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: Wed, 18 Nov 92 23:23:09 GMT

Quoth pss1@kepler.unh.edu (Paul S Secinaro):

]> In article <1992Nov12.181430.4533@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com> jgrimm@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com (Jeffrey Grimmett 9999) writes:
]> 
]> >First of all, quite a fair comparison.  Let's pit a 66 Mhz machine against
]> >a 16 or 25 MegaHertz machine.  Oh, very good!

]> Here we go again... :)  Any comparison in the same price range is fair.

Yep, here we go.  Commodore's MSRP vs Slick Willy's Computer Sales and Bingo
Parlor.  I assure you I can get a 4000 for significantly less than the MSRP,
but rather than compare shopping savvy let's keep this technical.  My argument
stands.  A 66 MHz beastie RETAILS for a bit more than what most will pay for it.

]> development kit which has tons of stuff that will not be in the end
]> user version.  In any event, I don't think we need to worry about NT
]> for a while.  It's still a ways from release.

Well, at least you're honest.  A large number of beemers talk about it like
it were an established fact...

]> >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....
]> 
]> Disk space is only a problem if you are trying to upgrade an older
]> system that might have a small hard disk.  Most clones today come with
]> at least 100MB, usually more like 200MB+, so this isn't a big issue.

Well, I've addressed this in an earlier article so I'll save a little typing
here.... but at any rate I don't agree that wasting drive space is a small
consideration in any wise.

]> >Mouse card and driver.  Not too costly but every penny counts...
]> 
]> Come on now, lets be realistic.  How hard is it to find a clone that
]> comes bundled with a mouse?

Sure.  I can get ya one for five bucks.  Any takers?  Hmph.  Thought so.  :-)

]> >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.
]> 
]> In that case, an '040 card is needed to compensate for the A3000's
]> lack of one.  If you can claim that raw CPU isn't everything, then I
]> can certainly claim that multimedia animations aren't everything
]> either.

Hardly the same thing... it appears you've become desperate, writhing
helplessly in the grip of my overwhelming arguments... :-)

Seriously, I do not consider an 030 inferior to an 486 in the environment
in which it is placed.  I don't even claim the 040 is better than a 486,
even though my personal opinion is that it is the more efficient of the two
(based not on empirical evidence but what I get from certain hardware
gurus whose opinions I respect).

However, time and time again folks on the beemer side of the fence have
touted thier machines as ideal multimedia (IBM's term, not mine).  To
utilize your CPU properly for multimedia MY OPINION is that you need to
free it from the yeoman's task of moving display graphics to the display
buffer.  Thus my contention.

]> And again, one only needs to pick up an issue of Computer Shopper to
]> see how many clones these days come bundled with coprocessed and/or
]> local-bus graphics cards.  These days, a 24-bit coprocessed graphics
]> card doesn't cost much more than a good SVGA card.

Must be looking at a different Shopper.  Or comparing high-end SVGA to low-
end 24 bit... as I don't see it, myself.

]> >Oh, and wanna add a sound blaster or something to get the audio in line with
]> >the base A500?  Thank you.
]> 
]> You're right, it doesn't cost sufficiently more than an A4000.  It
]> probably costs about the same.  It also has superior graphics if you
]> happen to need true 24-bit color and/or 1280x1024 non-interlaced video
]> (though not at the same time).  I strongly recommend that you check
]> the latest ads, especially the Gateway 2000 ads.

Trust me, I keep quite appraisd of the situation.  Ocasionally I find something
of interest in there... but not often.  You, in turn, should take a close
look at the 4000 and appraise those 'non-24-bit' graphic modes in person.
So far, I haven't seen ANYthing to complain about, regardless of the fact
that it's accomplished with what many view as a kludge.  Well, if 24-bit
realism in a fraction of the space is a kludge, somebody please kluge me!
:-)

]> Paul Secinaro

-- 
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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
 The opinions expressed in this message are thoughtful, reasoned, and logical.
      	It goes without saying that they are not those of my employer.
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