NeXT vs. Amiga 3000UX? (was Re: Amiga 3000UX, X, ...)

[Brian R. Smith]

In <1991Mar19.003209.6819 at kessner.denver.co.us> david at kessner.denver.co.us (David Kessner) writes:

>I am at the point where I'd find the extra money to buy a
>SPARC/NEXT/486 rather than getting a A3000UX-- but I think I'm just
>used to the higher performance of these machines (ie, I'm spoiled)...

EXTRA money?  Educational prices:
  NeXTstation with 105meg disk, 8meg ram, floppy:	$3,221
    (Through U of MN bookstore.)
  Amiga 3000/UXB - 100meg disk, 4meg ram, (floppy?):	$4,003

Other differences?

The NeXTstation comes with a MegaPixel grayscale display.  (Color is a
mere (HA!) $1,200 more.)  The Amiga?  I must admit I'm not sure of the
monitor in the package, but you KNOW it's got the color hardware
onboard.  So it's a matter of choice - it's easier to get a honking
B&W monitor for the NeXT, and easier to get color for the Amiga.
(Personally, I live for screen area, and grayscale stays sharper over
time...)

NeXT, of course, runs NeXTstep.  Which isn't X.  (This being the major
reason I don't own one, and probably won't get one.)

Amiga runs S5R4, which is supposed to have 4.3BSD compatibility.  NeXT
runs 4.3BSD on a Mach kernel.  NeXT is probably more stable - having
been out longer.  (And 4.3 > 5, IMHO...)

Ok - maybe it's an apples and oranges comparison.  But, being somewhat
poor, those are THE low-end Unix workstations available to me.  (No, I
don't consider {3,4}86 based ex-DOS machines worth the bother.)  I
can't help but WISH that either NeXT would get off their horse and use
X, or that Commodore would up the default memory to 8meg and offer a
humongous grayscale monitor without the extra $$$....
--
Brian  (Yet another lost soul looking to dump an Apple IIgs.)