Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!g.gp.cs.cmu.edu!butcher From: butcher@g.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Lawrence Butcher) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt Subject: Re: Info wanted on the 25 MIP <$10K IBM Unix box Summary: User wishes about 25 MIP IBM Unix box Message-ID: <5834@pt.cs.cmu.edu> Date: 12 Aug 89 20:36:34 GMT References: <2462ANKGC@CUNYVM> <30971@cornell.UUCP> Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 36 I personally have no info about the RT successor. Just for fun, let me imagine what a machine MIGHT cost if it were made in medium volume from commodity parts and deliverable some time during 1990. These are my uninformed predictions about next year's back-of-Byte prices. Processor I860 @ 33MHz $500.00 Memory 8MBytes @ $10/Mbit $750.00 Display (>> VGA) $500.00 Disk (Single Ended SCSI >=100 MB) $750.00 Ethernet $250.00 Ugly box, loud power supply, PCB $250.00 Unix license, docs $500.00 -------- Total $3500.00 These prices at first glance seem low, but I am sure that IBM could combine volume buying and it's internal manufacturing skills to do better in all cases. I do not agree that the price should be marked up 30% so that someone's younger brother who works at Computerland can sell it to me. The rumored $10,000 price for the new RT seems low in comparison to present IBM prices, but it might be high compared to future end-user subassembly prices. I have an idea of the cost of components, but I also know the value of owning a "standard" machine. As an individual considering the purchase of a computer, I would be willing to buy a high volume machine from IBM instead of one from an upstart computer company which is 1/5th or 1/20th the size of IBM, or for that matter from a Japanese company selling at cost to gain market presence, but only if the IBM price is competitive with the others. I don't mean this message to be disrespectful to IBM. Exactly the opposite. I would love to help IBM set a price for their new machine which would insure a modest margin, while capturing for them a huge chunk of the workstation market. I hope that IBM reveals aggressive pricing as well as aggressive technology. Christmas is not so far away. Lawrence Butcher