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From: ptok@void.caltech.edu (phillip tokumaru)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Get a NeXT! (was Re: 16mb minimum for next machines)
Message-ID: <1991May7.003406.23010@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 7 May 91 00:34:06 GMT
References: <9166@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Sender: news@nntp-server.caltech.edu
Reply-To: ptok@void.caltech.edu
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 46

In article <9166@idunno.Princeton.EDU> sksircar@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Subrata  
Sircar) writes:
> Well, as far as that goes...
> 
> I've still got my Apple II+ with 48K, two floppy drives, and a printer.  I've
> got Microsoft Basic, Pascal, a word processor, Visicalc and oodles of games.
> It suffices for text entry, but just doesn't cut it against my roommate's Mac
> IIci, with 8M memory, 80M hard disk, Word 4.0, Hypercard, Matlab, and oodles
> of games.  That's why I'm going to get one of those soon.
> 
> (I'd get a NeXT, but without Matlab and a good word processor (I exclude  
Write
> Now from that category :<) a lot of what I'd use it for just doesn't happen.
> My immediate needs are thesis writing (for which I'll use the Mac) and number
> crunching (for which I use an Iris or a Mac) and I don't see that changing
> real soon.  If we could just talk the people at Mathworks into optimizing
> Matlab for the '040 ...)


If you're writing a thesis use TeX/LaTeX, it comes with the NeXT!  I wrote my  
thesis on the Mac using Textures (a very nice version of TeX), I switched it  
over to my NeXT, it was painless (I had most of my figures in Postscript)   
Also, the NexT runs TeX an order of magnitude faster than a Mac IIci...
If you don't like TeX, get FrameMaker, but for goodness sake, don't drool over  
the word processing software on the Mac. (I would never write my thesis in  
Word!)

As far as number crunching goes, I did an FFT on my MacIIci and my NextStation,  
the Next is 8-10 times faster!!!  Who cares if MatLab isn't optomized for the  
'040 (whatever you mean by that), the Next can still run circles around a  
MacIIci (and a VAX for that matter). 

But wait, that's not all, you also get...
Mathematica... (educational user)
Ethernet... (with e-mail, ftp, telnet, gui newsreaders(free on archives)...)
Real Multitasking (u*ix)...
Dictionary/Thesaurus/a spell checker that works in every application...
Postscript & dvi previewer...
programming languages and tools...
a unix shell terminal...
a slicer/dicer...

If nothing else, give your roommate $$$ envy, get a NeXT, it's cheaper than a  
MacIIci!

..well, o.k., the Mac has more games...