t35033u@saha.hut.fi (Jarkko Hietaniemi) (09/25/89)
Awfully sorry to send this here, but my mail keeps bouncing back. So if you are not today in the mood of being Christopher Brand, Berne, Switzerland, wizard@sosaria.ccs.imp.com, please use the 'k' -key. This letter is meant to Chris Brand, Berne, Switzerland. If you feel not to be him, bounce it back to t35033u@saha.hut.fi ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, this query arised from your article, "the Amiga Review" in the USENET news in the comp.sys.amiga group. It seems to be (as far as I can judge) quite a good one, but one thing especially raised my burning interest -- and in fact, interest of many of my colleagues back here in the Helsinki University of Technology. You want to know what part...well, the ending lines of it: --- clippety clip ------------------------------------------------------------- 9.Prices -------- These prices are possible prices. They may vary, especially since these are European prices, but to give an idea what an Amiga system costs, they are exact enough. - Amiga 2000 with 1 meg of RAM, 1 880 K disk drive, keyboard, mouse, system software and a RGB monitor US$ 1250.- - Amiga 500 with 0.5 meg of RAM, the rest as above US$ 950.- - 68020/68881/68851 Accelerator Board with 2 megs of 32 bit RAM US$ 1900.- - Harddisk Controller DMA >900 K/sec US$ 470.- - Flicker Fixer US$ 450.- - XT card 8 MHz US$ 550.- - AT card 8 MHz US$ 1250.- - Macintosh Emulator incl. Mac disk drive US$ 650.- --- end of plagiarism --------------------------------------------------------- And why is this so interesting you may ask ? Errr...promise not laugh...in Finland, the market of Commodore products is monopolised by a single company. The result is obvious: prices are horrifying. Same examples : Amy 500 WITH ONLY 512 kB RAM WITHOUT RGB-monitor costs 900 US$. Yes, you read correctly. Nine hundred dollars. Oh yes, one can buy the 512 kB additional RAM with battery-backuped clock (for 225 US$) and some RGB-CRT (e. g. Philips) (for 350 US$) Simple additions and presto -- the same combination you claim to cost 950 US$ costs us in here 1475 US$. You see know why we are more than curious about your article. The ratio gets even worse when going to more advanced gadgetry --- Amy 2000 here about 2250 US$ (cf. your 1250), not to mention that as in the lil' Amy case -- RGB monitor not included Now, you were joking about those prices, right? If you were not, PLEASE contact us (that is to say, me) (me schizophrenic?) as soon as you can and inform us where, oh where can get get our hands to those C= products at so low a price. If you were joking...hahaha. hehehe. hohoho. It hurts too much to laugh. But never again joke on so serious subjects as money. Hoping to hear from you soon, In real life Jarkko Hietaniemi Internet: jhi@niksula.hut.fi
hardware@tcom.stc.co.uk (Group login for Hard) (09/26/89)
In article <25493@santra.UUCP> t35033u@saha.hut.fi (Jarkko Hietaniemi) writes: > >Awfully sorry to send this here, but my mail keeps bouncing back. > >So if you are not today in the mood of being Christopher Brand, Berne, > And why is this so interesting you may ask ? stuff about prices deleted.. > > Errr...promise not laugh...in Finland, the market of Commodore > > products is monopolised by a single company. The result is > > obvious: prices are horrifying. > > Same examples : Amy 500 WITH ONLY 512 kB RAM WITHOUT RGB-monitor > > costs 900 US$. Yes, you read correctly. Nine hundred dollars. > > Oh yes, one can buy the 512 kB additional RAM with battery-backuped > > clock (for 225 US$) and some RGB-CRT (e. g. Philips) (for 350 US$) > > Simple additions and presto -- the same combination you claim > > to cost 950 US$ costs us in here 1475 US$. You see know why we > > are more than curious about your article. The ratio gets even > > worse when going to more advanced gadgetry --- > > Amy 2000 here about 2250 US$ (cf. your 1250), not to mention that > > as in the lil' Amy case -- RGB monitor not included > These prices are ridiculous, let me quote you some UK prices - these are the cheapest that I know of and I am qouting from memory. I have assumed an exchange rate of US$1.6 == 1 Pound Sterling. Amiga A500 standard 0.5 Mb + Modulator - US$528. Amiga B2000 standard 1 Mb - US$1344 (not much demand so price is higher). A590 Hard Drive Plus - US$544. 1/2 Mb expansion with clock for A500 (not Commodore) - US$132 Monitor 1084S / Phillips 8842 ? - $320. External Drive (not Commodore) - US$126. These prices are the result of extreme competition so shopping around can get you even better deals. I bought my A500 / 1084 from a shop in Tottenham Court RD in London which has about 30 electical shops in close proximity all trying to sell the same products so by going from shop to shop I got a very good deal, of course buying on the cheap could result in a lack of user support but you don't get much of that from shops in this country anyway as far as I have managed to find! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Mitchell Design Engineer - STC Telecoms , London , England. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------