Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!hsdndev!husc6!encore!wcarroll
From: wcarroll@encore.com (Mr. New Dad)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: The New Macs: Greedy Compromises?
Message-ID: <129960@jake.encore.com>
Date: 30 Nov 90 21:37:11 GMT
References: <1990Nov29.005944.17800@scrumpy@.bnr.ca>
Organization: Encore Computer Corp, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Lines: 59

eric@bnrmtl.bnr.ca (Eric Brunelle):
>
> 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?

This may have to with RAM speed. A fast CPU with slow RAMs is stupid.
With RAM at $40/Meg, the increase in cost (CPU + RAM) would probably 
be something less than $50, which would increase retail by about $150. 
The $1000 line may have been more important than faster chips.

>
> And then the LC.  Why in heaven does it have a 68020?  Is a 68030 that
> much more expensive than a 68020?

My guess would be around $50-70. '020s are a commodity by now. '030s
may get all the press, but if they get 1/3 the sales I'd be surprised.

> Will Motorola continue for long to
> produce that chip, or will it not streamline to fewer models, like Intel
> did?

Don't bet on Motorola to eliminate 68k products, especially the '020.
The 68k's success has been in the embedded market. The '000 has always
done well there, and Motorola has spent the last few years convincing
the market that they need the power of the '020. It will probably outlast
the '030, which offers only an MMU over the '020. Very few embedded
applications need MMUs. Once the '040 sales are humming, I don't
imagine '030 sales will be very spectacular.

Intel's 80x86 family is almost exclusively a PC engine. How many XTs
are being sold these days? That's why Intel streamlines.

> Will the cut in material price be worth more than the trouble of
> having to adapt all software to this new, incompatible architecture?

What's incompatible? The only '030 instructions the '020 won't execute
are the MMU instructions. Unless the software is stupid and does
hardware specific things, the is no incompatibility.

>  And why does it have a 16 bit
> wide RAM bus?  How much did that save?

That's harder to judge. It could be space.  How packed is the
motherboard? It could be back to RAM cost. A 32-bit memory path
need a 32-bit wide memory. That doubles the RAM chip count.


Just my $.02 worth.


William R. Carroll  (Encore Computer Corp., Ft. Lauderdale FL)
wcarroll@encore.com         uunet!gould!wcarroll
"The brain-dead should not be allowed to operate motor vehicles!" - Me

-- 
William R. Carroll  (Encore Computer Corp., Ft. Lauderdale FL)
wcarroll@encore.com         uunet!gould!wcarroll
"The brain-dead should not be allowed to operate motor vehicles!" - Me