ogawa@orion.arc.nasa.gov (Arthur Ogawa) (03/13/91)
In article <rx7G4h.$@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: [ prices for Mac only; none for NeXT] [ implicit comparison of 030 Mac with 040 NeXT] | The NeXT bomb comes when Apple releases their 040 machine with builtin ethernet. Comparing a Mac IIfx (40Mhz 030) with a NeXT (25Mhz 040) is an apples-and-oranges comparison, sorry 8-D. Preliminary gossip in MacWeek has it that Apple's 040 will first be offered as a tower costing ~10k$. This will have to be "compared" to a NeXT at, maybe, half the price. Come fall, when this new puppy hits the streets, there will be SparcStations and NeXTstations waiting for it at considerably advantageous price points. Too bad, but by selecting that price point for the 040 Mac, Apple has convinced this consumer to buy a Unix box _now_. One interesing thing that will come out when the 040 Mac accelerator boards hit the street is a sad, disappointing, even nasty aspect of many Mac apps: the way they've been programmed is not "040-savvy", so speed increases will be disappointing. On the other hand Unix apps will pretty much fire on up at the higher mips. Mac app developers, especially those working in Redmond: please stop writing self-modifying code. Think about the advantages of separate code/data spaces. "Power" Mac users: try before you buy: try out your candidate software on an 040-based Mac (and insist on seeing the 4X power increase (at equal clock speed) over the 030) before plunking down your hard-earned dollars. OK, net flamers, here comes the signoff, but remember, the only reason I posted this is because I noticed the "straight facts" and "Mac vs. Amiga" flame wars were dying down ;-> Arthur Ogawa Internet: ogawa@orion.arc.nasa.gov Ph: 1/415/691-1126 TeX consultant AppleLink: ogawa FAX:1/415/962-1969
davoli@natinst.com (Russell Davoli) (03/13/91)
In article <1991Mar12.202240.19299@news.arc.nasa.gov>, ogawa@orion.arc.nasa.gov (Arthur Ogawa) writes: > Come fall, when this new puppy hits the streets, there will be > SparcStations and NeXTstations waiting for it at considerably > advantageous price points. Too bad, but by selecting that price point > for the 040 Mac, Apple has convinced this consumer to buy a Unix box _now_. > > One interesing thing that will come out when the 040 Mac accelerator boards hit > the street is a sad, disappointing, even nasty aspect of many Mac apps: the way > they've been programmed is not "040-savvy", so speed increases will be disappointing. > On the other hand Unix apps will pretty much fire on up at the higher mips. > > Mac app developers, especially those working in Redmond: please stop writing > self-modifying code. Think about the advantages of separate code/data spaces. > I'm not sure what you mean by "040-savvy" here. Basically, it appears that you are implying Macintosh developers are a brain-dead bunch who write lots of self-modifying code and use other questionable tactics to produce inferior applications. I just don't think this applies to a majority of application developers, except maybe for Microsoft :-). In all seriousness though, I don't see why applications that are primarily compute bound won't show speed increases. Maybe you can elaborate on why UNIX boxes would where Macs won't. -Russell Disclaimer: These opinions are mine and don't necessarily reflect any view my employer may have.