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From: barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Next, 40, Sparc, 2
Message-ID: <726@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 12 Nov 90 22:35:44 GMT
References: <2403.273E80BF@blkcat.fidonet.org>
Sender: news@MATH.UCLA.EDU
Organization: UCLA Dept. of Math, UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research
Lines: 35

In article <2403.273E80BF@blkcat.fidonet.org> Maxwell.Spangler@f421.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Maxwell Spangler) writes:
>
> 
>I have a question:
> 
>What does everyone think of the new SparcStation 2 series from SUN? From 
>what I've heard, they top the next in one direct way: speed--they're
>supposedly 27Mips+.
> 
>To this I ask, will that pose a major problem for NeXT sales

Only among people who have a liking for Suns to start with.

The essential difference between a Sparc 1 and a Sparc 2
is a factor pf 2 in speed (the only difference?). I have been
using a loaded Sparc 1 for half a year now---it was a reasonable
improvement over the 3/110 I had before (X windows runs much better,
and floating point went up by a factor of 3 or so), but another
factor of 2 speed increase wouldn't be that noticable.

Why get so excited about an intangible speed increase? When
speeds go up by a factor of 10, let me know---but for now I think
more productivity will come from a better development environment,
and nifty, _affordable_, Apps. Sun doesn't come close to NeXT in this
area. As someone else said, I need a workstation _and_ a personal
computer---and I want them in the same box. A Sparc is only a workstation.
Thats why my Sparc 1 will be replaced with a NeXT, shortly.



--
Barry Merriman
UCLA Dept. of Math
UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research
barry@math.ucla.edu (Internet)