briand@tekig4.UUCP (Brian Diehm) (08/18/86)
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To the person inquiring about the Central Point Software 800K disk drive:
Yes, the product and the company are real. I called in my order Tuesday
August 12th, they claimed they'd ship "by the end of the week." It arrived
on my doorstep Friday August 15th. I live close enough to them that it is
a local call, but this still says good things about their getting it into
UPS hands at least.
As for the drive itself, it is fully Mac+ compatible. As you may recall, I
reviewed the Warp Nine "Phaser 800" drive a while back, as I had one for my
home system (this Central Point drive is for a system at work). They are
the same drive exactly. Warp Nine ("W9") has different packaging, with a
USA-made steel case; the Central Point ("CP") drive has Chinon packaging
throughout, but I began to suspect similar innards when I noticed identical
head-protection sheets and connectors (the connectors are made to mimic the
"old" style Apple connectors made when the Mac first came out).
While W9 uses their steel case as shielding, CP uses thin-guage aluminum
shielding separate from the plastic package. CP's package comes apart
easier and fits together better; W9 packaging is definitely second-rate in
terms of assembly fit, etc. However, the W9 drive is quieter; apparently
the CP shielding resonates badly during seeks. The CP drive is noisier than
the Apple drive, while the W9 cannot be heard in an office environment.
Both drives come with a nice long cable, long enough that you can put it on
either side of the Mac without interference with the video. The CP packaging
has a giant ferrite ring for noise suppression around the cable just inside
the case; W9 doesn't. How important this is I don't know, but I've never had
noise problems with my W9.
Both drives are slightly slower than the Apple equivalent; 15 seconds for
a MacWrite launch on the system disk that takes 12 seconds for the Apple
drive; I suspect that read/write speed is the same as Apple's but the seek
is slower.
I have been running my W9 since May 16th without any failures. I would
assume the CP drive would be just as reliable since it's the same drive.
Both drives have an eject button. Don't use it - the system gets just as
confused as if you ejected disks from the Apple drives via the paper-clip
method. Let the drive do its auto-eject!
I paid $195 + $6 shipping for the CP drive; I think the W9 drive is
slightly higher but you should check with them to be sure. I neglected to
inquire about CP's warranty; W9 is 90 days with a 1-year at extra cost.
Addresses & Phone #s (alphabetical order here, no priority):
Central Point Software
9700 SW Capitol Hy., Suite 100
Portland, OR 97219
(503) 244-5782
Warp Nine Engineering Inc.
1751 West County Road B
Suite 107
St. Paul, Minnesota 55113
(612) 426-9769 -or- (800) 328-6795, Ext. 433 (Guess which YOU'LL use)
-Brian Diehm
Tektronix, Inc. (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply. These sound like en-
dorsements because they are endorsements. But don't think
they're TEKTRONIX endorsements.)