Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpcc05!hpcuhb!hpihoah!cring From: cring@hpihoah.cup.hp.com (Craig Ring) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: NeXT Intro (Was ) Message-ID: <4790007@hpihoah.cup.hp.com> Date: 16 Oct 90 17:38:15 GMT References: <38267@ut-emx.uucp> Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino Lines: 43 Greg Harp writes about the new NeXT computers: > Yes, friends, a $3000 option. And guess what? You can't upgrade a > NeXTstation to a NeXTstation Color... The new bottom of the line NeXTstation is not color. But why would you want to pay for color if you don't need it? Color is rarely useful for spreadsheets and word processing. If these are the primary uses for the machine, an 1120 x 832 grey-scale display is probably all you need. No one wants to pay for "features" that are of no use to them. Color is available if you want it. The $3000 is the difference in list prices. It is closer to $1900 with educational discounts, and includes more RAM. >>A brand new NeXTdimension LIST PRICE is $14k, about 1/3 to 1/4 >>the price of comparable ANYTHINGs, workstations, personal IRISes, PCs with all >>those extra boards, etc. > >For the price, I'd buy a Toaster... Granted the NeXTDimension might (MIGHT) >have better performance. Then again, since I haven't seen them side by >side, I could be wrong about the performance being ANY better... NeXTdimension has very impressive performance. It includes an i860 RISC graphics co-processor, and a dedicated JPEG image compression processor, allowing real-time compression and decompression to hard disk. This means video from a hard disc! NeXTdimension provides 32-bit color, and can display any of these colors on any of the pixels on an 1120 x 832 pixel display. That's tough to do on an Amiga. As far as speed, I saw the Wizard of Oz being played in a window in full color with full windowing operations going on including clipping. That means while the video was playing, you could grab the window and move it around, or pull other windows on top of it without affecting the video in any way. NeXTdimension has Closed-caption, TeleText, and VITC support, and includes composite video, S-VHS, and RGB inputs. Video output is genlocked to input video source. While the Wizard of Oz was playing in one window, clicking on a "grab" button produced a nother window with the frame "grabbed" for use in a paint program instantly. How much would it cost to make an Amiga do these things? Amigas are supposed to be the platform of choice for desk-top video, but they are sorely limited in resolution and number of colors. A complete NeXTdimension system including monitor and disc is around $9000 with an educational discount. Craig Ring cring@hpihoah.cup.hp.com