From: jgrimm@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com (Jeffrey Grimmett 9999)
Subject: Re: Oh my God! Help my friend not buy an IBM!
Organization: NCR (Torrey Pines Development Center)
Disclaimer: This posting does not necessarily reflect the opinions of NCR.
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 18:14:30 GMT

Quoth heikki.suopanki@phoenix.oulu.fi:

]> A 486DX2-66 (or any 486) machine has more raw CPU power than A3000 so in most
]> cases it takes longer to do a thing with an A3000 than a 486 machine.

First of all, quite a fair comparison.  Let's pit a 66 Mhz machine against
a 16 or 25 MegaHertz machine.  Oh, very good!

HowEVER, you ARE using one of the oldest tricks in the book.  I mean, that's
how clone dealers worldwide deceive the masses into buying these expensive
power-systems -- faster is better, right?  Well, to a point, of course.  If
ALL you ever want to do is just use the "raw CPU" I suppose a 486 is a good
deal for you.  Most people have different ideas about how they want to use
thier personal computer.  For instance, multimedia utilizing just the raw
CPU is pretty darned jerky.

To get that 486 up to par with a 3000/16, however, you need to add a few items
that most buyers demand.

First, a multitasking operating system is a must.  It's a bit much to expect
someone to wait for the CPU to finish its assigned task before you can move on
to the next.  TSR's are such a drag...

What choice do you have?  Well, Winders NT ("Not Today...") or OS/2 2.0 are
the only good choices I have seen so far.  Well, Winders comes on a CDRom,
if it ever comes out at all (NT that is), so throw the cost of a CDRom in there.
Both OS's are huge compared to ADOS 2.x's 5-6 disk distribution, so reserve
around 20 megs of precious hard drive space for your OS.  Oh... buy memory.
LOTS of memory.  Hope those tarrifs aren't hitting you folks in Finland too
hard yet....

Mouse card and driver.  Not too costly but every penny counts...

Video card.  Need one with a blitter so you can get those snappy screen
refreshes and maybe design some nice MultiMedia animations on it.  Oh, a blitter
isn't necessary but it's needed to compensate for the 486's lack of one.

I won't go into the obvious limitations in the hardware architecture -- but
if you want, get a true SCSI card with a good large buffer on it, and make
sure your com card has a roomy cache on it to simulate the Amiga's superior
I/O and disk access methods.

After adding all of the extras required, I wonder if maybe that 486 doesn't
cost sufficiently more than a 4000, which has superior graphics capabilities.
Oh, and wanna add a sound blaster or something to get the audio in line with
the base A500?  Thank you.

]> And
]> when you do things with a computer you have to type, use mouse etc.
]> There must persons who are faster typists and mouse users than you, so
]> it will take more time for you to do things. Also there are more
]> software available for IBM PCs which means there is a more wide range of
]> things to choose from. I'm quite sure that if there were 1000 skilled
]> persons with good 486DX2-66 machines and with lots of right sowftware most
]> of them would get more different things done in an hour than you.  

I reread the remainder of this paragraph three times.  I still don't get
your point.  I'll just attribute this to the Finnish-English translation
and assume you know what you meant -- nice try, but I sure don't.

-- 
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Jeff Grimmett [SuperBitMap BBS]          * fido!1:202/1401.0 [619-460-7290]
jeff_grimmett@f1401.n202.z1.fidonet.org  * jgrimm@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com
  My employer doesn't allow me to have opinions -- so don't tell 'em I do!
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