(Fwd) Re: Apple vs IBM
On 12 Jul 2003 at 21:06, debian@computerdatasafe.com.a wrote:
> I have here a PowerMac 7300/200. It's CPU is, according to the kernel, a
> PPC 604e at 200 Mhz.
>
> It's CPU performance is nothing flash, my Athlon beats it hands down as
> I'd expect.
>
> Then I see this:
> http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/hardware/workstations/
>
>
> RS/6000 43P Model 150
> from $8,805.00 IBM Web price*
> Monitor not included
> Power, performance and expandability to fit your budget.
> · Choice of 250 or 375MHz PowerPC 604e
> processors
> · Starting with 128MB and growing to 1GB of
> memory
> · Ultra2 SCSI disk support/SSA RAID disk support
> · Supports GXT135P and GXT4500P graphics
>
>
> Now, 250 Mhz isn't a lot more than 200 Mhz. Sure its disk is faster, and
> its a more-nicely specced machine, but it still has basically the same
> CPU as is in my six-year-old Powermac. about the same age as my Pentium
> II-233 system.
>
> What's special about this IBM kit to justify its price?
Say you have a ginormous rig standing in a clean room, that is
business critical, runs a handful or even several dozens of
(clustered) 604e processors. Say you want to develop and test new
software for that system. In that case, you need a system that runs
the same software on the same hardware. The rig cost your company
several 100,000 dollars to deploy, and at some point you need an
extra or replacement workstation to develop and test your software
on. O, and besides that, you as the developer are payed a yearly sum
that could buy your company several dozen high-end Athlon
workstations. Does a 8,000 dollar strike you as odd under those
conditions? Remember that this workstation isn't just cheap hardware;
it's cheap hardware for which IBM will supply you with expensive
spare parts for years and years to come.
To be true, the regular Unix workstation price is abnormally high,
but in this niche market, anything goes; usually the annual bill to
run the highly available server makes the workstation bill of
marginal importance, and you can trust IBM to keep the server and the
workstation running for years to come.
(I am not marketing for IBM here; Sun Solaris or HP/UX or SGI
workstations with relatively ancient hardware usually cost about ten
grand as well; small change if you already can cough up the cost of
running the server. Getting spare memory or disks or other small
parts cost hilariously large sums of money as well.)
Jeroen
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