Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!rutgers!att!homxb!homxc!mchin
From: mchin@homxc.UUCP (M.CHIN)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: Is there really no better value?
Message-ID: <6579@homxc.UUCP>
Date: 11 May 89 14:12:44 GMT
References: <443@ctdi.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel
Lines: 47

From article <443@ctdi.UUCP>, by mikei@ctdi.UUCP (Mike Israel):
> 
> Exactly the point, Tandy is willing to make fixes only to insure that they
> remain a feasable alternative for NEW customers.  They do not seem willing to 
> support the machines they have already fielded with any form of upgrade
> path.  When enhancements are offered they are sold at grossly over-inflated 
> prices.

How far back are they supposed to support their machines?  IBM, sort of a
standard, no longer supports their first machines either.  Just ask anyone
who needs to get a BIOS Rom just to install a hard disk.

> 
> I bought a 1000A with 128k of memory.  Tandy wanted somewhere around $600
> for a memory card which still would not give me 640k.  That was only $200
> less than I paid for the computer itself.  Thank goodness for the folks at 
> Zuckerboard.

Sorry, but I'm losing sympathy real fast for 1000A owners.  You complain
about these things, but you should have known about them in the first place.
It's like going out and buying a car and then finding out that the only oil
filter it uses is manufactured by the car manufacturer.  You know what this
is called?  A MONOPOLY.  Apple uses it to great advantage.

> Tandy could afford to play these games when clones were still a risky 
> business, at least they were a reputable vendor.  These days a company
> like Dell is a MUCH better value.
> 
> 						mikei@ctdi

There aren't that many clone manufacturers I would buy from before Tandy.
Dell is one of them.  Others are AST, ALR, ATT and maybe Northgate.  And
Northgate only recently.  All the others I am too leery of their quality,
customer support, existence in 5 years, etc. to want to buy.  Checking list
prices in PC Magazine's '386 issue for base models shows DELL at $2799, ALR
at $2695, AT&T at $3495, AST at $4395, Tandy at $3999, Northgate at $3399.
Now, I've never seen Dell, Northgate, or ALR's sold by outside mail order
firms.  Admittedly, I haven't looked that hard and Northgate is a bargain
anyway (they threw in all sorts of extras in their list price).  But, this
means you may not be able to beat that list price by much.  That's about the
only reason I did not buy Dell.  I didn't trust Northgate when I bought my
machine.

Michael Chin			|  It could probably be shown by facts
AT&T Bell Laboratories		|  and figures that there is no distinctly
att!homxc!mchin 		|  native American criminal class
Arpa:  mchin@homxc.ATT.COM	|  except Congress. - Mark Twain