Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!esquire!sbb
From: sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac pricing and the future of the Mac
Keywords: The Usenet Twit Factor is rising :-(
Message-ID: <1091@esquire.UUCP>
Date: 27 Mar 89 18:30:36 GMT
References: <12101@reed.UUCP> <1082@lts.UUCP> <11317@ut-emx.UUCP> <1084@lts.UUCP>
Reply-To: sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten)
Distribution: usa
Organization: DP&W, New York, NY
Lines: 40

In article <1084@lts.UUCP> amanda@lts.UUCP (Amanda Walker) writes:
>At this point, the 64K ROM->128K ROM upgrade has become and upgrade or
>die situation, but IF AND ONLY IF you need new software.  Even this has
>more to do with software companies than Apple.

Absolutely.  I have a friend who does all her work for law school
on an old 512 with a single 400k disk drive.  Works great for her,
and she has no plans to upgrade in the near future.

I'm still running with my 512->512e->2meg+SCSI (third party) and am
very happy.  Occasionally I feel like I want a bigger screen, but
it's not so important.  I run all the current software (although not
in color, of course), so why does everyone think that they absolutely
need the newest, top-of-the-line Mac?  Why not wait a while and
see what else comes out of Cupertino?

Buy a super-fast 140meg hard disk and a Plus, throw an extra meg of
memory in, and you've got a pretty terrific system (unless you're doing
all sorts of number-crunching, or you want to use PixelPaint, I
suppose).

So what if it's obsolete in a couple of years?  You'll only be out the
money you spent on the Plus, and that's only about a grand or so.  Less
than the Mac II->Mac IIx upgrade cost that some people are griping
about.

And who knows what will be available in 1991.  Maybe you'll really
want one of the first commercially-available NeXTs.  Then how will
you feel with 10 grand sunk in a Mac IIx?

Well, that's enough for now.  As with everything, if you can afford
it, fine, but if you can't, or if you have other things to spend
your money on, well, you just have to make do for a while.  Welcome
to the real world.

--
   Steve Baumgarten             | "New York... when civilization falls apart,
   Davis Polk & Wardwell        |  remember, we were way ahead of you."
   cmcl2!esquire!sbb            | 
   esquire!sbb@cmcl2.nyu.edu    |                           - David Letterman