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From: ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Thomas Hill)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: RE: Time For A New Computer?
Message-ID: <9012191335.AA17268@cwns1.INS.CWRU.Edu>
Date: 19 Dec 90 13:35:16 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
Lines: 53



   (Reply to Mark Barrett: Yes, I have followed the market, for well over
ten years now...Enough to invest and make money, how about you?)
 
 To all saying that such a machine is impossible:
 
   You seem to be forgetting what the computer market place is all about.
This is not a far-featched idea. Remember that what was priced high
yesterday is sold dirt cheap today. Let's take a look at a few of the
higher priced features (And remember that this was a wish list, not the
bible! I swear...): A 68030 CPU running at 16Mhz. Aren't plain 68000s
running real cheap now compared to how much they cost one or two years ago?
What's the reason behind this? It is, of course, the release of newer CPUs
in the series which have made the 68000 old news. The same is happening
with the 68020 and will soon happen with the 68030. Anybody who thinks the
68020 won't be selling for the 68000's price real soon now, and that the
68030 won't be dropping any time soon either doesn't follow computers much.
 
 24bit graphics: There are already "24"bit graphics cards out for the Amiga
line costing under or about $300. The MAST production is one that I can
think of.
 
 1.5 MEG 3.5" drives costing $300 or more (sent to me in email)? Come on,
when's the last time you picked up an IBM publication. Their doing it with
normal drives and encoding through software. While this is impossible for
the current line of Amigas, a new Paula chip with a little tweaking will
cure the problem.
 
 Zorro slots and a detached keyboard: Anybody SEE the Bodega Bay or the
A1500?
 
 Don't reply to me like that list is written in stone. A 680X0 based machine
with 1 to 1.5 MEG or RAM, 24BIT graphics, a drive the reads and writes 1.5
MEG disks, a detached keyboard, and 3 Zorro slots is not an impossible task.
I wager that Commodore could do it now, but by the time the thing comes out
in a year or more it'll be even more "cheap" to build. Where are people's
imaginations? Is it so hard to think back to around 86 when the 1000 was
selling for over $1000? The market changes, and Commodore has always pushed
value to the edge.
 
 One thing is very obvious to me. The under-$1000 market needs something
newer than the plain 68000 CPU and 8 bit graphics. If Commodore doesn't do
it, somebody will. As a matter of fact, an Atari user wrote me about a new
Atari pushing this edge. Rumors...rumors...rumors...
 
   Tom

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