From: wilcoxt@cuug.ab.ca (Terrance Wilcox 260-8100)
Subject: Re: specifically comparing NeXT with Mac...
Organization: Calgary UNIX Users' Group
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 17:31:33 GMT

In article <19094@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> putzolu@toadflax.cs.ucdavis.edu (David Putzolu) writes:
>In article <199211081843.AA03209@hobbes.cuc.ab.ca> rob@hobbes.cuc.ab.CA (Rob Parkhill) writes:
>
>** Unfair pricing alert! Unfair pricing alert! **

No kidding it's unfair. We Canadians pay a lot more than you Americans
do. As for the prices, they're legitimate. Rob states Canadian dollars,
which are currently worth about $0.80 US. Pay attention next time.

>
>>Nononononono! The ONLY Mac equivilant to the NeXTstation Turbo Color
>>would be a Quadra 950.
>>These are the latest (Canadian) edu prices for both systems:
> * With prices available at UCD to me to the left *
> * Mail order (MO) prices used when appropriate   *

Who cares about UCD prices? In Calgary, Mac's cost more than
NeXT's. It's that simple. Edward Wrights' argument has to apply here,
but in a broader scope. We can't compare prices because there is no
standard price. We can't all drive to store X, in city Y, to pick up
cheap equipment. And I won't use mail order, because some warranties
don't cross the border as well as others.


>Why only a 700, which runs at 25Mhz not 33? And why only the
>120 MB hard drive?
>Simple. The NeXT requires more resources to do all it does.
>Compare a 700 and a NSTC. The 700 appears & responds just as fast.
>NeXT advocates will respond that the NeXT is doing what it does
>via Display Postscript. True. Can't be argued. What can be
>argued is the usefulness: Unless you do DTP, display postscript
>is nice, but not much more than that.

I would guess that A/UX requires more resources than System 7.1.
The reason is that it does a great deal more at the same time.

>Why the smaller hard drive? The same answer: resources. I can
>happily fit a good development system (Think C v5 + Think Pascal v4
>+ ResEdit + Apple Technical Notes + Hypercard), and a good
>word-processor (Word 5) and LOTS of other stuff on my 105 easily.
>I'm told by NeXT afficionados that to hold the development system
>alone requires 400+ MB.

You can get Word 5 on a 105 MB drive ? :). Actually, my complete 
installation of NeXTSTEP 3.0 was only about 200 MB if I remember
correctly. On the 250 MB drive, it doesn't really leave enough
space to accumulate stuff, so the 400 MB drive is recommended.

>
>The result of the above:
>NeXT stands out as an excellent DTP machine. With a very nice
>development system, and very nice hardware. At a price. You pay
>for these niceties.

And you don't pay for niceties on the Mac?

>The Mac stands out as a good machine. Maybe not quite as good
>as the NeXT in some areas, but pretty close. At a lot less $.
>Furthermore, the Mac still has the advantages it started with:
>Bigger software base, more expandability (2 Nubus, 1 PDS, 1 ROM
>slot that can be used to upgrade to 33Mhz at <$500), more
>hardware at lower prices, etc.

The advantage of the Mac is that you can buy an SE/30. Not new any more,
but good enough. Or a IIcx, the last really nice and compatible Mac.

>As I have emailed to some friendly NeXT people, the NeXT machine
>is an excellent box (ok, slab). Good hardware design. Good software.
>Good OS. But you have to pay for it, and you pay alot more than you
>would for a Mac that is nearly as good. If I had the money, I
>might be a NeXTie. I don't, and until NeXT _drastically_ (in
>light of Apple's soon to be released next round of machines)
>cuts its prices, its advantages will not be enough to justify
>the costs of switching over.
>

After all that, I still can't get an 040 Mac cheaper than what I paid
for my NeXT. Macs are not inexpensive in Canada.

>                   /_____/_____            _-
>Ex-Capt David Putzolu          \__________-
>U.S.S. Yamato
>Senior, CS & Psych, U.C.Davis - putzolu@cs.ucdavis.edu - my opinion

Terry Wilcox

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy