Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Path: utzoo!utgpu!cunews!bnrgate!scrumpy!bnrmtl@bnr.ca!eric
From: eric@bnrmtl.bnr.ca (Eric Brunelle)
Subject: The New Macs: Greedy Compromises?
Message-ID: <1990Nov29.005944.17800@scrumpy@.bnr.ca>
Sender: news@scrumpy@.bnr.ca (USENET (Sandy Young))
Reply-To: eric@bnrmtl.bnr.ca
Organization: Recherches Bell Northern Montreal, Quebec.
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 90 00:59:44 GMT

I am puzzled.  I have seen the new Macs, and I appreciate the price cuts.
But it seems that every one of the three machines has something awkward.
It seems like Apple has been making strange decisions, and I can't
understand them.  Can somebody shed light?

Take the Classic.  Why does it still have the old 8MHz 68000?  Wasn't it
possible to give it the same CMOS 16MHz 68000 as the Portable?  Is it that more
expensive?  If so, was it absolutely impossible to speed up that old timer?

And then the LC.  Why in heaven does it have a 68020?  Is a 68030 that
much more expensive than a 68020?  Will Motorola continue for long to
produce that chip, or will it not streamline to fewer models, like Intel
did?  Will the cut in material price be worth more than the trouble of
having to adapt all software to this new, incompatible architecture?
How much more would it have been to support eight bit color on the 13 inch
monitor, rather that only on the 12 inch one?  10$? 20$?  And that would have
been compatible with the IIsi and the IIci...  And why does it have a 16 bit
wide RAM bus?  How much did that save?  Is there a good reason for not
having the same slot as the IIsi?

Finally, the IIsi.  Why does it have a 20MHz 68030, and not a 25MHz one?
Is it only so that it does not cannibalize the IIci, or is there a real
difference in cost?  How much?  And why that strange new slot?

Maybe there are good answers to these questions.  I have been waiting for
them ever since the new Macs were first described in MacWeek in September.
It's been almost three months now, and I'm still waiting.  Until I get those
answers, I will fight that nasty thought crawling to my mind that Apple has
been either greedy, lazy, or incompetent.  You see, before I can convince
myself, or anyone else, to spend big money on those computers, I need to
reasonably understand why they are so awkward.  Or why they're not.

Eric.

=========

Oh, and while we're at it, why hasn't Apple come out with a "IIcfx",
a 3-slot fx?  Hasn't it learned from the huge success of the IIcx that
most people don't need 6 slots but only three?  Don't we all long for
that small footprint?

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  Eric Brunelle                          |  "Une civilisation repose
  BNR-Montreal (Recherches Bell-Northern)|   sur ce qui est exige des hommes,
  Verdun, Quebec H3E 1H6                 |   non sur ce qui leur est fourni"
  eric%bnrmtl@iro.umontreal.ca		 |		-- St-Ex
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