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From: c60b-1eq@e260-3e.berkeley.edu (Noam Mendelson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Quoting PC Magazine and much more(was Re: Comparing 486 to 386 Systems)
Message-ID: <1991Apr10.000401.26196@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 10 Apr 91 00:04:01 GMT
References: <40409@netnews.upenn.edu> <84050014@hpfcmdd.hp.com> <1991Apr9.213259.17287@leland.Stanford.EDU>
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In article <1991Apr9.213259.17287@leland.Stanford.EDU> fangchin@leland.Stanford.EDU (Chin Fang) writes:
>In article <84050014@hpfcmdd.hp.com> edm@hpfcmdd.hp.com (Ed Moore) writes:
>>The 12/25/90 issue of PC Magazine, page 169, claims that a 386/33 gives more
>>bang for the buck if a math coprocessor isn't needed.
>I don't want to belittle or slight a well established, much read and popular 
>computing mag.  But I would like to point out one fact -> PC Mag's editors
>are humans beings too. => they would make mistakes just like the rest of 
>us.  Sure, they have big marketing clut, if they say yes, then a product 
>immediately becomes hot, and vice versa.  This has both good and bad side
>when someone relies on it soly for info.
>Two examples:
>
> ...text deleted...

I agree with you that PC Magazine can err every once in a while.  But I am
familiar with that article and according to the article, the benchmark results
were the average of previous machines reviewed by PC Magazine, discounting
the very slow and very fast machines.
Therefore, it is very unlikely that the benchmark results posted in that
article are in error.  However, the statement "a 386/33 gives more bang for
the buck" may not apply today.  This article is 3 months old, and prices
have changed even though performance has not.

+==========================================================================+
| Noam Mendelson   ..!agate!ucbvax!web!c60b-1eq | "I haven't lost my mind, |
| c60b-1eq@web.Berkeley.EDU                     |  it's backed up on tape  |
| University of California at Berkeley          |  somewhere."             |