From: barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett)
Subject: Re: I DID giev up on the Amiga!
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 19:19:56 GMT

In article <bmccnnll.712171495@unix1.tcd.ie> bmccnnll@unix1.tcd.ie (Barry McConnell) writes:
>In <1992Jul23.162026.7775@news.iastate.edu> barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett) writes:
>
>>For instance, why is it that, in the Amiga's entire seven-year history, only
>>*ONE* Amiga has ever been produced that has anything other than a 68000 on
>>the motherboard?  Compare this to the number of Macintoshes that have been
>>developed by Apple that have '020s, '030s, or '040s on the motherboard.
>
>At least the one Amiga that has a non-68000 on the motherboard has been
>designed correctly. Too many Macs have 32-bit processors and 16-bit memory.
>Apple are advertising their '020 Macs as "Twice as fast as a Mac SE!" - 
>given 32-bit RAM, they could double that claim.

   That isn't very much of an excuse.  Even discounting the two or three Macs
with '020s and 16-bit memory, that still leaves about an 8-to-1 advantage of
full 32-bit Macs to full 32-bit Amigas, with all of the 32-bit hardware on the
motherboard.

>>what is the ratio of Amigas with 24-bit palettes and 8-bit graphics on the
>>motherboard to Macintoshes with 24-bit palettes and 8-bit graphics on the
>>motherboard?  
>
>The vast majority of Macs do not have colour. Very few of the models (one?
>two?) have it on the motherboard.

    There are nearly as many Mac models that have 8/24 bit color on the 
motherboard as there are Amiga models total.  The Mac LC, LC II, IIsi, IIci, 
and all Quadras have built-in color video (Quadras have built-in full 24-bit
color video).

>>Or, an even more basic question: what is the ratio of Amigas
>>with built-in SCSI controllers to Macintoshes with built-in SCSI controllers?
>
>Every single Mac has a built-in SCSI controller. Find yourself a GVP Combo
>board or an A3000, and you've beaten the best Mac. We have DMA, they do not.
>While a Mac is accessing the HD or network, you can forget about useable
>multitasking.

   That is a concern to far fewer people than you'd think.  Commodore seems to
agree, as the only other Amiga besides the A3000 that has built-in hard drive
capability -- the A600 -- uses a comparitively slow non-DMA IDE hard drive.
Again, it is far better for most people to have a slow non-DMA SCSI included
than to have no HD capability included at all.

>>Finally, what is the ratio of notebook Amigas to notebook Macintoshes?
>
>Zero. ;-)

    I'm glad you agree with me about something.  Somehow I have the feeling
that if Commodore ever finally comes out with a portable Amiga, that it will
be an oversized, overweight piece of junk like the original Mac portable, and
not a true notebook Amiga.  The market has moved beyond laptops to notebook
computers, and nothing else will be satisfactory.

>>   I've been waiting for SEVEN YEARS.  *TODAY* is the SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY of
>>the introduction of the Amiga 1000, and there are still absolutely no Amigas
>>whatsoever that have better sound or color capabilities than the Amiga 1000.
>
>Yes there are. Ask anyone with a DMI Resolver, an IVideo-24, HAM-E etc. etc.
>Many of these Amiga graphics cards are so classy, they will leave any Mac
>lying in the dust.

   Too bad the cheapest of the video boards is more expensive than most full-
blown Macintosh systems these days.  And too bad the unstable hacks they use
to achieve DIG/RTG are not supported by Commodore.

>WHO CARES IF IT ISN'T ON THE MOTHERBOARD? Neither are any Mac graphics cards.
>The OS just happens to support them better. If you want to paint in 24-bit
>colour, buy a 24-bit colour card. I don't want more than four colours (for
>my DevPac screen :-) ), so I don't want the extra expense of buying an Amiga
>with that feature.

   Then I take it that you won't be buying any Amigas ever again, because the
new ones will likely have better than 12-bit color built-in and you don't like
to have that capability included as standard hardware?
 
>Barry.

---
| Marc Barrett -MB-  |  email: barrett@iastate.edu
-----------------------------------------------------
"If you like Congress, you'll **LOVE** Bill Clinton."
                                --new campaign slogan
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy