🚀 go-pugleaf

I, too, thought this was an excellent article for the computer neophyte.
Considering that it must have been written four or five months before
publication, it was very insightful -- particularly as they thought it was
less than perfect as a home computer, since the unavailability of game
software.  But they did point out the potential was there... it appears that
this potential is now coming around.

                                "I must say, you look *maahvelus*."

					Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
					John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
 {cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \
    {allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
	fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA

Anybody have suggestions for entertaining, imaginative games for the Mac?
One would think that with the graphical capabilities... though I notice that
the ones which came out the fastest (InfoCom) are basically text games.  I
suspect that this is due to the fact that the games were already made for
other PCs, and it was fairly simple to shift them to the Mac.

I've just bought a few... should I post reviews here (please MAIL me your
response...)

    "NOW how much would you pay?  But wait, there's less! Order now, and we'll
    include the amazing $17,000 coffee pot!  It boils, it boils... it even 
    boils!"

					Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
					John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
 {cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \
    {allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
	fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA

****                                                                 ****
From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA aluxe!2141smh

>  relatively unbiased report on the Mac ...(in Consumer Reports)

To be fair, here are some of the shortcomings pointed out by Consumers
review of an otherwise well recommended machine (appliance):

1) Although the Mac...comes with 128k of RAM -- not much of that is left
for actual data processing after the operating system and a program are
loaded.
2) It's offering a memory upgrade to 512k.  But the upgrade costs $995.
3) The Mac has a standard 58-key keyboard with very few extra keys for
computing. An optional numeric key-pad is $99.
4) The Mac comes with a single built-in disk drive--and therein lies
another shortcoming.
5) When you load a program such as Macwrite, you must leave that program
disk in the drive.
6) The system files alone take up 212k of disk space.   An applications
program like Macwrite takes up about 55k more.  That leaves only 146k of
space on the disk for saving documents.
7) A second disk drive is a $495 option.
8) The monitor measures nine inches diagonally, compared with 11 inches
for the typical computer monitor.
9) You need a graphics printer specially adapted to the Mac.  You must take
the $595 cost of the Imagewriter or similar printer into account.
10) A basic system lists for $2800 but the memory upgrade, printer, extra
disk drive, and key-pad bring the total to $4984.

Let's hope next week's announcement will eliminate all of these shortcomings.

<>
> The latest (january 1985) issue of Consumer Reports discusses the Macintosh
> ... Below is an excerpt from their
> "Recommendations" section, jsut to let you know what they think about it.
> 
> ... We prefer it
>     to the IBM family for those who do not require that old family tie.

...and for people who don't require a decent selection of software, or
speed in starting or leaving applications, or color, or a good native
development environment, or ...
-- 
D Gary Grady
Duke U Comp Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-3695
USENET:  {seismo,decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary

> ****                                                                 ****
> From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA aluxe!2141smh
> 
> >  relatively unbiased report on the Mac ...(in Consumer Reports)
> 
> To be fair, here are some of the shortcomings pointed out by Consumers
> review of an otherwise well recommended machine (appliance):
> 
> 1) Although the Mac...comes with 128k of RAM -- not much of that is left
> for actual data processing after the operating system and a program are
> loaded.
> 2) It's offering a memory upgrade to 512k.  But the upgrade costs $995.

  Well, Consumer Reports is probably aimed at people buying a new computer,
  and for them, a "Fat Mac" costs about the same as a regular Mac did when
  it was introduced, so the real meaning of the "$995" upgrade is debatable.

> 3) The Mac has a standard 58-key keyboard with very few extra keys for
> computing. An optional numeric key-pad is $99.

  Who needs a numeric keypad? I'll bet significantly less than half of
  current or future Mac owners miss it...hell, my $n000 terminal at work
  doesn't have a numeric keypad!

> 4) The Mac comes with a single built-in disk drive--and therein lies
> another shortcoming.
  --
> 7) A second disk drive is a $495 option.

  The "Fat Mac" solves this one pretty well for most people too.

> 8) The monitor measures nine inches diagonally, compared with 11 inches
> for the typical computer monitor.

  I don't have much trouble dealing with the screen size; I find it much
  MORE legible than the bigger screens on Big Blue PCs.

> 9) You need a graphics printer specially adapted to the Mac.  You must take
> the $595 cost of the Imagewriter or similar printer into account.

  Well, there are now interfaces coming out for all kinds of printers.  And
  besides, since when can one avoid "taking into account" the cost of
  a printer when one buys a computer?  The only machine I can think of that
  comes with a printer is (was?) Adam, which as we all know, turned out to
  be a stroke of marketing genius.  And, for the price one actually pays
  (<$500), the Imagewriter is not such a bad deal!

  The honest truth, as I see it anyway, is that the "Fat Mac" is MORE
  computer than most people will ever need.  I'm sure that all you serious
  addicts out there wil never be satisfied until Apple sticks 10Mb of RAM
  into the thing, packages it with a 40 meg hard-disk, a laser printer, and
  4.n Berkeley UNIX and sells it for $299.99, but me, I'll settle.

  Cheers!

					    --- das

 
><>
>> The latest (january 1985) issue of Consumer Reports discusses the Macintosh
>> ... Below is an excerpt from their
>> "Recommendations" section, jsut to let you know what they think about it.
>> 
>> ... We prefer it
>>     to the IBM family for those who do not require that old family tie.
>
>...and for people who don't require a decent selection of software, or
>speed in starting or leaving applications, or color, or a good native
>development environment, or ...

Sigh. This group is NOT here to debate the pros and cons of Mac versus IBM.
If you don't like the Mac, please don't read this group. I promise that I,
who don't like the IBM, won't make snide comments in net.micro.pc. I don't
want to start up turf wars, either. The world has room for both machines to
be a success.

I could come up with any number of equally useless arguments against the
PC. The point is, neither machine is perfect. I prefer the Mac. if you
don't, go play with your intel chip and have fun...

chuq
-- 
From the ministry of silly talks:               Chuq Von Rospach
{allegra,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA

National Semiconductor does not require useless disclaimers on posted
material that is obviously not posted by company spokesmen...

> >...and for people who don't require a decent selection of software, or
> >speed in starting or leaving applications, or color, or a good native
> >development environment, or ...
> 
> Sigh. This group is NOT here to debate the pros and cons of Mac versus IBM.
> The point is, neither machine is perfect. I prefer the Mac. if you
> don't, go play with your intel chip and have fun...
> 
> chuq

*Sigh* yourself; don't be so defensive.  I like the Mac for some things
and I dearly despise the 8088 architecture in the PC.  What I said was
directed at the posting praising the Consumer Reports article as
"balanced" which it was not.  It glossed over the serious limitations
of the Mac and strongly implied that the ONLY reason to get a PC is if
you happen to be brainlessly hooked on the MSDOS user interface.  Anyone
familiar with the relative merits of the machines can see that this is
nonsense.  As you say, neither machine is perfect.

As for the purpose of net.micro.mac, if the subject of advantages and
disadvantages of the Max is inappropriate for the group, why didn't you
object to the original posting, hmm???

-- 
D Gary Grady
Duke U Comp Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-3695
USENET:  {seismo,decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary