Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!purdue!mailrus!um-math!hyc
From: hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Portable Mac vs STACY
Message-ID: <10032@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu>
Date: 26 Sep 89 07:07:02 GMT
References: <2122@kodak.UUCP> <45da3096.14a1f@force.UUCP>
Reply-To: hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu)
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Michigan Math Dept., Ann Arbor
Lines: 42

In article <45da3096.14a1f@force.UUCP> covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) writes:
>I would like to know how Atari can produce and sell a Laptop ST for under $2,000
>while Apple charges almost $5500 for basically the same machine??
>
>The only real hardware difference between the two machines has to be the LCD display??
>Does anyone have techincal specifications for the two LCD displays being used??
>Is the Atari LCD display slower to redraw than the Mac display?? I know that the
>ST has a higher resolution (640x400 VS. 535x352). since, the ST has higher res
>then the Mac SE anyway.
Dunno 'bout the rest of the stuff you mention, but the specs I saw said
that the Mac portable will have a 640x400 LCD screen. I'm inclined to
believe that they're using identical display technology. They just don't
call it the same because Apple likes to lead the public to believe that
everything they do is new, innovative, and original... As long as the world
doesn't see anything else comparable, then Apple doesn't have any trouble
charging whatever the hell they feel like. If the STacy doesn't flood the
US market soon, it'll never get a chance, because most people are too willing
to swallow the Apple PR junk.

I suppose one other significant difference would be that the portable Mac
has Localtalk support. Of course, if you think one little Zilog Z8530 is
worth the $3500 price difference...   }-)

Hm... Oh yes, the Mac portable is much larger, it's not billed as a "Laptop,"
as the STacy is named. The Mac uses a faster CPU, 16MHz. It really does look
like Apple has some good ideas in this box. The STacy will basically be a
Mega redesigned to fit in a smaller case... I suppose, given that, Atari still
may not grab a very sizable chunk of the laptop market. The Mac is a relatively
open system, compared to the STacy. You can expand the memory just by dropping
in more SIMMs. I think the STacy would require tedious brain surgery... Of
course, a strike against the Mac - the portable's expansion slot uses yet
another different design. So now Apple has Macs with funny NuBus slots, weird
SE slots, and weird Portable slots. This sorta puts it on even ground with the
STacy, since its Mega slot is also not an industry standard. The sad thing is,
tho, I bet there'll be lots of products for the MAcPortable's slot developed
very quickly... So it goes.

Gawd, what a depressing article. Sorry. If you can prove any or all of what
I've just said to be grossly untrue, please do, I'd feel much better for it.
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