🚀 go-pugleaf

Well, I knew the Falcon030 (4M/65M hard drive configuration) was
competing with the Mac LC II (4M/80M hard drive) in the ~$1700 range,
but check this out...  it's also competing with high-quality '486/33
systems!

This is from a Zeos product listing.  Zeos is a very high-quality mail
order place (1-800 numbers, 30 day no questions asked guarentee, good
reputation, etc).

VESA LocalBus system:

'486sx-25
4M RAM (on motherboard; will take up to 64M on the motherboard)
130 MB IDE drive (SCSI/SCSI-II is a $50 option, on the motherboard)
5.25" 1.2M and 3.5" 1.44M floppies
14" hires 1024x768 non-interlaced colour monitor
1MB VRAM VESA LocalBus video card
2 serial ports, 1 parallel port
7 16-bit expansion slots (like the Falcon's "PDS")
1 8-bit expansion slot (bleh; better than the ST's cartridge port)
2 VESA Local Bus slots (one used by the video)
7-bay desktop case (4x 5.25" HH bays; 2x 3.5" 1/3H bays; 1x 3.5" HH bay)
2 cooling fans (hmm, hope it isn't too loud)
high-capacity power supply with built-in surge supression
101-key keyboard
Microsoft Mouse
DOS 5.0/Windows 3.1
Choose two of: Ami Pro (word proccessor extraordinaire),
               Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows,
               Freelance Graphics (Adobe Freelance?)

Price -> $1895.00

Now, sure, this is more than the projected $1700 for the Falcon, but it
includes the monitor (can you buy a 14" colour monitor for $195?), and
two high-powered big-name programs.

This is the "new" localbus stuff...  VERY fast video.  RAM and video
access will be as fast as the CPU can do it, since it doesn't have to go
through the ISA bus.

"Oh", you say, "but DOS/Windows sucks so badly compared to GEM!"  Well,
what's to stop you from putting OS/2 on it?  Unix?

There's also a 2M/85M '486dx-50 system for $1745, with monochrome
monitor and 24-bit Diamond Speedstar graphics card.  There's also a
'486dx-33 EISA system (4M/107M hard drive) for $1895.

Wasn't Atari's last memorable slogan, "Power without the price!"?  A
'486sx-25 will _CRUSH_ a 68030-16, no matter what OS you put on it...

Flame me at will, but I think things are looking _very_ bad for Atari. 
Especially with the recent "factory quality" problems (remember the
"waiting for the cover art" problem with FSM-GDOS?) that'll prevent the
birds from showing up in North America 'til March.  Those LocalBus
systems look _real_ nice, and (surprise!) they're expandible.

-- 
-------------------========================================-------------------
Chris Herborth
cherborth@semprini.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca