New Product!!! Rumors Confirmed!! New Super Computer!!

[lindmar]

NEW RUMOR AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE TRUE!!!

Ladies and Gents, Apple is about the change the world. According to this article they are about to introduct a super computer unlike anything ever seen.

The computer will change the world in so many ways , groups of addicted junkies will spring across the world and cling to every move this company makes for the next 20 years.

It is a proud day to be alive and well.
Everyone, grab on and hold on to your seats.

The new super computer will come equiped with a completley new device.
We should really be ready for a life changing event which will shape all of our lives in more ways then one.

This new product will come equpied with entirely new devices, one in particular called a..... well here is a quote...

"Macintosh buyers will get a computer that operates unusually quickly and is directed by a mouse - a handheld device that, when slid across a table top, moves the cursor on the Mac's screen."


Happy Anniversary Apple
Read here!!

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/7731271.htm

I am so proud to be an elitist mac owner/junkie/geek/die-hard fan!!!

 

[kettle]

Wha?

 

[Doctor Q]

Wow! Only $2,495, and that includes a disk that can "hold 250 typewritten pages"!

But all that stuff about a handheld device you slide across a table and pointing the cursor at graphic symbols on the screen and doing more than one thing at once make it sound awfully complicated. I don't think I could learn to work one of these new computers. I'll stick to my abacus, thank you.

 

[Sun Baked]

Check compared to the price of a Lisa...

 

[mainstreetmark]

I love this article. It has so many little factoids that I've known for so long, I don't remember learning:

"Within the next few months, Microsoft Inc., a Bellvue, Wash. software publisher closely allied with IBM"

"The user also will be able to divide the screen into a variety of compartments, or ``windows,'' that each can be used to perform different jobs. For example, the user could be writing a letter on one part of the screen, then create a window and begin another."

"One flaw in this strategy, several observers said, is that Apple may not be able to capture the high-volume sales to large corporations more interested in number-crunching than flair."

 

[SiliconAddict]

The machine, which sources way will sell for $2,495

Amazing how for the rest of the industry the price of a computer has gone down while the power of the computer has increased dramatically yet Apple's price has actually increased.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

In brochures and advertising campaigns, Apple will be billing the Mac as an alternative to IBM, sources said.

Ah the good old days....

Now IBM and Apple are trying to change things together...

D

 

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
Amazing how for the rest of the industry the price of a computer has gone down while the power of the computer has increased dramatically yet Apple's price has actually increased.

In some cases yes, but the eMac is how many times more powerful for 1/3 the cost?

 

[stcanard]

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
Amazing how for the rest of the industry the price of a computer has gone down while the power of the computer has increased dramatically yet Apple's price has actually increased.

According to the Apple store, a dual 1.8 GHz is $2499, I'm not going to quibble ovver $5

The dual 2GHz is $2999 which is a lot cheaper than a Lisa was at that time.

As with every other computer maker, the price of a high end Apple has stayed the same for 25 years. Not increased, not decreased (although relative to inflation it has decreased significantly).

OTOH the low end market which eMacs and the various PC clones dominate now didn't exist at that time.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by stcanard
OTOH the low end market which eMacs and the various PC clones dominate now didn't exist at that time.

Well, that would have been your TI or HP Scientific Calculator

D

 

[TEG]

Actually, I read somewhere that in "current money" the original Macintosh would be more than $5000. And we can have 3598x the power for 3/5 the cost. (number made up).

Actually thinking about it, I believe it was from Mac Addict that made the cost comparison.

TEG

 

[stcanard]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
Well, that would have been your TI or HP Scientific Calculator

D

I still have my HP 28S although that is certainly much later than the original Mac

Hmm, now that I think of it the low-end computer was the Timex-Sinclair. I remember seriously wanting one of those as a kid because it was a sub $1000 system so was almost affordable!

 

[Raid]

Originally posted by SiliconAddict
Amazing how for the rest of the industry the price of a computer has gone down while the power of the computer has increased dramatically yet Apple's price has actually increased.

Well you have to look at the price in real terms (or inflation adjusted). According to this site "$2495 in 1984 has the same buying power as $5571.36 in 2003." Which is almost double the $2,999 cost of a 2GHz G5.


<edit> Actually from the store, this is what you get with the equivalent $$ today:
• Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5
• 1GB DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) - 2x512
• 250GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm
• ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
• Apple Cinema Display (20" flat panel)
• AirPort Extreme Card
• Bluetooth Module
• 56k V.92 internal modem
• SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• Apple Keyboard & Apple Mouse - U.S. English
• Mac OS X - U.S. English
• iSight
• AirPort Extreme Base Station (with modem and antenna port)

All for $5,520.00
</edit>
Thus ends you economics lesson for the day.

 

[stcanard]

Originally posted by Raid
Well you have to look at the price in real terms (or inflation adjusted). According to this site "$2495 in 1984 has the same buying power as $5571.36 in 2003." Which is almost double the $2,999 cost of a 2GHz G5.

Thus ends you economics lesson for the day.

But don't forget, even in unadjusted dollars the current offering is cheaper!

1984 --

High end: Lisa
Mid-range: Mac
Low-end: Apple II

The top of the line G5 is a lot cheaper than the Lisa ever was.

 

[Spock]

MacPaint and MacWrite will be available at no cost - or a very low cost - to early Mac buyers, a source said. Separately, they reportedly will be priced around $100.

Macpaint and Macwrite Man I loved playing with those.

 

[SiliconAddict]

You guys are right. I forgot about inflation. DOH! But also keep in mind the above prices are without a monitor but that adds what? $300 at most to the price. That and the original Mac didn’t have dual CPU’s so in the end I guess its all relative.

I still can NOT believe that apple would let the Macintosh anniversary come and go without an update. SOMETHING has to happen Saturday.

 

[Makosuke]

That's an awesome article--you've gotta love retro-tech flashbacks like that.

Originally posted by TEG
And we can have 3598x the power for 3/5 the cost. (number made up).

The real number (obviously heavily dependent on what you're doing, but this one's based on basic number crunching) is somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 times faster than the original Mac. That's using RC5 cracking scores, which are a rough semi-real-world benchmark that've been run on a lot of architectures.

And if you want to do an accurate comparison of the low-mid-high end of the era, you have to compare the Mac 128K to the Lisa 2, not the original Lisa--the revised Lisa came out at the same time as the Mac (in fact, was rebranded the Mac XL the next year), and sold for $3500-5500, not $10K like the first Lisa.

That money got you way more RAM (512K!), a bigger screen (12"), a hard drive (5MB or 10MB internal), as well as expansion slots, though the processor was actually a bit slower (5MHz vs. 8MHz).

I like comparing then to now like this. Your very rough comparison lineup would be:

*Apple IIe, ~$2800 ($1400 at the time) vs. eMac or iBook, $800-1000.

One third the price gets you 200,000x the speed, 2000x the RAM,
and a whole lot more (like a hard drive). The kickass //c was released in April of 1984 for $100 less, too.

*Mac 128K, ~$5000 ($2500 unadjusted) vs. $1300-1800 LCD iMac.

*Lisa 2, ~$7000-11,000 vs. G5 2.0GHz DP, $3000-11,000 (decked out with a 23" Cinema display).

The high end price is exactly the same (probably not entirely a coincidence), except your computer is 100,000x faster, you've got 15,000x more RAM, 50,000,000x more internal storage, a screen six times larger with 9x more pixels (and color), and one more expansion slot.

That's what 20 years will do to you. Interesting times we live in.

 

[tjwett]

funny how pricing changes so much. back then for $2495 you could buy yourself a brand new mac, or a brand new compact car.