Newsgroups: comp.arch
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: the new NeXT machine
Message-ID: <1990Sep20.175913.11599@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <0093CF4F.80076240@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 90 17:59:13 GMT

In article <0093CF4F.80076240@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU> sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney) writes:
>    two speakers built built-in to the 1120 x 832 pixel grey-scale display 
>    (why didn't they go for 1280 x 1024 or 1024 x 768? ...

It's not uncommon to start with a requirement that says something like
"roughly 1024x768, but do better if you can" and end up with some odd set
of numbers like 1120x832.  The cost-of-resolution curve is not linear:  it
has nearly-flat sections where you just keep jacking up the video clock
rate, punctuated by sharp jumps where some nice part runs out of steam
and you have to pay more for something faster.  ("Cost" and "pay" here are
in a very general sense, covering design impact as well as dollars.)  For
a guess, NeXT's basic design decisions landed them in a particular flat
section, and it cost them almost nothing to boost resolution up to the
foot of the next jump.
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