Mark Lynn wrote the following about Re: [netconnect] Re: AmigaNG:
[Minor Snipping going on...]
> With reference to Re: [netconnect] Re: AmigaNG on 26 Jun 99 08:00:42 +0100
>
> > bunch of PCs for controlling new hardware. The lowest spec is a
> > PentiumII 350, the highest is a PentiumIII 450. PentiumII 350 is now
> > basically obsolete, and could be considered entry-level by a lot of
> > people. I can get my hands on a brand new, off-the-shelf PentiumII
> > 350 with all the trimmings for about �700. That's nothing!
>
> Nothing? �700 is still a lot of money for something you describe as
> 'entry-level'!
8Mb GFX card, 8Gb hard drive, 2x USB ports, Win98, 15" 95Hz monitor,
speakers, IntelliMouse (Oh yeah!), 32x CD drive, 4 free PCI slots and
a very good desktop case.
> Yes, I agree, but a PII 350 will still be obsolete in 12 months time,
> does that represent good value for �700?
I can't see it. For example, the Pentium Pro 200 is so quick in
itself that any serious desktop user wouldn't need to upgrade it for
/anything/ apart from high-end 3D games. It loads Excel '97 in a
couple of seconds, my huge VB projects in about 4-5 seconds, and
comfortably handles running my relatively time-critical applications
alongside Excel while printing to a LaserJet 5 etc.
IMVHO there is no /need/ for the faster processor classes for the
everyman home or office user. The fact that the games market has
dragged performance up and prices down can only be a good thing for
people running older applications. Everything just gets faster and
more productive. Unfortunately, the applications just get huger and
slower. But then again, who would be using MUI on an 020/14 Amiga
with 2Mb of RAM? There would be no point in having a PIII/500 to run
DOS3.3!
So I disagree. Obsolescence in the classic sense was when a 486/33
couldn't run Win95 at a decent speed, or a Pentium/99 got bogged down
by WinNT4SP4 with IE5, Office97 or VBPro5. Now we're at a point where
a PentiumII will /NEVER/ be a slow computer. In two years time when
the 1GHz PentIV is the entry level system, I will _still_ be able to
load Excel in 1 second.
In my mind, the things that made the Amiga hardware 'special', eg the
custom gfx chips, sound chips and device input are now obsolete to an
extent. So why not /use/ the cheap hardware, in the same way as Linux
does, and get a kick-ass OS to actually utilise the performance of
these stupendously fast 100MHz motherboards?
Totty <8^)
--
Totty has an Amiga A1200, with 68060/50 and 603e/200 PPC.
32Mb RAM. 8x ATAPI CD. 1.7Gb HD. ShapeShifter V3.10 + OS 7.5.5
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