Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!think!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!dresnick
From: dresnick@athena.mit.edu (David I Resnick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Buying a new system - request advice
Message-ID: <1990Feb20.225051.1905@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 20 Feb 90 22:50:51 GMT
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Reply-To: dresnick@athena.mit.edu (David I Resnick)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 57


   I will be purchasing a Mac system in the near future and would
appreciate some advice.  Money is somewhat of an issue: I have about
$3200 in grant money to spend, and am willing to kick in somewhere
around $2000 of my own (i.e. would like to spend less than $5500 on
the system).  I have access to educationally discounted hardware (MIT)
That said, here are my questions:

1)  CPU
    Obvious first question: should I buy a IIcx or a IIci?  I have
used a IIcx, but not a IIci.  Those of you who have used both, how
noticable is the difference in speed in everyday use?  The price
difference is fairly substantial.  At MIT, a stripped IIcx is $2995 +
tx, while a IIci runs for $4185 + tx.  Is there a cheaper source for
these CPUs? 

2)  Memory
    I think that 5MB is about right.  What is the best source for
memory?  I have never installed a SIMM, how tough is it? (I have
installed a MacSnap board on my 512e, is it easier/harder than this
task?)  Does self-installation void the warantee?

3)  Display
    I have been working with the apple 13 inch color display,
and think that it is suitable for my needs.  However it IS quite
expensive.  It also has Apples foolish 90 day warrantee - how likely
are monitors to break after the first 90 days?  How do the third party
monitors of a similar size compare in picture quality (I know that
they are substantially cheaper).  Any suggestions on alternatives to
these displays?
    How slow is the IIci when driving a 13 inch display with its built
in card in 1 and 8 bit modes?  What are the relative merits of apple
and 3rd party cards (no, I don't think that I need 24 bits at this
time)?

4)  Hard Drive
    I currently have an external Supermac Dataframe XP30, which I
suppose that I could continue to use (haven't filled it yet).  I seem
to recall that different interleafing is recommended for the Mac Plus
and II series hard drives - how does this work (I know little about
hard drives, is the interleaf specified in the format or is it
hardwired?)  How much difference in system performance would it make
to get a faster internal drive?

5.  Keyboard
   I am presently using and happy with my datadesk 101.  Unfortunatly
it is not an ADB device.  Is there any way to convert it to one?  If
not, what do people recommend?  I haven't used the apple extended
keyboard, is it worth an extra $40 (not to mention the fact that the
datadesk has a 2 year warrantee...)  
  
Comments on any/all of these would be greatly appreciated!
--
*****************************************************************************
*       David Resnick                          dresnick@athena.mit.edu      *
*            "Smoking-Think of it as evolution in action"                   *
*****************************************************************************