G.GBERT@LEAR.STANFORD.EDU (Gregory Hulbert) (10/18/88)
Comparing the list price of a Mac II system with the university price of the NeXT machine is indeed comparing Apples to Oranges. So, let's compare Apples and NeXTarines. From the local university consortium price list revised just a couple days ago, the university price for a Mac IIx with a 4MB memory expansion kit (for a total of 8MB RAM) is $6375. This does _not_ include a monitor, video card, or hard disk; it does include the 1.44 MB internal disk drive. Since the NeXT box comes with a 17" monochrome monitor, it would be fair to add such a monitor's price to the Mac IIx configuration rather than the much smaller monochrome monitor from Apple. It so happens that the university also has Radius monitors at discount prices. Including a Radius Full Page Display and required video interface card for the Mac II, the cost of the Mac IIx configuration is $7750. Now compare this to the $6500 university price given in the NeXT product announcement. It appears that the NeXT box has the lower price for comparable _hardware_. Actually, the NeXT machine's hardware in the above comparison is better since it includes a 256MB drive. I hope this clears up the confusion and discussion generated by an invalid price comparison of comparable Mac and the NeXT machines. Perhaps somebody would be so kind as to conduct a similar comparison for Sun machines. Disclaimer: The university prices given above may vary from school to school. I purposefully have not mentioned software in the above comparison. Greg Hulbert -------