Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!udel!mmdf
From: WHE46@ccvax.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: New MAC systems.
Message-ID: <33530@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 15 Oct 90 20:08:43 GMT
Sender: mmdf@ee.udel.edu
Lines: 56


   I just got done watching a live satellite feed from the Apple
headquarters in Sunnyvale.  The show was interesting, but boring,
as it went on and on about mhow much such-and-such people dearly
adore the new MAC systems.  As could be expected, there were 
loud boos and hisses from the local crowd when Apple showed a
segment from archrival Drake University in Des Moines.

   The new systems are quite interesting, and will give Commodore
a lot of trouble, particularly if Commodore chooses to ignore them.
The MAC Classic is the least interesting of the bunch, as it is
simply a MAC Plus by another name.  

   The other two systems are quite interesting.  The MAC IISI comes with
a 68030 running at 20Mhz (no FPU, though),the now-standard color video
(256 colors out of 16 Million, 640x480 non-interlaced resolution), 2MB
of RAM, a 40MB hard drive, the SuperDrive, and keyboard.  The retail 
price of this system is $3800, which is surprisingly close to the
retail price of the A3000/25-50.  You can also hack 30% off of this
price for the education discount, and you get an '030-based color MAC
for $2700, which is a very reasonable price.

   The other system is precisely what I've been calling for Commodore
to develop for the past year, but Commodore did not listen.  Apparently
Apple did, and this could also give Commodore a lot of trouble.  The
MAC LC uses a 68020 running at 16Mhz, a 40MB hard drive, 2MB of memory,
the same color video as the rest of the MAC II line, SuperDrive, and 
keyboard.  The retail price for this system is $2500, and you can also
hack 30% off of this price for the education market, leaving you with
a 32-bit color MAC system for $1800, which is right in the part of
Commodore's Amiga product line where Commodore is weakest: the 
market in between the A500 and the A3000/16.

   Consider this: for little more than the cost of an Amiga 2000HD,
you can now get a MAC II running at 16Mhz, with much better video 
and twice the memory.  If people think this won't give Commodore
trouble, they are smoking something. 

   Hopefully the new introductions by Apple will be just what is
needed to kick Commodore in the ass and get them to start producing
a low-cost Amiga system with decent color capability.  Probably not,
though.  Commodore seems stubborn about color: they will go out of
business before they improve it.

   Sure, you can get fancy color cards for the Amiga that give you
24-bit color, but they are totally non-standard, work with very
little software, and cost extra.  The point of the two new color
MAC systems is that they give you better color capability than an
Amiga as standard hardware for a decent price, something that the
Amiga can no longer offer.  


               AMIGA: Yesterday's Technology, FOREVER!!!
 

                                 -MB-