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From: knrgroup@garnet.berkeley.edu (Raymond group)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Not another NeXT defector???!!!
Message-ID: <1990Nov12.020826.26873@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 12 Nov 90 02:08:26 GMT
References: <1990Nov10.015237.3468@athena.mit.edu> <1990Nov10.022306.6551@agate.berkeley.edu> <CS^^M|%@rpi.edu>
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Garance_Drosehn@mts.rpi.edu writes:
>While a NeXT is a nice machine in several respects, there is a certain
>degree of trickery in the above comparison.  While quoting NeXT prices,
>we hear about the "with education discount" costs.  When putting up the
>price of the Mac IIfx, we get a price which is apparently unconnected to
>any educational discounts.

No trickery intended.  I just forgot to take the educational discount for the
Mac IIfx into account.  But now that you mention it, a $12,000 Mac IIfx 
(with educational discount) is still not quite a match for a $4300
NeXT (with educational discount).  

Here's why.  You give an educational price of about $9700 with the LaserWriter
NT.  (The SC will not let you do PostScript without additional expenditures
for software.  A NeXT laser printer is a PostScript printer for all intents
and purposes when you're using a NeXT computer.)  You have to add in the
cost of AUX, which I think is $500 retail, so maybe $200-$300 educational.
This brings us to $10,000.  

Now, factor in the cost of a good word processor (they don't bundle MacWrite
any more, do they?), an incredible spreadsheet, a dictionary,
Mathematica, chess (something I couldn't do without), and loads of other
professional and professional-quality software that comes bundled with the
NeXT.  This would probably take the entire cost of the Mac up beyond $12,000.
Of course, the Mac has HyperCard.  However, a NeXT product called HyperCube,
which will let you use HyperCard stacks while providing a lot of other
nice functions not available on the Mac, will be available early next year
for an undisclosed price.  However, say that a student had to pay a
whopping $500 for this product.  You would still have an under $5000 
NeXTStation comparing more than favorably to a $12,000 Mac, both at 
educational prices.  

One of the few disadvantages a <$5000 NeXT would have is its lack of color,
as I mentioned in my other posts.  However, it has a Megapixel 4 graytone
17" display that helps to compensate. Moreover, programs written for 
color NeXTs will run without modification on gray NeXTs.  The colors used
are automatically mapped to appropriate grays.  This is one of the nice
features of PostScript.