Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!amdahl!pyramid!ctnews!starfish!tims From: tims@starfish.Convergent.COM (Tim Simmons) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Is the XT dead? Message-ID: <1346@starfish.Convergent.COM> Date: 27 Sep 89 18:16:35 GMT References: <1989Sep27.104957.24581@cs.dal.ca> Organization: Convergent Technologies, San Jose, CA Lines: 47 From article <1989Sep27.104957.24581@cs.dal.ca>, by lane@cs.dal.ca (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane): > > Are 8086/8088-based machines obsolete? Nearly so? How long have they got? Yes in IMHO they have been obsolete for over a year. Reason being is that they are so slow that most of the "good" software packages can not be run efficiently. XT's can't use 800x600 (16 bit) VGA cards and monitors. > > 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. The reason they are a bad investment is that you can purchase an AT for as little as $800. I don't think the issue is if it can run OS/2 or not, but can it run programs that require +1MB RAM, which more and more is becoming the minimum requirement for many business applications. > > 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". > This is true if all you want to do is some basic word processing and maybe a small spreadsheet, and don't expect to use anything more powerful in the future. But the industry (software) passed this point long ago. People want super VGA, and to run VENTURA and PAGEMAKER and DBASE IV at a speed that is acceptably fast, vs. the XT's intolerably slow speed. > 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. I think if you buy a 386 it will not be obsolete for at least 5 years > they don't like selling XTs anymore because there's no profit in them. > This is true, dealers make < $100 The bottom line is, if you are looking for a new PC don't even think about an XT. They are obsolete. -- ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] TIM SIMMONS (408)434-2843 Unisys Network Computing Group - San Jose CA tims@starfish.convergent.com