Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!oliveb!felix!fritz!bytebug From: bytebug@fritz.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: New Mac Prices Message-ID: <3739@fritz.UUCP> Date: Tue, 3-Mar-87 17:01:34 EST Article-I.D.: fritz.3739 Posted: Tue Mar 3 17:01:34 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 6-Mar-87 04:22:13 EST References: <5751@dartvax.UUCP> Sender: root@fritz.UUCP Reply-To: bytebug@fritz.UUCP (Roger L. Long) Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, CA Lines: 83 In article <5751@dartvax.UUCP> merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) writes: >Chatted with our local Apple person in New York and he gave me some interesting >information on Apples prices. The following information comes from talking with a friend who attended Apple's Dealer briefing yesterday. >First off, the prices for the 512K Enhanced and the Plus are staying the same. >Personally, I find this to be a major league disappointment. But I'll muddle. Considering that the new machines will take awhile to get into full production, I don't find this hard to believe. If it were up to me, I'd probably wait until late summer to drop the prices, and in fact, as soon as Mac SE production is in full swing, would probably drop the 512KE and let the Mac Plus be the low-end entry. >The price for the Macintosh SE, retail, will be $2769.00. This is the machine >with two floppy drives. The Macintosh SE with a built-in hard drive is >$3500ish. No mention was made of an upgrade price from a Plus/512KE/512K. The Mac SE will come in two configurations: the base SE with mouse and 2 800K floppy drives will indeed be $2769, and the SE with mouse, 800K floppy and 20MB internal winchester is $3569. Memory for both units is 1MB, expandable to 4MB. Surprising to me is the fact that a keyboard is now an accessory; the low end keyboard which is supposed to resemble the ][GS keyboard is $129 and a extended keyboard which resembles the IBM-RT keyboard is $229. I doubt that upgrade from a low-end Mac is possible, and given Apple's past performance in this area, I wouldn't hold my breath. Also of note is the fact that the Mac SE has about a 20% performance boost over a Mac Plus. There's also an "Accessory Access Port" so modifications to the Mac case won't be needed to get cables from inside the Mac to the outside world. The Mac SE should be available to all dealers to order now. >The price for the Macintosh II (with two floppy drives) is $3769.00. Of >course, just like IBM land, you have to buy the monitor which will run anywhere >from $500 to $1000. By the way, the base price for the Macintosh II with a >hard drive is $5369. The base configuration for the Mac II will be CPU, mouse, and 800K floppy, is priced at $3769. Again, you'll need a keyboard, priced as above. The video card is $499. A monochrome display is $399, while a 12" high-res RGB display is $999. The hard disk configuration of CPU, mouse, 800K floppy and 40MB internal SCSI drive is $5369. Memory for both units is 1MB, expandable to 8MB. A 68881 floating point processor is standard, and there's a socket for a 68851 memory management unit. There's a 6-slot NuBus for expansion. Given the memory management unit, it's not surprising that Unix will be available for the Mac II. And then there's the display. 640 by 480 resolution, with 1, 4 or 8 bits per pixel, to select from 16 million different colors (8 bits per primary color). I guess that the images that they displayed were pretty fantastic, because my friend hadn't stopped drooling as of last evening. The Mac II will only be available at selected dealers capable of the higher level of support needed for this sophisticated machine. Apple will be spending March renegotiating contracts with their dealers, and the first machines aren't expected to ship until late April. The machines shipped then will probably only be demo machines (one per ownership group), with full production not expected until late summer. Apple plans to offer 20MB (at $999), 40MB (at $1599), and 80MB (at $2699) internal SCSI drives. You should be able to add your own 5 1/4 SCSI drive. External drives of 20MB (at $1299), 40MB (at $1999), and 80MB (at $3199) were also announced. A SCSI tape drive for backups was also announced. And for those who can't live without one, a 5 1/4 360K floppy drive is now available (at $129 for SE and $399 for Mac II). >Maybe it's just me, but I think Apple might end up pricing themselves out of >sight. Maybe I'll pick up some Commodore stock. (Saw the specs on the Amiga >2000 -- IBM compatible with a card, accepts IBM cards, pretty graphics, and >$1500ish) These machines are aimed at corporate America, and as such, the prices don't seem much different the the machines that are already being sold for business. -- Roger L. Long FileNet Corp {hplabs,trwrb}!felix!bytebug