riordanmr@clvax1.cl.msu.edu (Mark Riordan) (08/01/90)
Page 8 of the 30 July 1990 issue of PC Week has a brief article on the next NeXTs. Their info is based on "sources close to the company" (i.e., this is officially just a rumor), but I give PC Week's rumors a fair bit of credence. In September NeXT will announce two new machines, both based on the Motorola 68040. Both will include a 2.88Mbyte floppy drive capable of reading IBM-style floppies. Also, both will include a 100MB hard disk. (I dunno how they are going to fit the OS, apps, doc & swap space on it.) Optical disk drives are optional. One will be a monochrome system selling for under $5000. This will be a "pizza-box" system with no expansion slots. The other will be a 32-bit color system, possibly using Renderman graphics. It will sell for under $10 000. I don't know if this is educational or Businessland pricing--probably the latter. This is definitely not an announcement by NeXT, but it is a rumor whose substance I believe.