CompuServe Messages

Pawel, If you don,t mind my imput, if you ar seriously thinking of spending around $4,000 for a new machine just for a rendering speed increase, a PowerMac or Pentium may not be the best choice. One of the draw backs of which I'm sure you're aware of on the PC side, is that companies are very slow to embrace new technology, so while software written or re-compiled for the PowerMac was available before the machine, PC users are still waiting for Pentium-compiled applications. Hash, however, is compiling AM for Windowss NT, and although they are having trouble getting it to work on the Intel chipset, it will run on a DEC chip. That gives us AM users the option of buying a 300 mhz DEC. One other thing I am going to wait for is Windows 95. AM is already a 32 bit app. If Windows 95 gives a big enough performance increase, it might even be a better idea to buy 2-3 DX2/66's for rendering – they should be cheap enough by then. The P6 is on the way from Intel, but after their deal with HP, I get the feeling that the P6 may be the end of the x86 line of processors. Intel has made it public for some time that they will be producing RISC chips in the near future. If that is the case, I am thinking of not even bothering with the Pentium at all. We would need pretty much all new software in the next 2-3 years to run on an Intel RISC chip, so I am thinking that I may sell my comic book collection and buy a couple of DEC's. They are quite a few companies that are committed to writing or re-compiling code for Windows NT, and Microsoft is committed to having Windows NT run a number of different chipsets. Intel and IBM/Motorola are not going to be producing 300 mhz or faster chips in the near future; they are targeting a different set of users. I've been thinking that if am I as committed to animation as I think I am, then maybe I should buy equipment that is really designed to handle the workload. Michael S. Flynn