🚀 go-pugleaf

I personally have no info about the RT successor.  Just for fun, let me
imagine what a machine MIGHT cost if it were made in medium volume from
commodity parts and deliverable some time during 1990.  These are my
uninformed predictions about next year's back-of-Byte prices.

Processor I860 @ 33MHz             $500.00
Memory 8MBytes @ $10/Mbit          $750.00
Display (>> VGA)                   $500.00
Disk (Single Ended SCSI >=100 MB)  $750.00
Ethernet                           $250.00
Ugly box, loud power supply, PCB   $250.00
Unix license, docs                 $500.00
                                  --------
Total                             $3500.00

These prices at first glance seem low, but I am sure that IBM could combine
volume buying and it's internal manufacturing skills to do better in all
cases.  I do not agree that the price should be marked up 30% so that
someone's younger brother who works at Computerland can sell it to me.  The
rumored $10,000 price for the new RT seems low in comparison to present IBM
prices, but it might be high compared to future end-user subassembly prices.

I have an idea of the cost of components, but I also know the value of
owning a "standard" machine.  As an individual considering the purchase of a
computer, I would be willing to buy a high volume machine from IBM instead
of one from an upstart computer company which is 1/5th or 1/20th the size of
IBM, or for that matter from a Japanese company selling at cost to gain
market presence, but only if the IBM price is competitive with the others.

I don't mean this message to be disrespectful to IBM.  Exactly the opposite.
I would love to help IBM set a price for their new machine which would
insure a modest margin, while capturing for them a huge chunk of the
workstation market.  I hope that IBM reveals aggressive pricing as well as
aggressive technology.  Christmas is not so far away.

Lawrence Butcher