Date: Fri, 22 Apr 88 21:44:12 EST From: Dwight D. McKay (The Moderator) Reply-To: Suns-at-Home@mckay.UUCP Subject: Suns-at-Home Digest V1 #11 To: Suns-at-Home-List Suns-at-Home Digest Fri, 22 Apr 88 Volume 1 : Issue 11 Today's Topics: Where to Buy Suns - Summary +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Submissions: suns-at-home \ @ea.ecn.purdue.edu | | Requests: suns-at-home-request > -- or -- | | Archives: suns-at-home-archives / ...ihnp4!pur-ee!mckay!... | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Apr 88 21:56:50 EST From: pur-ee!davy (Dave Curry) Subject: Where to Buy Suns - Summary To: suns-at-home@mckay.uucp Well, in response to my query about where to purchase used Sun-2s, I received a grand total of one response (thanks, Barry). Unfortunately, it was for the one place I already knew about. I have since been doing some heavy-duty browsing through the Computer Hotline and running up some phone bills, and have managed to come up with the following companies which re-sell used Suns: AdComp (Massachusetts) Computer Horizons (Ohio) (617) 388-9792 (800) 227-2362 Ask for Rick Q. Ask for Tom Howard Apex (Washington) Minicomputer Exchange (California) (206) 867-1900 (408) 733-4400 Ask for Jeff Bowden Ask for Bob Berkfeld For those of you wondering, "gee, I wonder how much a home Sun system costs?", below are four sample configurations that I received quotes for, from one or more of the above companies. Because I don't want to get these guys into a bind with a hundred people suddenly calling and saying, "Dave Curry says you'll sell me a Sun for N dollars", I'm not going to say who gave which quote. Besides, the prices seem to vary from week to week (and even day to day), so you should probably call for yourself. All systems include the following: Sun 2/120 (pedestal) with 19" monitor, keyboard, mouse, SCSI board, Adaptec SCSI->ST506 adapter, 9-slot Multibus, 6 serial ports (2 on CPU board, 4 on SCSI board), 60MB cartridge tape. The variations are all in disk and memory sizes: 3 MB memory, (2) 50 MB disk $4000 (Jan. '88) 4 MB memory, (1) 50 MB disk $3400 (Jan. '88) 3 MB memory, (1) 70 MB disk $3300 (Apr. '88) 2 MB memory, (1) 70 MB disk $3100 (Apr. '88) Some general observations that I've made in the past few weeks: 1. Prices are dropping, slowly but surely. 2. Minicomputer Exchange's prices are too high; they quoted me $4500 for the 2MB memory/70MB disk system. When I mentioned the other prices, they said they'd check around and call me back with a lower price; I haven't heard back from them yet (though they did say it might be next week). Probably worth calling them anyway, though. 3. Apex and AdComp are serious rivals. Both of them claimed they'd beat the other's prices. You may have success playing these two off against each other. 4. Apex and AdComp both expressed willingness to drop their prices even more if you bought more than one system; you may be able to wheel and deal if you and your friends go in together and buy in quantity. 5. Rick Q. is especially good about "throwing in" things like extra memory, etc. in order to get the sale. (Don't tell him I told you this, just use it to your advantage.) 6. The lowest price I've heard for 1MB memory boards from these companies is $300. Don't let them get you for more. Price for a SCSI board is about $400. Adaptec boards are available from the Computer Surplus Store for $89 (Computer Shopper, April '88). 7. The Sun-2/50 with the separate SCSI disk/tape is probably not going to be worth the money. The disk/tape box is like $3000 from Sun, and the SCSI expansion board costs a fortune, even on the used market. Apex estimated (not quoted) a price of around $5000 for a 2/50 with the disk/tape box. Might as well get the 2/120 and have the bus slots. 8. The "L. A. Pearl" company in NY City, which advertises selling Suns in Computer Hotline, is either lying or run by incompetents. The first time I called they didn't know what one was (is it a terminal?). The second time they said they'd call me back. I'm still waiting. Anyway, the guy on the phone sounds like a mobster. :-) So anyway, that's what I found. I suspect there's a lot of you out there just yearning for a REAL home computer with REAL UNIX on it (none of this 80286/Xenix bullshit); hopefully this information can be of help to you. Happy Sun Hunting, Dave Curry Purdue University davy@intrepid.ecn.purdue.edu {rutgers, ihnp4}!pur-ee!davy ------------------------------ End of Suns-at-Home Digest ******************************