From: jon@alpha.ee.ufl.edu (Jon Mellott)
Subject: Re: SPARCclassic vs. 486 (Was Re: SPARCClassic (and other Sun announcments))
Organization: EE Dept at UF
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 18:54:42 GMT

In article <books.98.0@fsunuc.physics.fsu.edu>, books@fsunuc.physics.fsu.edu (Roger Books) writes:
|> johnn@eskimo.celestial.com (John Navitsky) writes:
|> 
|> >  Gateway 2000 66MHz 486DX2 EISA*     Sun SPARCclassic
|> >  66MHz Intel 486 ("double clocked")  50MHz TI microSPARC
|> >  8MB RAM                             16MB RAM using 16MB sims (to 96MB)
|> 
|>    +$50 to gateway
|> 
|> >  340MB SCSI disk                     207MB SCSI-2 (to 22GB)
|> 
|> 					+70 to Sun
|> 					(If you count SCSI-2 as $0.00)
|> 
|> >  ??                                  8 bit audio
|> 
|>    +$80.
|> 
|> >  not included                        twisted pair ethernet (10mb/sec)
|> 
|>    +$130
|> 
|> >  2 serial ports                      2 serial ports
|> >  1 parallel port                     1 parallel port
|> >  ?xEISA slots (32MB/sec)             2xSBus slots (100MB/sec)
|> 
      ^ Eight EISA slots
|> Have to make your own judgement on this one.
|> 
|> >  16bit SVGA w/1MB                    8 bit color, 1024x768 or 1152x900
|> >  14" CrystalScan                     15" color 1024x768, 76Hz refresh, 
|> 100dpi
|> 
|>    +$70
|> 
|> >  5.25" & 3.5" floppys                3.5" optional
|> 
|> 					+$100  (I know, no 5 1/4)
|> 
|> >  DOS 5.0                             Solaris 2.1
|> 
|>    How much is Unix worth to you?
|> 
|> >  MS-Windows 3.1                      Open Windows 3
|> 
|>   How much is a decent windowing system worth to you?
|> 
|> >  Choice of application               not included 
|> 
|> ??
|> 
|> >  Tower case                          IPC style box
|> >                                      64bit memory bus
|> >  $3,995                              $4,295
|> 
|>     +$350				+$170
|>   
|> Total $4,345				$4,465
|> 
|> The question, is Solaris and a multi-user machine worth more than $120
|> to you?  That's an easy one for me.
|> 

I don't agree with your comparison of the EISA machine -- these 
machines are very low volume and much more expensive than their 
ISA w/ local bus counterparts. 

For example, in last week's PC Week, the Gateway ad listed the 
following:

66 MHz 486 DX2
8 MB RAM, 64KB cache
5.25" & 3.5" floppies
340 MB local bus IDE drive (13 ms)
VESA local bus ATI Ultra Pro (accelerated)
15" color Crystalscan flat screen (1280x1024, NI)
Desktop Case, Mouse, Keyboard, DOS, Windows & Choice of App
Total Price: $2995

OK, now add Ethernet ($130), sound ($100), and another 8 MB 
of memory ($225) and you're up to a whopping $3450. I suspect 
that this is a fairer comparison than that EISA box. BTW, 
take the above Gateway system, and roll the configuration back 
to a 486DX-33, 200 MB disk, and 14" Crystalscan (1024x768 NI), 
and the base price falls to $2395. Add the above options 
and the price goes to $2850. 

Yes, I'm not going to run my EDA tools on a PC, but, I do 
run many productivity tools on the PC -- the software 
prices are so much lower, and the tools are frequently much 
better, so the additional expense of the second box is justified.
Do you really need a Unix box to run word processors, spread sheets, 
project scheduling, graphics, and presentation management software?
In my experience all of this stuff is *much* more expensive on the 
workstation than comparable software on the PC. For myself, and many
users, the PC and workstation are complementary. 

And this really is the point. For most office automation
tasks (and this is where the big money is in desktop systems) 
word processing, spreadsheets, and maybe a little bit of graphics 
characterize most applications. The workstation may be a little bit 
faster, but it is much more expensive to purchase, the applications 
software is more expensive, and requires an expert to configure, even 
for a single standalone machine. 

Intel, IBM, Compaq, and the rest of them are not afraid of these new 
machines from Sun muscling them out of the office automation market.
Sun might have a chance to seriously penetrate the office automation
market if Windows NT is moved to the SPARC platform. I'm not going to
hold my breath on that happening anytime soon.

Jon Mellott
High Speed Digital Architecture Laboratory
University of Florida
(jon@alpha.ee.ufl.edu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin!,comp.sys.sun.hardware