FXDDR@ALASKA.BITNET (11/02/87)
In the Jade flyer that came with this month's Byte they have a Genicom laser printer for $998, about $1300 expanded to a 1.5 MB HP clone. They've also got the HP laserjet ii for a pretty reasonable price. Think Atari will announce their laser printer this week? Just based on the ads in the magazines I don't see how they could ask for more than about $900-1000 for their no-RAM model. What I find most disturbing is the continuing drop in 80286 AT-clone prices. The folks across the hall just got several of these cheapies, and to be fair, they are pretty nice. Price/performance is easily comparable to the ST (especially with Atari's higher dealer margins these days), and of course they offer the ever-popular "standardized compatibility" (more so than IBM's products!). It is computer purchase season around here, with dividend checks and research grants coming in. The question of the day is "Where can I buy a 1040 or Mega?" The answer is "at the nearest authorized Atari store, for new higher prices." The response is "Forget it, then... Atari isn't the only computer company." The AT clones are popular second choices, and the Macs (after university discount) aren't far behind. Funny thing...there were some complaints recently on info-apple about mail order/discount suppression and high dealer margins (which no doubt finance their university discounts)...the writers asked if Apple was trying to become an IBM clone. Is Atari trying to become an Apple clone? (If so, let's have comparable university programs from them!) Sorry, annoyance is breeding fatalism. Don Rice FXDDR@ALASKA.bitnet