Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!gatech!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery From: allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: 68040 for the Mac? Message-ID: <1991Jan29.034832.2523@NCoast.ORG> Date: 29 Jan 91 03:48:32 GMT References: <749G*$t7@cs.psu.edu> <1991Jan27.174415.1236@NCoast.ORG> Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR) Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.misc Organization: North Coast Public Access Un*x (ncoast) Lines: 70 As quoted from by melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger): +--------------- | In article <1991Jan27.174415.1236@NCoast.ORG> allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR) writes: | hope. You infer that the NeXT's base configuration is roughly equivalent to | the base Mac configuration in terms of capability, but at twice the cost it | | How can you claim that NeXT's base machines are equivalent to an SE or | a Mac Classic? Outrageous! The Classic is only expandable to 4Megs | of memory. The NeXT Station ships with 8Megs, expandable to 32MB. | The Classic uses a 0.5mip processor while the NeXT uses a 15mip | processor. The SE, Classic, LC, and IIsi, have no floating-point | capability. The NeXT does 3 1/2Mflops. The last generation of +--------------- The specific claim was that the NeXT had to have that level of ability to be able to do what a Classic does. QED. +--------------- | But it'd still have to be under $1500 to be competitive with an SE/30 upgrade | for my existing SE. 2-plus-year-old computers don't resell very well, so | selling the SE to help pay for a theoretical low-end NeXT wouldn't help much. | | You can buy a CPU upgrade, but you still will be stuck with a 9" b/w | display, cheap sound, Quickdraw, no DMA, and 1/2 to 1/3 of the | horsepower of a 68040. Are you going to spend $$$ to get the | Superfloppy too? +--------------- I don't need a big display, color, or a 68040. I don't miss DMA. Re-read the quote below!!!!! +--------------- | PLEASE try to remember that, despite Apple's apparent (past?) unwillingness to | pay attention to the low end, the Mac manages to cover everything from the | home "front" up to high-end business machines, while the NeXT is designed as | an educational machine with business shadings. It doesn't target the *entire* | Mac lineup, and it's doubtful that it could be scaled down to do so. +--------------- I don't need what the NeXT offers. But the NeXT advocates keep claiming that the NeXT should replace *all* Macs. Pity they don't understand *all* of the Mac market. The low end *does* exist, despite what Apple thinks and despite what NeXT thinks (and despite what the rabid NeXT advocates think!). Stop trying to sell me a sledgehammer when all I'm trying to do is swat flies. +--------------- | have a profit margin on their $3250 machines. The way I see it, spend | a little more now and enjoy the functionality and power that Apple | will provide in two years, maybe. +--------------- It'll be two years before I'll need it. If I want a *fast* Unix box, there are plenty of 486es at work. HOME COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS AREN'T THE SAME AS EDUCATIONAL OR BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS! Sure, there will be those few "home" users who have lots of machines and Ethernet them together; I have lots of machines, but they fall into the "use the right machine for the right job" category (networking the packet switch with the machine I use for "accounting" (such as it is) and WP is senseless, the two do not and probably cannot intersect), and I have no need for high-end stuff. ++Brandon -- Me: Brandon S. Allbery VHF/UHF: KB8JRR on 220, 2m, 440 Internet: allbery@NCoast.ORG Packet: KB8JRR @ WA8BXN America OnLine: KB8JRR AMPR: KB8JRR.AmPR.ORG [44.70.4.88] uunet!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery Delphi: ALLBERY