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From: rbq@iforgetmyname.LBP.HARRIS.COM (Robert Quattlebaum)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Is the XT dead?
Message-ID: <8778@galbp.LBP.HARRIS.COM>
Date: 27 Sep 89 14:22:17 GMT
References: <1989Sep27.104957.24581@cs.dal.ca>
Sender: news@galbp.LBP.HARRIS.COM
Reply-To: rbq@iforgetmyname.UUCP (Robert Quattlebaum)
Organization: /etc/organization
Lines: 57

In article <1989Sep27.104957.24581@cs.dal.ca> lane@cs.dal.ca (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) writes:
>Are 8086/8088-based machines obsolete? Nearly so? How long have they got?

>I don't see many ads for or hear much about XT's in the magasines lately.
>Many people are saying that since XT's can't run OS/2 or certain DOS
>programs today, that soon they won't be able to run most new software
>and as such represent a bad investment at any price.

>Others say that's just industry hype and a machine that does what you 
>want today will still be able to do so as long as it holds together...
>"and who needs OS/2 anyway".  

>Others say it doesn't matter what you buy, its going to be obsolete
>before you get it out of the box...well, sooner than you think, anyway.
>But that doesn't really help you decide what to buy now.

>Certainly XTs are cheap. An XT is half the price of a 286 which is
>half the price of a 386 (roughly of course).  One dealer told me that 
>they don't like selling XTs anymore because there's no profit in them.

This doesn't seem to hold true in the ads I've seen and the stores I
visit. The XT's seem to have bottomed out at roughly $550 with everything
but a hard drive and monitor. The 286's are roughly $50-$100 more in the
same configuration (and they have a built-in hard drive controller). This
difference is really negligible -- especially considering performance/$.

The 386SX's go for right at $1000 in the above mentioned configuration. A
true 32-bit 386 is gonna be about $1500. 

So, my point here is (I guess) that the price gap is very close. The
difference in an XT and an AT is negligible. XT's won't drop out of
existence any time soon because of the number of price-sensitive persons
in the market. XT's have no place in businesses, in my opinion, because of
the drastice performance/$ ratio.

>Suppose you have relatively light duty tasks that, today, would be served 
>adequately by XTs and don't anticipate your basic tasks changing a great
>deal, and you need several such machines, what do you buy if you want to 
>invest wisely?  Where's the "smart" money going! 

In large quantities you might save some dollars with XT's. Smaller
quantities: why not go ahead and get the AT? Of course, the decision WILL
hinge on exactly what you choose to do with the machine. You don't really
need an AT for a secretary doing occasional tasks.

>Ancillary question:  How far behind the 8086 is the 80286?  People have
>been calling it a brain-damaged dead-end since the day it was released.
>There is certainly software around that runs on 386's but not 286's.

The AT is definitely headed the way of the '86, but there's YEARS of life
still in it. I wouldn't mind a '386 but I am really quite satisfied with
my '286 and see no reason why it won't provide many years of service.

R. Quattlebaum			My employer doesn't CARE what I think.
"God is love, not religion"     So what does it matter what I say?

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