Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!boulder!gore!jacob
From: jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: More on NeXT pricing...
Message-ID: <130102@gore.com>
Date: 25 Sep 90 15:16:53 GMT
References: <1990Sep25.052907.4351@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore)
Organization: Gore Enterprises
Lines: 26

/ comp.sys.next / philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) / Sep 24 90/
> Imagine you are in the market for a laser printer with a fast
> PostScript engine, e.g., a LaserWriter IINTX. Stanford price: $3820. Does
> NeXT offer an alternative? Their printer is 400dpi (which I presume is an
> advantage), but needs a NeXT workstation to drive it. Stanford price for a
> NeXT printer: $1229. Total for printer plus minimum NeXT: $4382. Now, this
> is $562 more than the Apple printer, but the LaserWriter doesn't have a
> nice screen to preview your PostScript, or a 105M hard disk. Also, it's
> processor isn't as fast as the NeXT's and it doesn't include a unix
> workstation in the price, or very much bundled software...

An interesting comparison.  However, the NeXTstation + NeXT Printer
combination does not exactly subsume a typical standalone laser printer.
An end user can't connect a NeXTstation to the serial port of their PC,
nor, in the case of a LaserWriter, to their LocalTalk network.  Of course,
one can get lpr for PC's, but your typical PC end-user won't be looking for
it and installing it.

However, for those systems with lpr already running, NeXTstation with
printer offers another advantage: TCP/IP-speed data path.  Postscript laser
printers with an Ethernet card tend to cost quite a bundle.


Jacob
--
Jacob Gore		Jacob@Gore.Com			boulder!gore!jacob