wozniak@utkux1.utk.edu (Bryon Lape) (10/23/89)
Last Friday I was so worried about getting the price correct, that I got the company wrong. It is Cheetah that is coming out with a 486 for $4995 and ALR with a 386 for under $2000. (Please note that this is a 80386, not a SX.) Would someone please let me while Intel is still making the 8086 and the 80286? There will always be DOS as long as these machines are still being made. I guess IBM has the same problem Apple has: make the "new" technology so expensive, people will have to buy the old stuff under a new hood, ie- PS/2 20,30,50,50Z,60 and the new Apple IIe, IIc. Is there no end? Oh, by the way, Northgate does sell a 286 for under $2000 (20 Mhz I believe) and 386 for under $3000. There is no way that the 386SX will survive as long as the clone makes pride themselves on making inexpensive full 386 machines. IBM and Compaq are not the on fish in the sea. -bryon- Boy I hope I got it right this time.
tdrinkar@cosmos.acs.calpoly.edu (Terrell Drinkard) (10/23/89)
In article <1237@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu> wozniak@utkux1.utk.edu (Bryon Lape) writes: > > Would someone please let me while Intel is still making the >8086 and the 80286? There will always be DOS as long as these machines >are still being made. I guess IBM has the same problem Apple has: make >the "new" technology so expensive, people will have to buy the old stuff >under a new hood, ie- PS/2 20,30,50,50Z,60 and the new Apple IIe, IIc. [stuff deleted] As I understand it, haveing worked for a clone manufacturer, the reason we continued to build the 8086 class machine was that the market demanded it. We sold something like 2000 XT machines a month. And the 286 machines were very hot sellers. The company I worked for is currently holding second place in Europe with a 286 machine. The 386's were just more money than some people were willing to pay. And have more power than they really need. My experiences as a consultant tend to bear this out. One man that I've done some work for has just upgraded from an XT to a 286 within the last two weeks. And he wasn't sure he was ready to do that. Another bought the PS/2 with the idea that nothing could be more 'compatible' than True Blue. When he couldn't get a hard drive to replace his 20Meg, he was rather depressed. Another bought a drill rig rather than upgrading his computer (AT&T PC6300) because he could continue to get by on the XT platform. Business people have a different perspective on computers than programmers. To summarize, I would say that the 8086 and the 80286 machines are going to be around for quite a long time yet because of the combination of price vs performance. Might I point out that 5 years ago the XT was considered a major powerhouse by IBM users and it 'only cost $3000'. Now you can purchase one any day of the week for $650. If the 'new' technology is expensive, and I'll grudgingly admit that you *may* have a point there, then it serves to drive down the price of the 'older' (but still quite useful) technology so that even more people can afford a computer. A very good thing, I think we will all agree. Terry Disclaimer et la Signaturo: Hell no, I'm not responsible for what I say! If everyone were responsible for what they said, we'd have had a balanced budget in 1984.