Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!3comvax!bridge2!ngg From: ngg@bridge2.3Com.Com (Norman Goodger) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: The Death of Apple Computer Keywords: Apple, Mac, Prices, Rip-off Message-ID: <82@bridge2.3Com.Com> Date: 19 Sep 88 18:13:43 GMT References: <1356@sunny3.che.clarkson.edu> <78@bridge2.3Com.Com> <1361@sunny1.che.clarkson.edu> Distribution: na Organization: 3Com Corp., Mt. View, CA Lines: 73 In article <1361@sunny1.che.clarkson.edu>, kweeder@sunny1.che.clarkson.edu (Jim Kweeder) writes: > > Besides, Apple agrees with me, they're building memory plants. They maybe building memory plants, but they are contracting with Micron tech to do most of the work from what I've read, you can correct me if I am wrong. I got a letter from Micron this weekend, with prices of DRAM for the Mac, you can get 8-megs for $4500...and you wonder why they raised the price. Granted Apple is not paying that price, but still...big bucks... > Oh, do you really NEED 32 bit power to word process or balance your check > book? Maybe you should check into the nice products Cray Research has > to offer :-). As far as I am concerned the more power the better, be my guest and work on an 8088 machine...I think you'll get bored of that real quick.. > a $1,000 price increase is the ticket to contiued growth? BTW, > I said "mystery", not "wonder". The price increase maybe and probably will be temporary. Its most likely to allow supply to catch up with demand, then prices will be re-adjusted. > Right, and I can get the job DONE with an 8088 machine (not fast, but done). > For a few bucks more, I can get an 80286 machine and speed-up my work. Add > a few grand, and I'll fix you up with 80386 20/25 MHz power, but you'll > only want that if you do CPU intensive work. Now, for still more money, > I can get you a Mac II which I think is a neat idea and is JUST the machine > for doing graphics and desk-top-publishing, but wow, look at that price! > You need real productivity gains to justify the cost. A 20-25mhz 386 sstem could cost you more than a Mac II, even at its new price. and you could still get most work done faster on a Mac II. > As for training, I instruct neophytes all the time in DOS and UNIX and > occasionally for the Macintosh. I can safely say it doesn't take more > or less time for any of these systems. This was your funniest statement yet, its been proven over and over again for those that are new to computers, training on the Macintosh takes far less time to reach the the same level of competency than on the PC. up to 50% less time or more...so maybe for the few people you train, but overall that safe statement on your part has no basis in fact. > So was the decision to buy memory from a supplier :-). My point is that > Apple is sitting on it hands while a opportunity stares them in the face. > They've got the right product at the right time, but at the wrong price. > I'm not saying a Mac II should cost $2,000 complete, but we're over > 10 grand now. Except for desk-top-publishing, the Macintosh is a > performance/dollar looser (your not going to sell me on it costs less > to train Mac: do you really think it'll take less time to learn Word > on the Mac than the AT?). Next year, Apple's position in the DTP > business may not be nearly so good. Where you buying your Mac II's? Even with the price increase I can get a Mac II for far less than $10k. Of course this depends somewhat on configuration. If you want it with 8megs of ram, yes you would probably easily pusk $10K But if you configed a 386 system equally (as much as possible anyway) it would be a close race.... You do pose some interesting arguements, but only time will see what will really happen. I agree with the statement you made below as the most logical. > Jim Kweeder > kweeder@sun.soe.clarkson.edu > > PS: I trust Apple will be around next year and doing fine. It's just that > they could be doing much better. I keyed that subject line to attract > attention :-). Norm Goodger 3Com Sysop - MacInfo BBS - @415-795-8862