Some tips on buying for Christmas

Press, 19 December 1989, Page 29

Some tips on buying for Christmas

The number of computer owners is about to make its annual jump as families buy machines for Christmas.

The range is much the same this year as last year. The front runners as family machines are still the Commodore Amiga and the Atari XT range. These computers are great for games, for music, for graphics, and for general enjoyment. They can also be used for small-business bookkeeping, though you would be unlikely to buy one primarily for this.

Behind them is the Commodore 64, still being made and with thousands of programs available, but old technology and with little new software being developed. If your pocket will stretch to it, choose an Amiga or Atari XT over a 64. The BBC is a fine computer, with tons of power, and software from British. It has a small but enthusiastic following in New Zealand and is popular in schools, but is well behind Commodore in the number of machines sold, and in the amount of software specifically for it.

The other main families are the IBM PC and compatibles and Apple. The PC was designed as a business microcomputer. Millions of PCs and compatibles and clones from other manufacturers have been sold. It dominates personal computing as the Model T Ford in its day dominated motoring. Thousands of useful programs for business and specialist activities,

and many good games programs are available for the PC. The PC is a good buy if a member of the family wishes to use it also for some business purpose. If they do, they should also consider AT compatibles, the more powerful member of the IBM PC family, and needed for many of the emerging programs. There are scores of PC brands. Those from Asia tend to be closely compatible. Some others, such as the Amstrad, tend to need special versions of some PC software. Commodore and Atari also make PC compatible machines.

Apple is now known mainly for its Macintosh family, which is a business machine, though it is also popular in education, where discounts are available. The Mac ranks in personal computers where BMW ranks in cars — both in performance and price. The cheaper Apple 11, an old machine now, sells mainly to primary schools.

Second-hand home computers, which can often be found through the Saturday classifieds of “The Press,” can be good value. First, become familiar with the price of new machines. Second be interested only if a second-hand machine is offered at a price markedly below new price. (Computers are like cars in the steep fall in value in the first year or so). Be cautious when offered old machines such as the TRS-80, Colour Genie, System 80, Commodore

VIC, Spectravideo, and the Sinclair line. These are obsolescent.

Computer electronics are robust, though the machines have mechanical parts such as disk drives, and power supplies can cause problems. If you don’t have a friend knowledgeable about computers, take a prospective purchase to a service firm for a check, just as you might have the AA check a secondhand car. It will be money well spent. Good computing.

Fletcher Challenge has bought the New Zealand rights to an Australian computerised system for auctioning livestock. Fletcher’s will run the system under a new name, CALM New Zealand, Ltd. The system will provide an alternative to stock sales, saving on transport, handling, and travel costs.

Farmers listed will pay an assessment fee and then a fee for each listing on the system. Fletcher’s will introduce the system through its subsidiary, Wrightson, Ltd, providing national coverage for sheep and cattle farmers. The system may later be extended to specialist livestock such as deer, goats, and perhaps to commodities such as wool, grain and :

The system will be run on hardware of the Australian developer of the system, the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation, with telecommunications links across the Tasman.