[comp.sys.amiga.advocacy] A3000UX academic pricing

huebner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Robert E. Huebner) (02/09/91)

In article <32529@auc.UUCP> rar@auc.UUCP (Rodney Ricks) writes:
>In article <1337@borg.cs.unc.edu> leech@vivaldi.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) writes:
>>    I'm disappointed.  For $900 less, I can buy a Next with more
>>memory, a larger (albeit gray-scale) display,
>                          ^^^^^^^^^^
>That's probably where a lot of the cost difference comes in.  Color
>displays tend to cost a good deal more than gray-scale displays of the same
>resolution.
>
Actually, the majority of the cost savings in the NeXT design (The
Slab, anyway) comes from its lack of expansion slots and the heavily
automated production line it is using.

Expansion slots are a relatively expensive option and that is the
major difference between the Cuba and the Slab.  It is also what
the new Macinotshs (LC, Classic, si) cut back on.

I think building a machine that allows a CPU upgrade path also adds
$$.  
>Although it does point out that Commodore might need to look into making
>educational packages with gray-scale monitors.  I know *I* wouldn't want to
>have an Amiga without a color monitor, but others might settle for that for
>awhile, especially if they can't afford a color system that they want.

It would be an appealing option for those who want to run mainly under
X-Windows.  640x400 is not an effective X display and the current
version of X included in Amiga Unix doesn't support color anyway.

-- 
| Robert E. Huebner                   | "Death is nature's way of telling  |
| huebner@en.ecn.purdue.edu           |  you to slow down"                 |
| huebner@aerospace.aero.org          |   - Unknown Author                 |