Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!crdgw1!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Commodore at FCC Message-ID: <14819@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 2 Oct 90 20:52:57 GMT References: <22107@grebyn.com> <14568@cbmvax.commodore.com> <22153@grebyn.com> <14621@cbmvax.commodore.com> <90268.122650UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> <14649@cbmvax.commodore.com> <4d104ad7.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 84 In article <4d104ad7.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer) writes: >In article <14649@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: >>I like some of what I see NeXT doing, especially with their software. But >>the basic NeXT cube wasn't anything much different than an A3000 in terms of >>what the basic hardware is capable of. > I think you're oversimplifying matters, Dave. My shabby Datsun and a > sleek new Porsche both use the same basic hardware; so what? Dropping > a Porsche engine into my Sentra does not a hot car make. You're missing the point; that's an invalid comparison. > It seems to me that in a head-to-head between an A3000 and the new NeXTs, > the Amiga clearly loses on base hardware. Let's compare: > CD quality sound? The A3000 is missing 16 bit sound as a built in. It also doesn't come with a fixed point DSP chip. > A megapixel gray-scale display? The Commodore A2024 Monitor, I use them. The NeXT does include their custom monitor as part of the price, whereas Commodore sells them separately. >105 Mb drive? You have your choice of 50 MB or 105MB drives as standard equipment. >2.88 Mb floppies? These aren't built in either. >No doubt all of those things can be added to an A3000, but the salient point >is that they're all part of the base NeXT package; you don't get any less than >that. And if you want to consider options, the NeXTdimension color board >32-bit color with real-time video compression -- sounds like a treat. Sure does. However, you can't add it, or anything else, to the base machine. The only expansion the basic NeXT machines support is external SCSI boards. You get something like 16 MB possible on the motherboard, and Ethernet. It's nice to have lots of stuff built in, like the "all-in-a-monitor" SparcStation also provides. But what if you want a high speed color board? More memory? A video-processing (eg, floating point) DSP? A 24 bit frame buffer/grabber? 68040 with external cache memory? None of those toys can be added to the basic NeXT. All but the last are already announced, most are available, for the A3000. Which does tend to imply that the NeXT is now a little more like the modern desktop workstation and a little less like a personal computer, since the modern desktop workstation is minimally, if at all, expandable -- you get what you pay for, and nothing more. That's OK, if you're happy with the base package. I'm sure a number of A3000 owners won't need any more hardware in the future. > On the other hand, so what? Do you really see C= and NeXT chasing the > same customers? Even two years down the road? Not really, for the most part. Personal Computer versus Workstation, at this point. Even though you'll likely have faster A3000 systems available within the year than NeXTs, just like you had A2000 systems available that were faster than the original NeXT. And it does look like NeXT wants to be considered an entry in the Workstation market, for whatever reasons. >> For fast 68030 machine, talk to HP/Apollo. > On this we're in complete agreement. :-) If anything, my employer has > more to worry about from NeXT than yours, I'd think... Well, you guys had 68040 compatible machines out before anyone else. And with good 68040 chips, they should be faster than NeXTs, too. Of course, NeXT does have this good price everyone's talking about... > >>"Aaiiyeeee! Death from above!"<< | (Steve) rehrauer@apollo.hp.com >"Spontaneous human combustion - what luck!"| Apollo Computer (Hewlett-Packard) -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold -REM