cs123073@cs.brown.edu (Heng-Yi Lin) (09/22/90)
Hi Netters, I am considering the purchase of the new NeXTstation. One concern of mine is output device. Does the machine work with any PostScript printers? How about NeXT's own laser printer- last I heard (two year ago when it was introduced) it was $3,000 for university pricing. Has the price dropped since? Any information is appreciated. -Heng ----- Heng-Yi Lin ------------------------------------------------------------- Brown University Class of 1992 Computer Science & Economics cs123073@cs.brown.edu cs123073@browncs.bitnet -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
azure@portia.Stanford.EDU (Lai Heng Chua) (09/22/90)
My two cents worth. NeXT has been selling the optional hardware at a premium. My suggestion is to get a base system and get third party stuff. You have a 105M hard disk with the base system. You get a cheap third party hard disk such as WREN, format it (not a big deal) and configure the system on it to suit you. The advantage as I see it is you can carry your system around with you too and can use the 105 M drive for moving things around and for backups. Well you can put a lot of trash on it such as GIFs, TIFFs, sound files, manuals etc. It is a pity they don't have a carry away screen because the slab is highly portable but not the monitor. (Maybe something like some of the flat screen technology I have seen). You may want to get a 9600 baud modem since it is great to be able to FAX from your machine. Regular SIMMS <100ns would work (pls check). The height of the SIMMS might be important but they are not only available from NeXT. If you are not particularly bright you might have to play $400 for the missing software on an entire stack of disks. Someone should get a list of the features and estimated prices and post not only here but to the IBM PC and Mac net. Probably they wont buy NeXT machines but how are they going to know what they are missing :-| If you want to help NeXT a bit you guys should be positive. I hope they reach 30,000 new machines by year end. BTW you guys noticed that you got at least $1500 worth of free software with the original NeXT? I wished NeXT had continued bundling Lisp because poor students can't afford that kind of money for lisp software although I know of no computer science degree programs that doesn't have some need for Lisp nowadays. The optical I think, was worth $1500 but the speed killed it. New buyers don't even know what it means to be able to obtain the entire gnu collection plus some more in one disk or the ease with which one can back up 40 accounts. If the speed had improved to 35ms NeXT might have dispensed with the 105M hard disk and floppy drive. You are not going to like forking over $500 just for a floppy.. Find some friends with the new NeXT machines and have a handy external hard disk. User groups can help you with some of these software problems. People complain that NeXT was arrogant.. probably they think that Steve was rather. But the computer world need people with vision and guts. You wanna trade Steve for some ...er? Steve gambles on the future rather than in Las Vegas. Just as much seat gripping thrill. Couple of millions a pop. If you look at some of the software prices by third parties, don't you feel a little outraged? But there are other software vendors who are doing a great job and offer great prices. They need support and encouragement. Shareware people need you support too.
jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore) (09/22/90)
/ comp.sys.next / cs123073@cs.brown.edu (Heng-Yi Lin) / Sep 21, 1990 / > Does the [NeXTstation] work with any PostScript printers? How about > NeXT's own laser printer- last I heard (two year ago when it was > introduced) it was $3,000 for university pricing. Has the price dropped > since? Any printer, including postcript printers, can be connected to one of the serial ports. The list price of the NeXT laser printer is $1,795. Jacob -- Jacob Gore Jacob@Gore.Com boulder!gore!jacob
rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) (09/25/90)
In article <50712@brunix.UUCP> cs123073@cs.brown.edu (Heng-Yi Lin) writes: >I am considering the purchase of the new NeXTstation. One concern of mine is >output device. Does the machine work with any PostScript printers? yes > How about NeXT's own laser printer- last I heard (two year ago when > it was introduced) it was $3,000 for university pricing. > Has the price dropped since? The price was never 3000$. It was 2000$. Now it is less than 2000$ for the general public. So ecpect it to be at least 30% cheaper for academic pricing. Also the NeXT printer has a 400dpi resolution, most standard PostScript printers have only 300dpi (which is called draft mode on the NeXT printer...) Ronald ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Bernhard Shaw | rca@cs.brown.edu or antony@browncog.bitnet
shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) (09/25/90)
rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) writes: >The price was never 3000$. It was 2000$. Now it is less than 2000$ for >the general public. So ecpect it to be at least 30% cheaper for >academic pricing. Also the NeXT printer has a 400dpi resolution, most >standard PostScript printers have only 300dpi (which is called draft >mode on the NeXT printer...) As an alternative - especially for those of us not fortunate enough to get University pricing - how would running an HP III with HP/Adobe Postscript compare to the NeXT laster printer?
rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) (09/29/90)
In article <84@raysnec.UUCP>, shwake@raysnec.UUCP (Ray Shwake) writes: |> As an alternative - especially for those of us not fortunate |> enough to get University pricing - how would running an HP III with |> HP/Adobe Postscript compare to the NeXT laster printer? Badly. As I pointed out the printer costs now below 2000$ for the general public. How much is the HPIII with ps? But you get the following advantages: -400dpi resolution vs. 300dpi -automatic upgrade to the newest available PostScript version with each OS upgrade Ronald ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Bernhard Shaw | rca@cs.brown.edu or antony@browncog.bitnet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------