Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!sun!cramer@sun.com
From: cramer@sun.com (Sam Cramer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac Plus ??
Message-ID: <80493@sun.uucp>
Date: 7 Dec 88 18:01:08 GMT
References: <508NETOPRRW@NCSUVM> <771@husc6.harvard.edu> <401920b8.1285f@maize.engin.umich.edu> <1282@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <401a38a0.129dc@blue.engin.umich.edu>
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Reply-To: cramer@sun.com (Sam Cramer)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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In-reply-to: billkatt@caen.engin.umich.edu (Steve Bollinger)

>Apple has said that they would be producing the Plus until December '89, and
>I believe them.  But that does not that you would want to buy one.  Apple
>will soon probably come out with a machine equivalent to the SE that is about
>the price of the Plus.  Why?  Because costs no more to produce.

It is widely believed that the SE is *already* cheaper to produce than the
Plus.  Anyone who looks at Apple's margins knows that price of production
bears little relationship to retail price.  The retail price difference
between comparably equipped Mac Plus and SE models is very large, while the
difference is performance is modest.  The disadvantages of the Mac Plus are as
follows:

	1) slightly slower processor
	2) slower disk xfer due to higher interleave
	3) spongy keyboard
	4) no expansion slot
	5) no provision for internal hard disk

I suspect that for most users, items 1) and 2) are not all that
significant.  3) can be rectified for about $140 (the cost of a 3rd party
replacement keyboard).  4) is a bit troubling, but the SE expansion slot is
a funny beast (being non-NuBus), and most add-ons for the SE are also
available for the Plus.  Unless you travel a lot with your Mac item 5) is not
really an issue.

It's a call only the individual can make, but I think that the Plus is the
clear price-performance leader.

Sam Cramer	sun!cramer  cramer@sun.com