From: barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N. Barrett)
Subject: Re: A4000/EC030 confirmed
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 22:35:43 GMT

In article <1993Jan23.144146.17409@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au> davidme@qdpii.comp.qdpi.oz.au (David Meiklejohn) writes:
>In article <C1A1FM.Bws@news.iastate.edu> barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N. Barrett) writes:
>>In article <1993Jan22.180342.27475W@viper.edb.tih.no> jorni@edb.tih.no writes:
>>>Commodore in Norway has more or less confermed the availability of
>>>an Amiga 4000 with a 68EC030, 4MB ram and an 85 MB harddisk.
>>>
>>>The price was the biggest shock of them all: NOK 14500,- incl. tax.
>>>
>>>That translates to about $1900-$2000 with an exchange rate of 
>>>approximately 6.5-7.
>>>
>>>Release (in Norway): Febr. 15th.
>>>
>>>This might not be too cheap in the US, but it sure caused quite a 
>>>stir here in Norway!
>>
>>   If the price is true, that would still leave a more than $1500 gap in
>>Commodore's product line, between the A1200 and the EC030-based A4000.  
>
>US$2000 in Norway is not the same thing as $2000 in the US.  :-)
>
>To get an idea of the US price of the A4000/EC30, you'd need to know how
>much A4000/040s cost in Norway, then scale appropriately.  My guess is that
>the US price would be well under $2000, given the power-up pricing of the
>A4000/040.
>
>>Commodore really needs to develop a system that would be positioned in between
>>the A1200 and the cheapest A4000; something like an A1200 with an 'EC030, '882,
>>and a detached keyboard would be nice.
>
>Sounds good, although I'd prefer a system with an MMU.  I'd also like slots
>and room for internal drives in a midrange system.  Sounds like I've just
>described an A4000....  Really, what could you cut out of an A4000 to make a
>midrange system, while retaining the detatched keyboard/cpu box design?  It
>doesn't even have a SCSI interface built in, that could be removed from the
>design.  It seems to me that the A4000 IS the mid-range AGA system.

   Except that the A4000 does not have a mid-range price.  I suespect
Commodore is keeping the prices of the A4000 high for 'image' purposes;
they want the A4000 to look like a workstation.  An A1200 would save a
fair amount in costs by not having the backplane and CPU slot (making
the motherboard more integrated) and having a small power supply, but
more than this Commodore would want to have a lower price of the 
'030-based A1200 to be more price-competitive.

   Let's face it, Commodore's efforts to date in packaging software
leave MUCH to be desired.  The A600 is being packaged with games, which
doesn't do much for the Amiga's image overall.  The A1200 is being
packaged with Final Copy -- which isn't very useful because it isn't
very good -- and DPaint IV, which is only useful to a small minority
of people who are good and drawing and painting on a computer, and care
about such things.  The A4000 is being packaged with DPaint IV and 
ADPro, which is also only useful to a minority of people.  Commodore
needs to get an Amiga system out that includes software useful to the
majority, not the minority.

---
| Marc Barrett -MB-  |  email: barrett@iastate.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------
"I suppose if I had two X chromosomes, I'd feel hostile too."
                              - Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes)