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Hi Alan, > >To: address@hidden > >From: alan anderson <address@hidden> > >Subject: more Sun questions from alan > >Organization: St. Cloud State > >Keywords: 200005192059.e4JKx5T09907 hardware > > We had a session with Sun reps. today, and they are offering some > very tempting prices. Sun ultra 5 at about 1100 with 256kRam and > a 17 inch monitor.for about $900. > Sun Ultra 10 for about $3000 fairly well equipped. Doesn't seem like their offering much more than the standard edu deals See; http://krusty.uen.org/prices/promos.html > A very inexpensive price for the sun compilers. It should already be cheap if you have a Sun ScholarPac site agreement - does your campus have one in place? If not, it my be well worth it to set one up -- see; http://www.sun.com/edu/ > What is the down side of using an Ultra 5 as our "base" terminal, assuming > it has enough Ram and disk? An Ultra 5 is OK, but I think you could do better with PC's. > Can you offer your perspective? If price is not the issue, are there > some other aspects of Sun workstations (probably the lower end models) > that are limiting or likely to create problems? > As you know, we now run Gateways with Solarisx86. I think our assumption > is that at some point (in terms of running more demanding applications) > that a workstation from Sun or someone else will definitely perform > better than even a well equipped pc. Is this reasonable or is it just > a matter of buying enough RAM and disk, whether pc or workstation? If you look at the many of the low-end Suns, they are really PC's with a SPARC chip instead of and Intel chip. They have a PCI bus and IDE disks. You can order a blazing fast PC for $2000-3000, especially if you can find a local vendor and avoid Dell/Gateway who often have a 10-20% markup on commodity items. Don't get me wrong, I'd still make sure to get a three year warranty, but with somebody local. Anyway, I think you are right on by saying that is it usually a matter of buying enough RAM and disk. If you are interested, I could throw together a basic configuration and a cost estimate of what you should be able to find... > One of the factors that makes the Sun appealing is that our State Admin. > apparently has an educational purchase/discount plan in place with Sun > which includes software (compiler packages) at low prices. This is an important consideration, especially if you already have a big investment in SPARC software licenses. mike