Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!mit-vax!jdm
From: jdm@mit-vax.LCS.MIT.EDU (Joseph D. Morrison)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Hardware purchase advice request
Message-ID: <3293@mit-vax.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Date: 15 Dec 87 06:11:55 GMT
References: <570@vax1.UUCP>
Reply-To: jdm@mit-vax.UUCP (Joseph D. Morrison)
Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, Cambridge
Lines: 66

In article <570@vax1.UUCP> en2j@vax1.ccs.cornell.edu writes:
>personal system for the next couple of years (till the Super-engineering
>workstations come down to $5k.).  Its uses would include some commercial
>applications (that is, business type stuff) and software development.

Sounds like you want a Mac II! Let's go through your requirements...

>	o	Unix -- now or very soon (avail. within 1 yr.)

Check! You can run "A/UX", which is Apple's Unix offering for the Mac II.

>	o	desktop publishing at least up to mac quality level

Check! By definition...

>	ooo	multiple operating system capability, even if this
>		anticipates additional processor cards  (methinks
>		this is better than buying 4 different machines.?.)

Right now, you can get the Multi-finder with a Mac, which offers
primitive multi-tasking facilities. However, I believe Apple is
planning to come out with a better Multi-finder soon.

Also, I should think the NuBus used in the Mac II would make it trivial
to add additional processors, but I don't know the details...

>	o	speed.  don't want my hair to turn grey while I'm
>		waiting for something running on a hardware simulator,
>		for example, to execute a single instruction

The Mac II uses a 68020; I'm not sure what clock speed. But the one I
played with seemed very crisp... I think you won't get much more speed
than this at your price range.

>	o	color graphics better than IBM cga, cheaper than a
>		$50k Silicon Graphics workstation

Check! (This criterion isn't hard to meet -- I think my old CoCo 2 might
give the CGA a run for its money!) Actually, the colour graphics on the
Mac II are very impressive.

>	o	full-page display would be pretty handy.

Several vendors sell oversize high-resolution displays for the Mac II.

>	o	Big harddrive; ample memory
>		(80 meg, 2 Meg is a nice starting point, bigger better)

Check.

>	o	Don't need (right now) state of the art CAD/CAM
>		facilities.  Can't go much over the $10k limit.
>		Or, need to aim for near to $5k for a
>		stripped machine if I'm to afford the bells
>		& whistles.

A stripped Mac II is in the 5k range...
I don't work for Apple, I just love this machine!!

	Joe Morrison
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