Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!polyslo!rcfische
From: rcfische@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Raymond C. Fischer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Low-Cost Macintosh
Message-ID: <25c8e25c.62bb@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>
Date: 2 Feb 90 01:29:00 GMT
References: <126900165@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: rcfische@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Raymond C. Fischer)
Organization: Cal Poly State University -- San Luis Obispo
Lines: 37


In article <126900165@p.cs.uiuc.edu> gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>MacWorld last week said that the low-cost macintosh will have the same
>8Mhz 68000 as the original Mac 128k.  It will have enhanced ROMs
>(compared to the SE).
>
>The time has come to bury the 8Mhz 68000.  Apple should use an 8Mhz
>68030.  I am astounded that they are still trying to dump 8Mhz 68000's
>on consumers -- the chip is more than a decade old.  A japanese
>businessman would hang his head in shame.
>
>It has been almost 3 years and there has been no improvement in
>macintosh price/performance.  I think the low-cost machine will go
>the way of the edsel, if there is no dramatic price/performance change.

This appears to be another one of those poorly thought out complaints
along the lines of "I want a 30MHz 68040 and 4 mbytes of RAM with color
for $1000".  You get what you pay for!

The 68030 runs about $200.  A 68000 can be had for about $8.
The cost of faster components and a 32-bit bus make it utterly
unreasonable to expect Apple to sell such a system for under $1000.
There are two parts to price/performance.  If the performance stays
the same but the price drops significantly, then that makes for a
dramatic price/performance gain.

As for the 68000 being outdated, nonsense!  Video game machines and
word processors are still being developed with 8-bit 6502's and Z80's.
The fact that the 68000 has been around a while is irrelevent; it
still gets the job done.  Most programs run just as well on a 68000 as
on a 68030 (maybe better considering some of the problems people have 
been having with the IIci  :-) ).

Some people are so hard to please.

Ray Fischer
rcfische@polyslo.calpoly.edu