Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!ajauch
From: ajauch@orion.oac.uci.edu (Alex Jauch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: New Macintosh Strategy
Keywords: Macintosh
Message-ID: <272CAF47.16091@orion.oac.uci.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 90 22:37:59 GMT
References: <306@cti1.UUCP>
Distribution: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Lines: 70

In <306@cti1.UUCP> greg@cti1.UUCP (Greg Fabian) writes:

..stuff deleted...
>I can buy a Macintosh Plus with a Sony
>40 MB hard disk and 1 MB RAM for $998.  This price includes a
>keyboard and mouse.

..stuff deleted about how Pluses are cheaper than Classics...
>     Granted, the Classic has an Apple hard disk and the Plus a
>Sony, but is there any real advantage to one over the other?? 
>Isn't the new Classic supposed to be more affordable than the
>Plus??  From what I can see, I get slicker looking plastic with the
>Classic, but the guts inside seem to operate the same.

Two major notes for your comparison:  As already noted, the Classic has
a FDHD which allows it to read MS-Dos floppies and 1.44 HD disks.  Also,
the plus has no internal SCSI connector to the best of my knowledge.  That
means only external hard drives (I love my Mac in one piece).

>     They say that Apple is trying to become more price competitive
>with ISA PC prices.  Of course that will never happen because the
>Mac is still a closed box - sure you can buy expansion boards and
>memory, and other stuff from other manufacturers, but the BIOS and
>ROMs are all Apple and they will never open those up.  I can stroll
>down to the local computer store and buy a store brand 386/25 with
>4 MB RAM, 80 MB hard disk and a 14" VGA plus monitor for $2500 and
>it will blow the doors of the Mac II lc/si and come in at a cheaper
>price.

Please define "blow the doors of(f)."  An si will operate at more than
twice the speed of the 386/25 running windows.  Yes, the machine is spinning
its wheels really fast, but nothing is happening as far as the user can
tell, so it's wasted.  The importance of a GUI is not something I will
discuss on this group.

>     Don't get me wrong.  I like the Mac.  It's software is great
>and novice users can get up to speed quickly on the machine because
>you only have to learn to use the applications and not the computer
>(on an MS DOS box you have to learn the applications and MS DOS). 
>It never ceases to amaze me, however, that Mac software is well
>designed from an ergonomic view but the physical design of the box
>itself sucks - you can look at a non-adjustable 9" screen for only
>so long before your eyes feel like they're about to roll out of
>their sockets.  They didn't change that with the Classic.

I have a B.S. (almost) in computer science and definately not a "novice
user" by any stretch of the imagination.  However, I find DOS applications
require more effort on my part to use and learn than Mac ones do.  As to
the shape of the Mac, it's such a trademark shape by now that Apple would
have been killed if they had abandoned it.  Besides, I LOVE my SE30, I
take it everywhere and 9" is plenty big for me.

>     I've always regarded Apple as a somewhat greedy company.  This
>new marketing tack seems to make Apple more price competitive (if
>you are looking at IBM, Compaq, and other expensive PC
>manufacturers), but I am not convinced.  Is everyone else?
>     

Welcome to America buddy.  Everyone has the God given right to be as greedy
as they can get away with.  Do you really think any company is not in business
to make money?  Not a for profit, publically owned one at any rate.  I think
Apple is making a concentrated effort to lower prices.  If their products are
too expensive for what they do, don't buy one.

Alex Jauch

-- 
Alex Jauch
*ajauch@bonnie.ics.uci.edu       |"If all you have is a hammer, then the whole*
*ajauch@orion.oac.uci.edu        |world looks like a nail" -- Stolen          *