed. I think the mac could be much improved by ideas from the Amiga *and*
from the price/power/performace standard that C= has set up.

I invite responses.

Bijan J. Parsia