ty@thedog.cis.ufl.edu (Tyng-Jing Yang) (09/20/90)
The seven breakthroughs didn't make NeXT a good sale in the first year. Does it need another breakthrough ? Sure, but what is it? Is it 68040 board, 512M OD, 2.88 Floppy, color board(Monitor) or even more Applications ? IMHO, the answer is "Passive-Agressive Upgrade",appeared in "Techonology Watch" ,one of articles in BuzzNUG#3. I truly hope NeXT has the gut to break the rule in "Computer Shopping Guide";"Don't be the first to buy a new computer". Only "better(best) upgrade policy" can make the old coustomers happy (the extra salesmen for NeXT) and the new coustomers don't have to worry that it is hard to follow up. After the release of New NeXT, here is a question for NeXT's first-year personal buyers. "Are you regret to buy(love) NeXT too early ?" --- Tyng-Jing Yang ps: Early Birds should get the worms(reward,not bugs) -- ============================ === Tyng-Jing Yang === ============================
phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (09/20/90)
In article <TY.90Sep19234202@thedog.cis.ufl.edu>, ty@thedog.cis.ufl.edu (Tyng-Jing Yang) writes...
+After the release of New NeXT, here is a question for NeXT's first-year
+personal buyers.
+"Are you regret to buy(love) NeXT too early ?"
So far, an unequivocal NO for me. I only hope that NeXT will ship soon so that
other companies won't catch up before the 1st shipping date. I already know
folks here that may switch from a planned Apple to a NeXT.
Still, can someone please explain to me the pentire storyfor upgrading old NeXT
cubes: (1) Can I insert a color board into my NeXT cube, and hook it up to my
old monochrome monitor? I certainly wouldn't mind a screen processor. (2) Does
the upgrade 68040 board provide a few more greys? (3) Do the new NeXTs have the
same bus, do some models have the same OD, as my old one (so that I can add the
same upgrades)? (4) Should 2.88MB floppy drives be purchased from 3rd parties,
or from NeXT? Since I bet software will be distributed through these, one needs
to have at least one of these in the vicinity. 3rd parties charge >$500, which
comes to $1,500 with the 68040---half the price of a new NeXT, which would
provide 2 17" monitors if one could pull out the old stuff and hook it up to
the new one.
/ivo welch ivo@next.agsm.ucla.edujacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore) (09/20/90)
/ comp.sys.next / ty@thedog.cis.ufl.edu (Tyng-Jing Yang) / Sep 19, 1990 / > After the release of New NeXT, here is a question for NeXT's first-year > personal buyers. > > "Are you regret to buy(love) NeXT too early ?" No way. I have made (and continue to make) good use of it. I have the 040 upgrade on order, because it's a bargain for speeding up the CPU threefold. I'm not even a quarter of the way up to the memory capacity, my hard disk size is comfortable. I've used this machine for a year and a half, and it will probably last me another couple of years, at least, with the upgrade options available now. The only thing I wish for is a faster and more reliable OD drive. If you are looking for long term investments, stay away from computer hardware: it depreciates too quickly. If you are looking for the state of the art, stay away from computer hardware: it is outdated (not to be confused with "obsolete") by the time it rolls off the assembly line. No matter what you get, there is something better and cheaper just around the corner. Live for now, for you'll be shopping again tomorrow. Jacob -- Jacob Gore Jacob@Gore.Com boulder!gore!jacob
mdixon@parc.xerox.com (Mike Dixon) (09/21/90)
(questions from phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu)
(1) Can I insert a color board into my NeXT cube, and hook it up to my
old monochrome monitor? I certainly wouldn't mind a screen processor.
once you've got the 68040 upgrade, your can stick a NeXTdimension color
board in your cube. i doubt the color board would work with a NeXT
monochrome monitor (wrong interface), but it might work with someone
else's. it wasn't clear if the color board would go n times faster in
monochrome. the cheaper (16 bit) color is only available in the
slab. (retail price for the NeXTdimension + monitor is about $7k)
on the other hand, the 68040 does screen update on the monochrome monitor
pretty damn fast, so you probably won't feel very inclined to shell out
$4k for just a screen processor.
(2) Does the upgrade 68040 board provide a few more greys?
no.
(3) Do the new NeXTs have the same bus, do some models have the same
OD, as my old one (so that I can add the same upgrades)?
the new cubes use the same bus -> same upgrades. the OD is now
optional for the cube, but not available for the slab (the box is too
small, for one thing; they didn't make any provision for an external
OD)
(4) Should 2.88MB floppy drives be purchased from 3rd parties, or from
NeXT?
if you want an internal floppy for your cube, NeXT will sell you one
(+ a new face plate; it goes in the hard disk space, but leaves room
for a half-height hard disk)
if you want an external floppy, you buy it from one of the 3rd parties.
.mike.
(this is all based on NeXT's presentation at the BaNG meeting last night)
--
.mike.pbiron@weber.ucsd.edu (Paul Biron) (09/21/90)
In article <TY.90Sep19234202@thedog.cis.ufl.edu>, ty@thedog.cis.ufl.edu (Tyng-Jing Yang) writes: |> After the release of New NeXT, here is a question for NeXT's first-year |> personal buyers. |> |> "Are you regret to buy(love) NeXT too early ?" |> |> --- |> Tyng-Jing Yang |> |> ps: Early Birds should get the worms(reward,not bugs) |> -- |> ============================ |> === Tyng-Jing Yang === |> ============================ I just bought my Cube about a month ago. I, for one, am glad I got it when I did!!!!! From the postings in this group over the last few days, it seems that many of the reasons I bought my Cube are NOT THERE in the new models (at least, not without paying extra for them). These include the Optical, Alegro CL, 3 empty slots for additional boards, TeX, development environ, etc. The only thing from the new announcements that I want is the 68040 (and NeXTStep 2.0) which I can get as an upgrade at a great price. I don't need, nor want to pay for, color: so the color stuff is a noop for me. [Please, no flame wars about the following!!!] My impression is that NeXT is trying to compete with the Sun SLC (based on the $4995 price of the new basic model). When I was shopping, I looked HARD at the SLC and bought an "old" Developer's Cube (330 Meg Drive) instead -- BECAUSE IT WAS CHEAPER!!!!! Although I could get the SLC at discount price of $3600, by the time you add a disk, tape backup, Sun Hard/Software support, development environment (CL for Sparcs is about $1500), etc the price came to more than the educational price of the "old" Developer's Cube. I use my optical as backup medium so I don't need a tape unit. NeXT's hard/software support is already there. CL is ("was") there, etc, etc, etc. [Note, by delevopment, *I* mean research development, *NOT* commercial development] I may be a bit unusual in my wants/needs for a machine :-) If the rumors are true (that there are already more pre-orders for the new boxes than the current install base of the old ones) I'd say that I am a bit unusual! However, if the rest of world likes the new boxes (and goes out and buys them) then I am all for it!!!!! The more NeXT machines out there the better. Paul Biron pbiron@ucsd.edu (619) 534-5758 Central University Library, Mail Code C-075-R Social Sciences DataBase Project University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, Ca. 92093
cyliao@hardy.u.washington.edu (Chun-Yao Liao) (09/21/90)
In article <1990Sep20.064103.17884@midway.uchicago.edu> phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu writes: >cubes: (1) Can I insert a color board into my NeXT cube, and hook it up to my >old monochrome monitor? I certainly wouldn't mind a screen processor. I don't think so. It says that if you already have a NeXT cube or the original 030 next computer, you can add a NeXTdimension Upgrade to give your system high-performance color capabilities. but I don't think the old monochrome monitor will fit since the connector is different (NeXT's done a good job on choosing connectors). (2) Does the upgrade 68040 board provide a few more greys? No... (3) Do the new NeXTs have the >same bus, do some models have the same OD, as my old one (so that I can add the >same upgrades)? I believe so, or at least downward compatible. The same OD now is listed as "option" (4) Should 2.88MB floppy drives be purchased from 3rd parties, >or from NeXT? Since I bet software will be distributed through these, one needs >to have at least one of these in the vicinity. 3rd parties charge >$500, which >comes to $1,500 with the 68040---half the price of a new NeXT, which would >provide 2 17" monitors if one could pull out the old stuff and hook it up to >the new one. the one build into NeXTstations are of course from NeXT, but the external which connects to SCSI port is sold by 3rd party. As said by NeXT, the estimated price would be $499 cyliao@wam.umd.edu o NeXT : I put main frame power on two chips. @epsl.umd.edu o people: We put main flame power on two guys. @bagend.eng.umd.edu o :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: xxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xxx (reserved) o RC + Apple // + Classic Music + NeXT = cyliao
capslock@wet.UUCP (Allen Crider) (09/22/90)
In article <TY.90Sep19234202@thedog.cis.ufl.edu> ty@thedog.cis.ufl.edu (Tyng-Jing Yang) writes: > >After the release of New NeXT, here is a question for NeXT's first-year >personal buyers. > >"Are you regret to buy(love) NeXT too early ?" > Me? No way. Notice the new NeXT computers don't have the optical disk drives. Maybe not very many agree, but this drive is a godsend. Besides, the very low cost to upgrade to the 68040 CPU is better than I have ever seen any other computer manufacturer offer. Also, 1.0 was pretty damn stable.