🚀 go-pugleaf

[munch, munch... is this bug dead yet?]

Hmm... those prices seem a little off.  True, people have been heavily
discounting the Mac to get it to sell; this probably won't happen to the
new Atari machines (at least not initially).  Comparing a discounted price
with manufacture's list is normally unfair, but we can probably accept it
in this case.

However, comparing discounted prices on Macs with *inflated estimates* of
Atari's announced prices is going too far.  The *announced* price of the
base system with 128k (same as the Mac) is $400.  The *announced* price of
the disk drive was $100 (!), and most people will initially opt for an
RF modulator ($25) and their TV set rather than spending money on a high-res
display.  The total system price for a Mac is $1400 minimum; the price for
an equivalent Atari is $525.  Comparing fully-expanded systems is even more
fun; $2400 for the Mac versus $725 for the high-end Atari system, or a factor
of three difference in favor of the Atari machines.  They also offer color,
something you won't be seeing on the Macs for a while (and when you do, it'll
cost almost as much as their memory upgrade for all the same reasons).
Add to that the promise of lower-priced software and peripherals, and I
wouldn't be at all surprised if the new machines blow the Mac out of the
water.

WARNING:  The prices quoted above for the Atari machines are *announced*
prices; if you remember how the Macintoshes jumped in price by the time
they became available, it's worth taking Atari's prices with a large grain
of salt.

In many ways, Atari's prices are amazingly low... maybe too low.
I'll wait and see, but likely won't buy until the smoke clears.

Remember, Atari doesn't have Cabbage Patch Dolls to fall back on...
        -Bernie Roehl    (University of Waterloo)
	...decvax!watmath!wateng!broehl

-- 
        -Bernie Roehl    (University of Waterloo)
	...decvax!watmath!wateng!broehl