chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (08/19/89)
>> What I want to know is why anybody would buy an SE? For $800 or so >> (after the $300 price drop) more than a Plus you get exactly the same >> processor, an expansion slot that will probably never be used, and the >> ability to have an internal hard drive (convenient, but certainly not >> something which improves the machine substantially). With the new SEs, you >> also get a marginally better floppy drive (BFD). Get a Plus and use the >> money you save over the SE to buy a good printer, more memory, and/or a >> bigger/faster disk drive, any of which will substantially improve the >> system. >Uh, doesn't the SE have newer ROMs than the Plus? (i.e. 256K rather than 128K) You also get better performance, since you don't have cycle stealing on the video. You also get the ADB bus, which is where all the new peripherals (trackballs, etc) are being designed. You also get an internal fan and a heftier power supply. And a decent keyboard (the MacPlus keyboard was never my favorite). Plug in $70 for a Kensington fan and $130 for a Datadesk keyboard and all of a sudden the price isn't as bad. You'll save some money with a plus, but you'll be giving up some features and technologies that you may not need now, but you'll kick yourself later if you don't have them when they become important. Chuq Von Rospach =|= Editor,OtherRealms =|= Member SFWA/ASFA chuq@apple.com =|= CI$: 73317,635 =|= AppleLink: CHUQ [This is myself speaking. No company can control my thoughts.]
Allon.Stern@SOLARVAX.UMD.EDU (08/19/89)
In message <3943@phri.UUCP> Roy Smith says: > What I want to know is why anybody would buy an SE? For $800 or so > (after the $300 price drop) more than a Plus you get exactly the same > processor, an expansion slot that will probably never be used, and the > ability to have an internal hard drive (convenient, but certainly not > something which improves the machine substantially). With the new SEs, you > also get a marginally better floppy drive (BFD). Get a Plus and use the > money you save over the SE to buy a good printer, more memory, and/or a > bigger/faster disk drive, any of which will substantially improve the > system. Uh, doesn't the SE have newer ROMs than the Plus? (i.e. 256K rather than 128K) - -= Allon =- -
ech@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (ned.horvath) (08/20/89)
In message <3943@phri.UUCP> Roy Smith says: > What I want to know is why anybody would buy an SE?...Get a Plus and use > the money you save over the SE to buy [other goodies]... From article <8908181824.AA23766@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, by Allon.Stern@SOLARVAX.UMD.EDU: > Uh, doesn't the SE have newer ROMs than the Plus? (i.e. 256K rather than 128K) Yes, it does. However, at least through the impending system 7.0, the difference is made up by RAM patches to the ROM. You can take half your $800 savings and use it to give your Plus 4Mb of RAM, which ought to make up for the difference (in SPADES). The SE is also marginally faster than the Plus. However, the speed difference is easily dominated by the seek time on your hard drive. The only reasons I've seen to prefer the SE are the expansion slot (which the original poster didn't plan to use), and the fact that the educational discount price for a SE->SE/30 upgrade is only around $1200. There is no, and likely will never be, a Plus->SE/30 upgrade path, although there are third-party accelerators for the Plus. I recently purchased the SE/30 upgrade. Yes, it screams... =Ned Horvath=