[OT] Pegasos PPC

[Clinton MacDonald]

Norberto:

Tim Seufert wrote:
> On Mar 19, 2004, at 7:27 PM, Norberto Quintanar wrote:
>> To try and wrap this up, has anyone bought a Pegasos PPC
>> - http://www.pegasosppc.com/ they basically make PPC machines rather
>> cheap I might add http://www.ultraspec.us/pegasos.htm
>>
>> So has anyone on the list bought one of these?  They appear to be PPC
>> scorchers at a reasonable price.  Even a fully loaded custom box is
>> $1500.US.
> [...]
> 
> But the real problem is this: you can buy a brand new 1.25 GHz G4 from 
> Apple for $1300, or a dual 1.25 for $1600.  The single 1.25 is likely to 
> perform a lot better than the Pegasos: obviously, it's clocked 25% 
> faster, but it also has a faster FSB (166 MHz vs 133 MHz), and Apple 
> uses the 745x G4 CPU with 1MB of L3 cache while Pegasos uses the 744x 
> variant of the G4 which has no support for L3 cache at all.  (The dual 
> 1.25 Mac has 2MB L3 per CPU.)

I have to agree with Tim: with the dual 1.25 GHz G4 PowerMacs going for 
US$1,599 (that's fully loaded with a warranty from Apple), it's hard to 
look anywhere else. And, if you want to pinch pennies on a YDL-worthy 
system, a used G4/500 dual processor goes for around US$800 -- and that 
probably has a CD-RW/DVD drive. A *new* eMac (1 GHz with 40 GB drive and 
built-in monitor) can be had from Apple for US$750 (educational price). 
In the mid-1990s, Macs were *highly* overpriced. That is no longer true.

Perhaps the problem you perceive is that Macs have always held their 
value better than PCs on the used market (but that's a good thing if you 
already own the Mac :-) ). A used recent vintage PowerBook will sell on 
eBay for not much less than what a new PowerBook costs from Apple.

Perhaps you are being wooed by the advertised prices of PCs for US$400. 
Well, to meet that $400 price point, *something* must be compromised in 
that PC versus a $2900 "gaming" machine.

You will never see Apple sell new Macs at $400. That is not the market 
they are targeting. If one buys a Mac today, one is usually buying an 
innovative, high-end machine that runs the operating system by which all 
others are judged. If you don't like Mac OS X, you probably shouldn't be 
in the market for a *new* Macintosh (though, if you like Yellow Dog 
Linux, a used Mac is a good choice).

But, that's just my opinion. :-)

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>