rantapaa@cs.umn.edu (Erik E. Rantapaa) (03/11/90)
I heard from a reliable source that NeXT is planning to come out with a 68040 version of the cube for around a thousand bucks. Apparently they have got manufacturing costs low enough with their automated factory so that they can stamp them out for a fraction of that price. I'm not sure what you'll get, but even a bare cube with 1M memory and OD would be very attractive. Has anyone heard anything about this? -- Erik Rantapaa rantapaa@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu
jgreely@oz.cis.ohio-state.edu (J Greely) (03/12/90)
(aside: did you edit that followup-to by hand, or is your news software completely braindead? If the latter, it *needs* fixed. If the former, RTFM) In article <1990Mar11.024125.7409@cs.umn.edu> rantapaa@cs.umn.edu (Erik E. Rantapaa) writes: >I heard from a reliable source that NeXT is planning to come out with a >68040 version of the cube for around a thousand bucks. Sorry, I don't buy that one. An *upgrade* for existing machines, sure, but a whole new cube? Naaah. >Apparently they have got manufacturing costs low enough with their >automated factory so that they can stamp them out for a fraction of >that price. I'm not sure what you'll get, but even a bare cube with >1M memory and OD would be very attractive. 1 meg would be unusable, and they're not selling unusable machines (after all, they shipped free 40 meg SCSI drives to all OD-only purchasers, when they realized that that configuration was borderline under 1.0). Another point to consider is that they don't (I'm fairly sure) manufacture the optical drives in-house, so their automated factory can't have much effect on the cost of including one. Just running down the university/developer price list convinces me that they're not going to be able to drop their price that low *and* include a faster chip. Of course, if they *could* they'd actually have a chance at taking a large market share, but they'd have to change their marketing strategy. -- J Greely (jgreely@cis.ohio-state.edu; osu-cis!jgreely)
cyliao@eng.umd.edu (Chun-Yao Liao) (03/12/90)
In article <1990Mar11.024125.7409@cs.umn.edu> rantapaa@cs.umn.edu (Erik E. Rantapaa) writes: >I heard from a reliable source that NeXT is planning to come out with a >68040 version of the cube for around a thousand bucks. Apparently they >have got manufacturing costs low enough with their automated factory so >that they can stamp them out for a fraction of that price. I'm not >sure what you'll get, but even a bare cube with 1M memory and OD would >be very attractive. Has anyone heard anything about this? >-- >Erik Rantapaa > rantapaa@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu Do you mean by this, the upgrade from the current Cube will cost $1000? or you mean the production cost of each board is $1000? I certainly won't buy a cube with only 1 M of memory. -- |I want Rocket Chip 10 MHz, Z-Ram Ultra II, UniDisk 3.5 | cyliao@wam.umd.edu | |I want my own NeXT, 50MHz 68040, 64Mb RAM, 660Mb SCSI, | Chun Yao Liao | | NeXT laser printer, net connection. | Accepting Donations!| /* If (my_.signature =~ yours) coincidence = true; else ignore_this = true; */
gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (03/13/90)
>In article <1990Mar11.024125.7409@cs.umn.edu> rantapaa@cs.umn.edu (Erik E. Rantapaa) writes: >>I heard from a reliable source that NeXT is planning to come out with a >>68040 version of the cube for around a thousand bucks. Apparently they >>have got manufacturing costs low enough with their automated factory so >>that they can stamp them out for a fraction of that price. I'm not >>sure what you'll get, but even a bare cube with 1M memory and OD would >>be very attractive. Has anyone heard anything about this? A minimal '030 Next sells for $10,000 now. Someone suggests that they're going to sell an '040 Next for 1/10th the price. And this gets serious discussion? Think about it: how much does the chip set for the '040 cost by itself? How much does the OD stuff cost? How much margin does Next need? Even a Mac SE costs around $500-600 to manufacture. Also: if Next has figured out how to produce an '040 machine for <$1K, then they should be able to make and market their '030 machines for much less than $10K. Robert ============================================================================ = gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to = = * all my opinions are * compute" = = * mine * -Kraftwerk = ============================================================================
rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer) (03/15/90)
>In article <1990Mar11.024125.7409@cs.umn.edu> rantapaa@cs.umn.edu > (Erik E. Rantapaa) writes: >>I heard from a reliable source that NeXT is planning to come out with a >>68040 version of the cube for around a thousand bucks. > >Sorry, I don't buy that one. An *upgrade* for existing machines, >sure, but a whole new cube? Naaah. No, seriously, I heard they have a new mask process that lets them etch the entire cube -- monitor, case, keyboard, OD and software -- out of a solid block of silicon. Total cost to them is $1.59 / cube, but they're greedy bastards so they markup the price by $998.41. I also hear that they've cut a deal with Pelonis to jointly develop a 68050-based cube with 800 Megs of RAM, that doubles as a space-heater and/or toaster-oven. Sheee, some people. (If I incorrectly read smileys into the original posting, my pardon. It deserved 50-foot-tall electric Martian smileys, though.) -- >>"Aaiiyeeee! Death from above!"<< | Steve Rehrauer, rehrauer@apollo.hp.com "Flee, lest we be trod upon!" | The Apollo System Division of H.P.
velasco@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Gabriel Velasco) (03/15/90)
rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer) writes: >No, seriously, I heard they have a new mask process that lets them etch >the entire cube -- monitor, case, keyboard, OD and software -- out of a >solid block of silicon. Total cost to them is $1.59 / cube, but they're >greedy bastards so they markup the price by $998.41. This is true. But, the reject rate is %99.9 so they are actually taking a loss. They are trying to establish an installation base. ________________________________________________ <>___, / / | ... and he called out and said, "Gabriel, give | /___/ __ / _ __ ' _ / | this man an understanding of the vision." | /\__/\(_/\/__)\/ (_/_(/_/|_ |_______________________________________Dan_8:16_|
louiex2@portia.Stanford.EDU (chris overton) (03/15/90)
>In article <1990Mar11.024125.7409@cs.umn.edu> rantapaa@cs.umn.edu > (Erik E. Rantapaa) writes: >I heard from a reliable source that NeXT is planning to come out with a >68040 version of the cube for around a thousand bucks. I would like to officially confirm this. In fact, the new machine is set to ship late in December, with special distribution being provided by Santa Claus & his reindeer. The only major obstacles seem to be disks freezing up and a labor dispute with the elf union over heating conditions at the north pole plant. The new machine features a rugged casing designed to protect it when dropped through a chimney. :-> -S.C. ------- That was cheap, but it had to be done.
rantapaa@cs.umn.edu (Erik E. Rantapaa) (03/16/90)
Okay, okay, okay, enough already! I'm sorry I even *thought* of posting such a obviously ridiculous rumor to the net. I guess I should have tried rec.humor.funny. -- Erik Rantapaa rantapaa@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu