sunila@vlsisj.VLSI.COM (Sunil Ashtaputre) (07/26/88)
I am looking for help in deciding what kind of Mac to buy. Primary
user will be my wife, who is a undergraduate majoring in CS; secondary use
will be anything else we can think of.
Specifically, I am looking for advice on
(1) hardware - mac2 or se? how much memory, internal/external drives;
color/bw, etc.
(2) software - what we need;
(3) price - she gets the apple student prices at her campus bookstore; do we
need to shop around anyway?
(4) are ads for used macs posted anywhere other than misc/ba.market ?
Please e-mail responses; I will collect, summarise and post if there is
sufficient interest.
Sunil Ashtaputresunila@vlsisj.VLSI.COM (Sunil Ashtaputre) (08/03/88)
(I am repeating this because I sent it out with the wrong subject line - sorry for the repeat). Many thanks to everyone who responded to my earlier posting on what Mac configuration to buy! - isn't the net wonderful ?!. There were too many people to respond individually to each one, so this is a collective thanks to all ! Here's the summary of responses I have received so far - please keep responding if you have new suggestions; I will post an updated summary if I get enough new responses. Btw, I am planning on actually buying it around the end of this month, so I still have time to collect responses. (1) Hardware - many people thought the mac 2 was overkill and that the SE was ample; one responder thought the plus was the best deal going, while another suggested I buy a 2 to allow for growing future needs. Everyone recommended going for 2-2.5 Mb of memory and a 20 Mb (min) hard disc; most people recommended 40 - 80 Mb disc. Opinion was divided on 1 or 2 floppy drives. Although some responders suggested non-Apple printers, at least one felt that the Mac was best with a Apple printer. (2) Software - I got positive recommendations for compilers - Lightspeed C / Pascal (many); Turbo Pascal; word proc - WriteNow, Word (also one negative one for word); utilities - SUM (disk recovery); Suitcase (organise fonts and disks); SuperPaint; Excel; Microphone, MacTerminal (communication). 3) Price - everyone was unanimous that Apple student prices were the best deal going for the Mac. Many people suggested third party peripherals were just as good and cheaper, however; (buy a dual floppy SE; save enough by not buying a Apple hard disk to buy a third party external drive, suggested one). One poster recommended MacConnection, a mail-order house in NH, for discount prices on software (btw, I would appreciate a number/address for them). So - thanks for the suggestions, and keep the replies rolling if you have new suggestions. Sunil Ashtaputre 408-434-7609