engsoc@watale.waterloo.edu (Engineering Society, CPH 1327, x2323) (04/10/89)
I am surprised that the net hasn't had much discussion about Apple's
forthcoming Mac Laptop. Well then, I'd like to get the discussion going.
I have submitted two messages. This one: 'Apple Laptop - REALITY' and
the next: 'Apple Laptop - FANTASY'. The reason I chose these two
directions is that there WILL be a Laptop released in the summer, it will
be ~17 pounds and ~$6,500...that is the REALITY. If you wish to talk
about this subject, please reply to this note.
HOWEVER, for those of you with active imaginations and a lust for the next
genaration hardware PLEASE RESPOND TO THE 'FANTASY' MESSAGE!!!
Here is how I predict reality:
Apple Laptop:
68030 16MHz CPU
68882 math co-processor
2 Meg RAM standard
1.44 Meg FDHD floppy
40 Meg Hard Disk
640x480 'Paper white' LCD display
All SE ports: Serial, Ext. Floppy, SCSI, ADB, etc.
1 Direct/30 slot
Basically, it will be an SE/30 (oops, SEx) in a 17 pound laptop format
for a slightly higher price. Think this is beyond reality?? If you
do than stay away from the 'FANTASY' message...
Ciao!
Jay Gibson
#begin mental signiture
Picture, if you will, that you are in the middle of a lush, green forest.
The sound of water is all around you. The sun breaks through the dense
treetops to provide a peaceful, muted illumination. Then your boss
steps into your office and plunks 5 lbs. of new work on your desk.
....AAARRRGHH, what's so great about reality!!
#end mental signiture masticol@paul.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) (04/10/89)
Jay Gibson writes: > I have submitted two messages. This one: 'Apple Laptop - REALITY' and > the next: 'Apple Laptop - FANTASY'. The reason I chose these two > directions is that there WILL be a Laptop released in the summer, it will > be ~17 pounds and ~$6,500...that is the REALITY. A 17-pound laptop for $6500 is not a reality. It is another Apple Edsel. At 17 pounds, it is not even a laptop; it's half your baggage allotment to some places. At $6500, it's half the annual budget of some of the countries you'd take it to. (2.61538462E-3 ~= 17/6500 smiley.) OK, Sun, warm up yer soldering irons, Apple's letting you take another shot at them! If you can bring out a Sun laptop that weighs 8 pounds and costs $3500, you'll corner the market in iconic-interface laptop computers.
moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer) (04/11/89)
Unfortunately, Jay's reality prediction appears to be a fantasy, at least at
this time. I'm sure the 68030-based Laptop will be out by the end of 1990,
but the 1989 summer laptop is going to be:
a) 68000-based.
b) heavy (15 lbs.) and no slots.
c) EXPENSIVE. Like just under $8,000.
Some employees of a Large Seattle Firm were invited down to take a look at
it, and mentioned their impressions of it to me. There general impression
was that the screen looks great, but when they heard the price, there
reaction was "For a 68000-based machine? Forget it."
According to Mac The Knife, the 68030 version is still under development;
they might be able to have it out by fall, but Sculley had promised a laptop
by summer, so we get the ol' 68000 model. And you can bet that Apple will
wait a while before releasing a 68030 (or 040) model after that...
"Yes, I produced and
directed a movie. A guy
had come to me with a
great script called
ROTHRO, LIZARD OF DOOM.
I loved it, but I figured
a lot of people would
have trouble remembering
the name. I know I did.
So I made a few changes,
and we released the
film."
"ED SMITH, LIZARD OF
DOOM."
---
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM
Manual UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, hplsla, thebes, microsoft}!fluke!moriarty
CREDO: You gotta be Cruel to be Kind...
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>fozzard@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Richard Fozzard) (04/11/89)
>Basically, it will be an SE/30 (oops, SEx) in a 17 pound laptop format
17 pounds??? An SE/30 weighs only 19.5! You could do almost as well by
just adding an LCD display to a IIcx (14lbs).
One of the biggest PC laptops, the Compaq 286SLT, has a 40 meg drive,
3.5 floppy, _detachable_ keyboard, internal modem slot, 640x480 8 grey-
level display, AND 3-5 hour battery for 14 pounds and $5900. It also
has connectors for external drives, monitor, and an AT bus expansion
base, making it practical as one's only computer. An especially neat
feature is a single "standby" button that stretches battery power from
hours to days.
I can understand why the Apple costs more, but not why it weighs more.
Will the Apple have battery power, modem slot, detachable keyboard,
connection for (same or other resolution) external monitor, and
Nubus expansion box?
Apple has always prided itself on using the latest (almost) technology.
(It's a good thing, too, since there is no Mac clone competition). Let
us hope that Apple can with their _future_ laptop at least match
_current_ PC technology!
========================================================================
Richard Fozzard
University of Colorado "Serendipity empowers"
fozzard@boulder.colorado.edudlw@hpsmtc1.HP.COM (David L. Williams) (04/12/89)
o The laptop will have a 68000 NOT a 68030. At 16 meghtz. o Toshiba already has a nice laptop (t5200)out so its too late for Sun, unless they could price it @ 3500. But then there would still be the problem of no end user software--other than the standard ugly UNIX stuff. -David