andyn@pro-sol.cts.COM (Andy Nicholas) (08/29/88)
re: IIgs Plus case design ( keep in mind that this entire commentary thing is driven to get Apple to change the IIgs's case in an upcoming machine, not get people lined up to buy them. First things first. :-) > Andy, I know what you are thinking when you talk about your ideas with > the new GS, but believe it or not Apple is not in the developing stage of > there new computer, they are more like in their testing stages. This is not an idea that takes much thought to execute. The design for a new case can be done in an afternoon. This is not an idea which takes a committee months of preparation to decide on. Anyone with a little imagination can design the extra space for the case. It's not that hard. Besides, why do you think I'm mentioning it *NOW*, and not 2 years down the road after the new machine is already out. Then I'd be assured of disaster. > Apple is not going to go out and pay money to have the molding of their > cases changed to accomodate a HD, at least not for the $500 or so you think > it will cost. figure it out, Apple won't make that much money > on it. Who says apple "has to go out and get the molding changed" -- why do you think apple has employees? What do you think they do all day, sleep? (popular notion, but very untrue) I never said "it would cost apple $500 to have the case changed" -- they won't have to "CHANGE" anything, they just have to do it right for the next machine in the IIgs family. I would hope that apple would only charge *US* $500 for an upgrade. (sans hard drive) Apple won't make money on it? What do you think they design new machines for? The fun of it? Apple is in the business to make MONEY, and this would allow them to make more of it. If you assume selling 500,000 upgrades, and each upgrade NETS apple a profit of $100, then they have made $50,000,000. Then, if you assume that apple might sell 100,000 hard drives (1/10 of the market..) and they make $100 net profit off of each of those devices, they have made a nice tidy sum of $10,000,000 on hard drive sales. And let me tell you, they net more than $100 per sale. Apple make money? You better believe it. > First of all it would cost way too much. You figure the GS alone goes > for $700 at the least right now, but with the HD and SCSI built in plus an > extra charge to cover their losses on the re-designing of the case you are > looking at, at least $1500 bucks just for the IIgs, case, mouse, HD, and > SCSI, then there will be a charge on the keyboard ($100 or more) so you are > looking at, at least $2300 which is very high.. First off, I think that there wouldn't be *ANY* loss in redesigning the case because if you introduce it with a new machine ANYWAY, what's there to lose? Second, who said you *HAVE* to buy a hard drive with the machine? Does your local Apple dealer point a gun at your head and say "BUY THIS!" when you visit them? If they do, I'd switch stores. :-) I would assume that apple would keep the same relative pricing structure for the IIgs as for a new machine. But, that's a marketing decision, not engineering, which is most of what I'm talking about. If you're talking about getting a whole new system, sure the price would be fairly steep, but for those people who already have IIgs systems, they would (presumably) only have to pay a $500, or so, fee to upgrade.. and viola! new system. (Believe it or not, you can use the same disk drives, monitor, keyboard and mouse.. and it won't kill you). If apple doesn't offer an upgrade, then you can stick to your machine, I'll sell mine and get a IIgs Plus! > I would tend to think that all the GS users would not buy it unless you > could trade in your GS to get it which Apple won't do cause then they > couldn't do anything with them and they would lose out! Gee, you're not very up on what apple has been doing for the last 10 years. Apple has offered an upgrade from every major computer system to another with the exception of the Mac II and Mac SE. What does apple do with the systems that are traded in? Who cares? You spent your money on them already! And if apple gets you to upgrade, they get their second pint of blood, and you should be happy because apple has showered this new machine on you... Apple could care less about the old parts in the older machines that get traded in. What they care about is getting more money out of *YOU*. Great incentive for apple to offer an upgrade, eh? > P.S.- Hey Andy, it is a great idea but it useless unless you just make a > whole different computer! What do you think the IIgs Plus is all about? This is the point I've trying to make. We're getting a new machine. Let's all try to get apple to make it a *GREAT* one. Andy Nicholas ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-sol!andyn@nosc.MIL INET: andyn@pro-sol.CTS.COM College: nicholaA@moravian.EDU
andyn@pro-sol.cts.COM (Andy Nicholas) (08/29/88)
(are any of you fellows from apple keeping notes? :-) > One marketing drawback I see to this internal hard disk idea is the addition > of 4 inches to the case. A big selling point to all computers (IBM or > Apple) is a small footprint. A wider footprint won't be intepreted as more > robust, but as a dinosaur of a machine. Actually, the small footprint idea only works down to a certain size. Adding 4 inches to the width of the IIgs isn't going to make it as big as a Mac II, now is it? Is the Mac II, which is enormous by comparison, a dinosaur? I don't think so. It's not like we're asking apple to make it 3-4 FEET wider.. > Well then look at it this way. Where else could they put it? The IIgs > is one of the smallest computers on the market. Adding 4 inches to the new > model won't effect anything becasue people won't be saying "Well **** it's > too big for me" the'll be thinking "hey apple finally got sculley's head out > of the *** and put in a hard drive". People really don't care about the > size of a computer much anymore... Look at how big the MAC II and PS/2 are, > most people don't shop for computers by size. If people did everyone would > own a Timex Sinclair. Amen. Believe it or not, there are still some people around who think that bigger is better. (and 4 inches of width on the IIgs isn't that much! :-) Andy Nicholas ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-sol!andyn@nosc.MIL INET: andyn@pro-sol.CTS.COM College: nicholaA@moravian.EDU
gwyn@smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (08/31/88)
In article <8808291039.AA02428@crash.cts.com> pnet01!pro-sol!andyn@nosc.mil writes: >4 inches of width on the IIgs isn't that much! Yes, it is, to some people. 4 inches more would force me to do some drastic rearrangement of my work area at home. Keyboards especially tend to be too large these days; I need room on my desk for paper, a mouse pad, my cup of coffee, etc. There just isn't room to waste.
shankar@srcsip.UUCP (Subash Shankar) (09/03/88)
In article <8808291037.AA02419@crash.cts.com> pnet01!pro-sol!andyn@nosc.mil writes: > >for those people who already have IIgs systems, they would (presumably) only >have to pay a $500, or so, fee to upgrade.. and viola! new system. (Believe >it or not, you can use the same disk drives, monitor, keyboard and mouse.. ^^^^^^^ Is this true? Current (substantiated) rumors say that the GS+ will have a 640X400 4 color and 320X400 16 color mode. According to the GS+ guinea pigs, these modes are heavy on flicker, so they are probably interlaced. Anyway, does the current Apple analog RGB monitor support interlacing with the extra lines? Then again, I can't think of a use of these modes except to brag about your computer and view pretty pictures (witness the Amiga's interlaced modes), so maybe none of the new software will use these modes.