cs111olg@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU (Oleg Kiselev) (03/21/86)
Recently I made a statement about Sun-3 workstation prices in this
newsgroup. Several requests came in for more info and exact pricings.
I stated that one can get a Sun-3/50 with a drive for <$9,000
However I was writing from memory, without references and made a few
errors. Here is a partial price list as it appeared at UCLA:
(it is headered by "UCLA PRICES")
Model # Descr Price(w. UC discounts)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sun-3/50M-4 Monochr. Desktop Workstation $7,900($5,530)
o 15Mhz 68020
o 4MB memory (NON-expandable)
o Ethernet transceiver
o SCSI host adapter
o 2 RS-423 serial ports
o 1152x900 19" monochrome monitor
Sun-3/52M-4 Stand-Alone Workstation Package $13,900($9,730)
o Sun-3/50M-4
o Option 511 - 71MB Disk & 1/4" tape
o Sun OS Single-User licence, tapes & Manuals
Option 152 FP co-processor (68881) $700($490)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The reason it is so cheap is (I guess) the realtively small,
unexpandable memory, lower processor speed (vs 16.?MHz) and
unsuitability to work as a file server or a multi-user machine.
As you have noticed I was wrong about "under $9000". It is over $9000
and ~$14,000 if you are not affiliated with UCLA. However, the disk
is NOT 40Mbyte (the Sun-2 I used had that so I failed to notice a
different drive size) but 71Mbyte with a 1/4" tape drive. So I guess
the extra 31 Mbytes and a streamer should be worth at least $1000
:-).
Seriously tho', I am sorry I have misled some people and I hope I did
not ruin anybody's negotiations with Sun :-)
Now, for another unfounded claim: I feel ISI 68020 workstations (VME
bus) are WAY better and faster that Suns (at 2x the price).
Oleg Kiselev
ucla-cs!oac6.oleg