ali@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Ali Ozer) (11/18/87)
------ Well, seems like Apple has decided to listen to those Byte benchmarks after all... taken right out of page 65 of number 5.13 off Bay Area Computer Currents, in an article entitled "As Apple Readies New Macintosh, Developers Offer Upgrades:" `Apple is developing an upgraded Macintosh II based on Motorola's top-of-the-line 80386 microprocessor... will make the II "four times faster." ... boards won't come cheap --- $6000 is the quoted price.' The funny thing is, the article mentions the 80386 FOUR times. Both the author and the editor must've been sleeping on the job that day... Ali Ozer, ali@rocky.stanford.edu
mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Mike Khaw) (11/19/87)
> after all... taken right out of page 65 of number 5.13 off Bay Area > Computer Currents, in an article entitled "As Apple Readies New > Macintosh, Developers Offer Upgrades:" [ quote about 80386 Mac II ] > The funny thing is, the article mentions the 80386 FOUR times. Both the > author and the editor must've been sleeping on the job that day... Well, those writers aren't always techies. Besides, "68030" and "80386" have in common: - 5 digit length - a "6" on one end - the sequence "803" How's a poor harried hack supposed to keep this straight? If you pretend real hard, you might convince yourself that "sixty-eight-oh-thirty" and "eighty-three-eighty-six" sound almost the same. B-) Mike Khaw -- internet: mkhaw@teknowledge-vaxc.arpa usenet: {uunet|sun|ucbvax|decwrl|uw-beaver}!mkhaw%teknowledge-vaxc.arpa USnail: Teknowledge Inc, 1850 Embarcadero Rd, POB 10119, Palo Alto, CA 94303
cm450s02@uhccux.UUCP (Jeff T. Segawa) (11/19/87)
Guess that an upgraded Mac II w/68030 (they did mean 68030 and not 80386, I assume..?) was inevitable. Hope they throw the 68882 in too. If it means not having to buy the 68851 chip, it might not be such a bad deal. Hope the $6K price was for the complete Mac (//e?), not the upgrade, since my Mac II is only 3 months old and I hate having a system that's slightly out of date. A $700 price tag, I could swallow with a bit of kicking and screaming. I'd be first in line for one, though. Did that article say anything about availibility, or is it still pretty much a rumor?
tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) (11/20/87)
The easiest way to keep this straight is to remember that there are only two "real" types of numbers in Silicon Valley: 6's , and 8's. Microprocessors which start with 6 (6800, 68000, 68010, 68020, etc.) are made by Motorola and used by Apple (and many others). Microprocessors which start with 8 (8088, 80386, etc.) are made by Intel and are used by IBM. -Ted
gillies@uiucdcsp.UUCP (11/20/87)
Don't hold your breath for a $700 68030 upgrade. Electronics Magazine
reported that the chips cost $400 (12Mhz) or $550 (16Mhz) in sample
quantities. Your Mac II 68020 chip costs about half that ($199?).
You should double those prices and add a hefty amount ($500?) to pay
for a NuBus card with SIMM sockets, software, etc... Hence, a 16Mhz
68030 upgrade for the Mac II will probably sell for about $1500-$2000.
I wonder: Who really needs all this speed? Wouldn't you get more
value by purchasing a graphics accelerator card, or a DMA hard disk
interface, or a big screen display?
The only use I can think of for all this speed is to run SPICE or draw
fractals or something....
Don Gillies {ihnp4!uiucdcs!gillies} U of Illinois
{gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu}dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (11/22/87)
> Don't hold your breath for a $700 68030 upgrade. Electronics Magazine > reported that the chips cost $400 (12Mhz) or $550 (16Mhz) in sample > quantities. Your Mac II 68020 chip costs about half that ($199?). > You should double those prices and add a hefty amount ($500?) to pay > for a NuBus card with SIMM sockets, software, etc... Hence, a 16Mhz > 68030 upgrade for the Mac II will probably sell for about $1500-$2000. 680_2_0 upgrades sell for $1500-$2000 for SE's and +'s. If we assume chip price to be a good indicator, that would put a 68030 board at $4000-$6000, given your quoted prices. You just can't get from here to there without an order of magnitude diff- erence in price, whether you're talking about accellerator cards or nuclear power plants... > Don Gillies {ihnp4!uiucdcs!gillies} U of Illinois > {gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu} ---- Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office Internet: dorner@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu UUCP: ihnp4!uiucuxc!dorner IfUMust: (217) 333-3339