bchin@umd5.umd.edu (Bill Chin) (06/28/91)
I'll be purchasing a NeXTstation soon, and while flipping through the price list, I'm amazed at how much NeXT peripherals cost. The 16mb memory expansion (4-4mb SIMMS) is around $2500!! That's more than $600 a SIMM! IBM doesn't even charge that much. I know I can get memory elsewhere, but what exactly happens to my warranty??? Will my service rep (the campus) refuse to even look at it? Disk drive prices are better, but not much better. They at least beat IBM's and Apple's pricing. However, they are more than 150% of most mail-order places. How does NeXT expect us students to purchase *usable* system or have developer's flock to their systems without resorting to third party components that may void all or part of the machine's warranty? These two components seem to stick out like sore thumbs compared to the pricing of almost every other peripheral. A CD-ROM drive for just over $600 (reasonable, not great ) and the printer pricing are examples of the type of value I thought NeXT represents. The pricing of the hard drives I would expect from the monoliths of the industry, but not really from a young go-getter. The memory prices I feel are just *way* out of line. I would be willing to pay a premium for genuine NeXT products, but that's ridiculous. That's just my two cents worth... the base machine is a great value (that's what I'm getting), but when trying to convince other people of the NeXT platform, mentioning the price of a configured *NeXT* bundle will give most people sticker shock. And pricing it out for 3rd party components just doesn't bring the hair back down enough. -- Bill Chin internet:bchin@umd5.umd.edu PC/IP, Computer Science Center NeXTmail:bchin@is-next.umd.edu U-Maryland, College Park *Standard Disclaimers Apply*
Gerhard.Moeller@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de (Gerhard Moeller) (06/28/91)
bchin@umd5.umd.edu (Bill Chin) writes: >I'll be purchasing a NeXTstation soon, and while flipping through >the price list, I'm amazed at how much NeXT peripherals cost. >The 16mb memory expansion (4-4mb SIMMS) is around $2500!! >That's more than $600 a SIMM! IBM doesn't even charge that much. [..] >Disk drive prices are better, but not much better. They at least >beat IBM's and Apple's pricing. However, they are more than >150% of most mail-order places. Oh, you're lucky then. Here in Germany things are even worse... ;-} >How does NeXT expect us students to purchase *usable* system or >have developer's flock to their systems without resorting to >third party components that may void all or part of the machine's >warranty? These two components seem to stick out like sore thumbs Funny you ask. I asked this one NeXT themselves in a (very friendly) letter - guess what? - No response yet. But maybe look at it this way. NeXT wants to earn money. That's ok. And here in Germany it looks like it, as if they want to get even more money here... ;-} Very strange is how they treat students. (though we had this discussion already...) Not at all is the answer. Students get 5% off (great isn't it...) - But if you have a company and call the NeXT dealer, he'd give you _instantly_ 10% or more. For one single machine. (This is NO bull, we tested it out, just for fun...) - But of course the dealer tried to get us buy a 'big' machine... So to get not toooooo depressed think about the following: A student or developer has the time (and maybe the know-how) to attach 3rd party products to a slab or cube. A company probably wouldn't do that. They might want to "plug'n'play". So we're much better off, aren't we??? just my impression, Gerhard. -- +---------------------------< principiis obsta! >---------------------------+ | Gerhard Moeller, Teichstrasse 12, 2900 Oldenburg (FRG) [Geb. 02/21/68] | | inhouse: gimli!gemoe uucp: ...(unido!)uniol!gmoeller | |DOMAIN: gerhard.moeller@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de | |BITNET: gmoeller%arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de@DOLUNI1 (106495@DOLUNI1) | +-----------------------> the medium is the message <-----------------------+