Re: New Apple II....

[rubywand@aol.com (RUBYWAND)]

In article <4lvlla$4pc$4@mhadg.production.compuserve.com>, Tom Zuchowski
<71214.1670@CompuServe.COM> writes:

>
><<<IIGS accelerated, 3.5 inch floppy and a medium sized HD with 
>about 4 megs or RAM for say $200.>>>
>
>Some years ago, back when Apple was still making GS's, I saw 
>someone from Apple say that one reason why Apple didn't push the 
>GS more was because it was considerably more expensive to 
>manufacture than the Mac was, and that Apple was =not= gouging 
>with the GS's high price.  He cited too many unique custom chips 
>and too high a parts count as the problems.
>
>

     Yes; a $200 IIgs laptop seems very unlikely. Apple would have to
produce and sell large numbers in order make any profit at all. At
present, it would be far easier and less risky to produce a cheapo '486
Student Notebook Computer, etc. which is nominally PC-compatible.

     The core problem with IIgs is that it is a kludge platform no sane
hardware designer would ever contrive from scratch-- except, possibly, in
a nightmare. Your report of Apple's comments indicates that the company,
perhaps from the start, was aware of the consequences of such a design.
Namely, a high-performance, downward-compatible successor to IIgs would,
in all probability, never be feasible.

     Only Apple, the owner of rights to IIgs ROMs, has any chance at all
of producing an economically viable GS-X incorporating direct II/IIgs
compatibility. Given performance of PC's aimed at the home market, Apple
has probably decided that producing a competitively priced high-performace
New II which incoporates _built-in_ direct old-II compatibility is not
doable.

     A 'clean' new IIGS-X is quite another matter. Apple could produce
such a super-machine at competitive prices. This GS-X could easily include
the minimal on-board hardware and firmware required to support an optional
II/IIgs Compatibility Card. Those desiring a capability for running old
wares on GS-X would purchase the Compatibility Card. Schools might be
especially interested in this feature, at least as part of a transition to
newer GS-X wares. Their purchases would help keep down the cost of CC to
private II users.

     There would be at least one major side-benefit to Apple in producing
GS-X. It would own a popular, integrated platform which could easily be
down-sized in order to deliver low-lost Student Notebook Computers.     


Rubywand