🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <40s3a8$nsj@news.jf.intel.com>, dwang@ichips.intel.com (David
Wang) wrote:

> 
> I was recently given the task of looking at some prices for a friend who
> wants to put a system together, out of half decent components. This is
> what I found. a decent Pentium P5-100 system  could be assembled for
> about $1800. without a CD-ROM, slightly less than $2K if you add a 4X IDE
> CD-ROM for about $150. I'll list the break down below. I think that if
> you really want to compare something against a hand assembled system, the
> parts below and their respective prices should give you a good idea.
> (all parts are "mail order" prices) 

[snip]
> 
> So you can put together a very nice P5-100 system W/16 megs  for about
> $1800 without the sound card or CD-ROM. and running Linux on this system
> wouldn't be bad at all.  IMHO I'd rather have this system+ linux instead
> of the 5200 + MacOS. Though that's my opinion, you may be perfectly
> happy playing with the 5200.     

That's the point. You can buy a 5200 with monitor and a few hundred
dollars of software for a few hundred dollars less than your hand
assembled system. You also get a CD-ROM and built in sound.

A better comparison might be the Power Computing Power 100 or the PowerMac
7200/75 (both of which are faster than your Zappa 100). Either one of
these runs around $1800 w/o monitor or $2100 with monitor. Both come with
4X CD-ROM and sound, so the price is pretty close to your hand assembled
system. The Power 100 also comes with bundled software.

Now, add in the value of your time.
Add in the value of buying a name brand system.
Add in the value of having a warranty if something goes wrong.
Add in the value of efficiency from running MacOS (Arthur D. Little
demonstrates a 50% higher productivity than Windows. No one's ever
compared Linux because it's a hobbyist OS).

Bottom line--Mac prices absolutely destroy name brand machines at equal
performance levels. If you're example is accurate (I can't vouch for the
price of a hand-built PC since our company would never consider it), the
Macs even match your homemade system price.

-- 
Regards, Joe Ragosta -- 100% Chemical and proud of it.
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