dkolson@ics.uci.edu (04/18/91)
I have recently thought about buying a next station through the campus
computer store. The price for a NeXTstation Extended Release is
around $5,200.00.
A few questions I have are:
1) I would like to have color someday, so is it possible to upgrade
a black and white station to color easily? On the price sheet
in our computer store it does not list a color upgrade. I have
heard that the machine architecture has been altered to handle
color, but I can't believe that they are selling two different
machines and that I would have to buy a new computer if I wanted
color.
2) Is it worth buying a cube so that I can get the optical drive?
As I understand it, the NeXTstation is not capable of using an
optical drive and that they can only be used on a cube.
How would you contrast the NeXTstation with a comparable MacIntosh system?
I know not everyone is interested in hearing responses to these questions,
so if you could please reply to dkolson@ics.uci.edu.
David
P.S. How cheap are student loans? :)aberno@questor.wimsey.bc.ca (Anthony Berno) (04/18/91)
dkolson@ics.uci.edu writes: > I have recently thought about buying a next station through the campus > computer store. The price for a NeXTstation Extended Release is > around $5,200.00. > > A few questions I have are: > > 1) I would like to have color someday, so is it possible to upgrade > a black and white station to color easily? On the price sheet > in our computer store it does not list a color upgrade. I have > heard that the machine architecture has been altered to handle > color, but I can't believe that they are selling two different > machines and that I would have to buy a new computer if I wanted > color. > > 2) Is it worth buying a cube so that I can get the optical drive? > As I understand it, the NeXTstation is not capable of using an > optical drive and that they can only be used on a cube. > > How would you contrast the NeXTstation with a comparable MacIntosh system? > > I know not everyone is interested in hearing responses to these questions, > so if you could please reply to dkolson@ics.uci.edu. > > David > > P.S. How cheap are student loans? :) Answers: 1) There is nupgrade path from a NextStation to a NextStation color. Perhaps one day someone will do something clever (like the SCSI color upgrade for the Mac Portable) but don't count on it. This is why you buy a cube if you want to upgrade to color later. (But be warned - the NextDimension board + monitor is priced according to its performance - both are very high!) 2) I got a deal with my cube that included an optical. I didn't think I would buy one on my own, but it's sure nice to have... I can regularly port 50 meg files from campus to my computer at home, and it makes backups a breeze. You can get an external optical, but not one that uses the same format as the standard internal one. (Damn that non-standard format!) An external would be perfect for storing large volumes of data, such as color images, etc. but not for transferring stuff between different NeXTs. The NextStation, in my opinion, blows a similarly configured Mac out of the water, in that it offers performance similar ( in MIPS) to a IIfx, or greater (in usefulness) while being significantly less expensive. Even with the lack of 3rd party stuff, I was faced with the choice of upgrading my Mac (I love Macs) or getting the cube. Even though I spent more on a fully loaded cube, I have NO regrets! (Except, perhaps, for a lack of something like CricketGraph, which I really liked on my Mac.) Hope that answered your questions. --- Anthony Berno (aberno@questor.wimsey.bc.ca) The QUESTOR Project: Free Public Access to Usenet & Internet in Vancouver, BC, Canada, at +1 604 681 0670.