CompuServe Messages

John Dvorak in one of his PC columns this month says 486 PCs are oversold — that most of them are going to need much more RAM and other hardware to run the next generation software. And that's not even talking about stuff as basic to today's Amiga as digital sound. He figures an adequately configured 486 will go for a best price of around four grand. There are even $999 486 specials out there now, but they're relatively useless without expansion — mere boat hooks to trap the unsuspecting into an expensive lifetime of Intel and Windows servitude. Now, if you want to run MS-DOS apps only, you may well be able to get in for around a grand; Windows, a bit more. But if you want to run Windows NT, dig out your wallet. Windows 3.1 is no alternative to Workbench 2.x and up, as far as I'm concerned, because I demand preemptive multitasking in a sane amount of RAM. Windows NT may be an alternative, but it's going to be a pig: as much as 30 megs just for the OS on hard disk. A fat 486 is a powerhouse, and it needs to be, for its power is all going to get sucked up. I've seen 486s at 33 mhz running animations and I wasn't impressed. Jerky, slow, and not full frame. Maybe they didn't carry local bus video.