dan@hpnmdla.HP.COM (Dan Pleasant) (03/28/90)
Does anybody know what the delivery schedule is for the Mac IIfx? I'm about to order one, but if I'm not going to get it for a long time I'd rather keep my money collecting interest in the bank until Apple gets production ramped up. I don't remember any mention of availability in the press release blurbs, and my local Computerland store claims to be completely in the dark. (I'm a developer, so I won't be buying the machine through a retail outlet anyway.) Anybody have any information? How about a good guess?? Thanks in advance for all information. Unless I am mistaken, other people besides myself will be interested in the answer to this question, so perhaps responses should be posted to the net. Dan Pleasant (Too lazy to make a .signature)
gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (03/30/90)
Due to the recent problems with the mac portable and mac iici, it
seems a little hasty to buy a macintosh when they are first announced.
Especially now, Apple is under a lot of pressure to introduce new
products and boost their sales.
You may find half your software doesn't work, due to color quickdraw
"In ROM", or your hard disk sticks, or your clock battery is soldered
in, or your monitor display jiggles, or your ROM won't allow you to
address >1Mb of Nubus memory, or your PMMU socket is not completely
soldered to the board, or your HD floppy drive is excessively flakey.
All these problems have already happened. What will it be with the IIfx?
Now, are you sure you want to rush out and buy a IIfx?
Don Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois
1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801
ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gillieshf07+@andrew.cmu.edu (Howard Haruo Fukuda) (03/30/90)
In message <8400243@m.cs.uiuc.edu>, gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes: >Due to the recent problems with the mac portable and mac iici, it >seems a little hasty to buy a macintosh when they are first announced. >Especially now, Apple is under a lot of pressure to introduce new >products and boost their sales. > >You may find half your software doesn't work, due to color quickdraw >"In ROM", or your hard disk sticks, or your clock battery is soldered >in, or your monitor display jiggles, or your ROM won't allow you to >address >1Mb of Nubus memory, or your PMMU socket is not completely >soldered to the board, or your HD floppy drive is excessively flakey. >All these problems have already happened. What will it be with the IIfx? > >Now, are you sure you want to rush out and buy a IIfx? The answer is if I had the money for a IIfx and the need for a IIfx (I don't), I would order a IIfx. What IIci problems? I have a IIci and I can count the number of applications that I would like to use and don't work on 1 finger. 1) Even before color quickdraw, Apple told programmers not to assume the screen would be 1 bit deep. Those programs that didn't follow didn't work with color. It took a new version of the program, not a new revision to the machine to fix this. 2) The hard drive problem was a problem with all Quantum ProDrives. It didn't affect just the models that were recently introduced and had Quantum hard drives. It affected all models with Quantum hard drives evenly. 3) Concerning the Mac II ROM not being able to address >1mb Nubus and PMMU sockets, Apple has given free motherboard swaps for people with these machines. I believe that is a reasonable policy. If you have a need and the means, then the possibility that there might be a bug in the ROM shouldn't stop you from buying one. IMO, these problems have been dealt with reasonably in the past (except the SE fan deal. It took $40 to get a SE Silencer.) If you will end up paying the same price for the machine then you are paying a high opportunity cost for the entire time you are waiting for them to "get the bugs out". My 2 cents -Howard Internet: hf07+@andrew.cmu.edu
russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) (03/30/90)
In article <8400243@m.cs.uiuc.edu> gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes: [lots of absolute proof that he is having feelings known as 'sour grapes'] > >Now, are you sure you want to rush out and buy a IIfx? Well, I'll tell you what-- send me $10,000 or so, and I'll risk the IIfx for a year-- if it is any good, you can have it after the year, otherwise, I'll suffer with it. -- Matthew T. Russotto russotto@eng.umd.edu russotto@wam.umd.edu ][, ][+, ///, ///+, //e, //c, IIGS, //c+ --- Any questions?