dubman@ocf.berkeley.edu (Jonathan Dubman) (09/23/89)
I am about to take out a student loan and buy a NeXT machine for development. Ostensibly the machine costs $6500 for higher education- a hefty price for students but conceivable for some. But examine these hidden costs: Students who purchase the machine most likely will run it as a standalone unit. Unfortunately serious work with the current system pretty much requires a hard drive, which puts an additional $2000 on the base price. Universities generally have a ten to fifteen percent surcharge, supposedly for overhead. Let's be conservative and call it ten. This brings the price from $8500 to $9350. Now the killer is state tax, which usually runs about 7.5%, bringing the sum into five digits ($10050). Add two disks ($50 each) and the set of manuals at $250, and my grand total will be $10,400. (And we haven't even started with financing fees.) Ten thousand four hundred is just above the limit on many student loans. Seriously, I don't think many students are going to be able to afford this until they graduate from medical school. I feel that the machine will be a huge success in the business and desktop publishing market, but if most students can't afford Macs, I think NeXT is not going to make any significant penetration in that market. They'll sell plenty to universities, but I think I am going to be the only kid on the block with a cube for several years. Jonathan Dubman UC Berkeley
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (09/25/89)
Just for the sake of argument, a couple of questions...
What happens if one buys a NeXT at University X, and then moves on to
University Y. Who is responsible for support?
What if one leaves the original NeXT selling institution. Who does
the support?
Can University X sell a machine to people at University Y, or anyone else
for that matter?
Am I somehow forbidden from reselling my machine that I get from University
X? If not, who supports the resold machine?
I suppose that this is all covered in the small print, somewhere. Anybody
care to elaborate?
leechari@nueces.cactus.org (Chris Whatley) (09/25/89)
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >Just for the sake of argument, a couple of questions... I'm not "NeXT" but, I'm pretty sure about these answers... >What happens if one buys a NeXT at University X, and then moves on to >University Y. Who is responsible for support? What kind of support are you talking about. Your warranty is a NeXT warranty so, it should apply at any NeXT service center. Otherwise, you have to buy it. >Can University X sell a machine to people at University Y, or anyone else >for that matter? It depends on university X. >Am I somehow forbidden from reselling my machine that I get from University >X? If not, who supports the resold machine? Again, it depends on the sales contract you enter into with the University you purchase it from. At the University of Texas at Austin, you must offer to sell the computer back to the Microcenter if you need to sell it before two years after purchase. Chris -- Chris Whatley chari@nueces.cactus.org P.O. Box 50254 !nueces!chari@cs.utexas.edu Austin, TX 78763 chari@walt.cc.utexas.edu 512/499-0475
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (09/25/89)
In article <1989Sep25.034245.7245@nueces.cactus.org>, chari@nueces.cactus.org (Chris Whatley) says: > >UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: > >>What happens if one buys a NeXT at University X, and then moves on to >>University Y. Who is responsible for support? > >What kind of support are you talking about. Your warranty is a NeXT >warranty so, it should apply at any NeXT service center. Otherwise, >you have to buy it. > I thought that the reason that NeXT required universities to buy a couple of machines and send people to camp was to give support. I mean the kind you get when you call ATT or DEC and ask questions, like "Where is it in the manual?" or "Can you tell me how to?" You say "any NeXT service center." Do you mean university computer centers that are in on the NeXT deal, or is there some other kind of NeXT service center?