Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!remus.rutgers.edu!declan From: declan@remus.rutgers.edu (Declan McCullagh/LZ) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Low End NeXTs (was Re: Desktop publishing) Message-ID: Date: 1 Apr 91 23:34:48 GMT References: <14483@life.ai.mit.edu> <4753@lectroid.sw.stratus.com> <1991Apr1.200929.17719@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 54 In article <1991Apr1.200929.17719@noose.ecn.purdue.edu>, songer@orchestra.ecn.purdue.edu (Christopher M Songer) writes: > Jim has a very good point here and is driving at something pretty important. > Next has got the highend mac whipped up as far as price for performance, but > it costs the average guy $5000 to get a machine. Agreed, and emphatically! After you get to the $5,000 barrier, NeXT is very competitive. Below that? Not really. $-) > As long as Next keeps this as their low end they will (IMHO, of course) > reamin at best a niche machine and possibly go out of business. Consider, > NeXT is certainly not going to lead MIPS/$$ very long. In fact the Sparc II > has already got the Cube beat hands down. I don't think they'll go out of business, but they won't be as successful as they should be. > Additionally while nice applications are out there for the Next, they > are invarialby quite a bit more expensive than their mac counterparts-- > probably because of the low number companies are expecting to ship. > I keep reading it being billed as a machine for the power PC user, but > can it really survive on that market? > > Maybe Next should consider making a standalone, cheap, 68030 based machine A while ago, I would have said "no way - 040 or bust!" But I have a NeXTstation 8/105 and an original NeXT 16/660 in my dorm right now, and the difference between the two is not that significant that I can't stand to use the 030 NeXT - in fact, I use it most of the time. RAM _does_ make a difference. If NeXT was to have a - say - 25 MHz or 33 MHz 68030 machine with 32K of cache and eight megabytes of RAM standard, that wouldn't be bad. Include twelve SIMM sockets. Throw a NetworkInstall application into /NextAdmin that would configure the /etc/rc* scripts to refrain from starting up unneeded network services. For a truly standalone machine, you could even turn off /usr/lib/sendmail and some other things. Oh yes - and support Apple's Stylewriter. 360 dpi, slow engine, but only $350 or so at normal academic discounts. That would be fun to use with PostScript. Or get the same engine, paint it NeXT black and slap a logo on it: $550 list, $385 academic. As long as there's a NeXT printer port interface, that is. How about adding a 15" monitor, with say 1024x768 pixels (yes, I know, it's not megapixel resolution, but neither is the current NeXT). Leave in thin Ethernet, take out twisted-pair (hey, *I* don't use it). Throw in an 80 or 105 MB HD, and call it the NeXTstation LC. Give it a list price of $2,995. Academic discounts down to $1,995. IMHO, _that_ would sell. -Declan