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From: tilley@ssd.kodak.com (David Tilley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Apple won't let me buy a Macintosh LC?!
Message-ID: <1991Mar18.212144.8495@ssd.kodak.com>
Date: 18 Mar 91 21:21:44 GMT
References: <7298@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Sender: news@ssd.kodak.com
Organization: Eastman Kodak
Lines: 54

In article <7298@idunno.Princeton.EDU> bskendig@dae.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) writes:
>[Third in a series of articles in which I try to decide whether or not
>to move up from a Mac SE.]
>
>I've recently been pricing Mac to see how much a new machine will cost
>me.  I grabbed a copy of Apple's university prices from my campus
>distribution center, and it gave me these rough prices (I'm recalling
>these from memory, so don't quote me on these):
>
>	Mac LC, one floppy drive:		$1100
>	Mac LC, two floppy drives:		$1150
>	Mac LC, one floppy, one 40Mb HD:	$1600
>	Monochrome 12" monitor:			 $260
>
>The difference between the two-floppy machine and the HD setup is
>about $450.  Well, since I already have a 50Mb hard drive and I need
>two floppies anyway, the two-floppy LC seems like the perfect choice
>for me.
>
>... until I found out that Apple won't let me have one.
>
>The people at the campus computer center expressed their apologies,
>but they informed methat the two-floppy LC was only for sale to
>departments, and not to individuals or students.  They suggested that
>I sell the hard drive I have now and get the LC with the internal HD.
>
>Well, let's see what this would mean.  After soliciting estimates from
>the net, I guess I could sell my 50Mb HD for about $200.  Toss in
>another $250 on top of that, and I get the 40Mb hard drive in the LC.
>Something's wrong, here.  (And besides, the LC won't let you add an
>external floppy, unless you invest in a SCSI floppy drive which is,
>under my budget, prohibitively expensive.)
>
>It's obvious why they don't want to sell machines without hard drives:
>because System 7.0 (supposedly) requires a hard drive to use, and if
>you don't have a HD, you can't run it.  But why then are they selling
>HD-less machines to departments?  And why are they selling Mac IIci
>and IIfx configurations without hard drives?

It seems to me that the reason for forcing you to by the hard drive
is so they can make a buck charging $400+ for a 40 meg drive when
everbody else will sell you an 80 Meg drive for that.
A rip off at best. Nobody in their right mind would by the hard drive
from apple unless forced to.

>Can anyone from Apple explain why this policy exists?  It seems to me
>this strategy might hurt Apple more than it helps.
>
>     << Brian >>
>
>| Brian S. Kendig      \ Macintosh |   Engineering,   | bskendig             |
>| Computer Engineering |\ Thought  |  USS Enterprise  | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU
>| Princeton University |_\ Police  | -= NCC-1701-D =- | @PUCC.BITNET         |
>"It's not that I don't HAVE the work to *do* -- I don't DO the work I *have*."