& LIGHT-YEARS! - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive

Heidi Aycock, Steven Anzovin, Gregg Keizer, and Peter Scisco
What's it take to be a power
user these days? How much
can you really pack into your
home computer system
before the power lines melt?
Just when is too much still
not enough? Here's how to
turn your wimpy home
machine into the Bulgarian
weightfifter of computers.
■^t ower.
It's the most seductive
word in the computing lexi
con. Hardware and software
makers know this and use the word to
tantalize- Apple puts the tag The
power to be your best at the bottom of
each ad; Paperback Software reminds
everyone that Knowledge is Power.
Home computer users aren't im
mune to the power plague, either, Just
as much as anyone in a corporate
tower, we thirst for a machine that
sings through spreadsheets, that whips
through word processing. We hunger
for the most complete, the bestequipped
computer system we can
afford.
Ah. there's the rub, isn't it?
Money. Because we don't have a
capital-outlay budget—because it's our
36 COMPUTEI
money, not someone else's—we have
to be careful about how our computer
currency is spent. Hard choices are in
store for anyone who wants to make a
home computer more powerful.
That's what this article is about—
hard choices. Deciding that you want
a more powerful machine is easy; the
tough part is choosing how to make
that machine a power beast.
We've eliminated some of the
guesswork by taking $1,000 and
putting power into three typical home
computer systems—an 8088-based
MS-DOS computer, a Macintosh Plus
(or SE), and a Commodore Amiga
500. And because not everyone uses a
home computer for the same tasks,
we've shown you more than one route
to power computing. More interested
in writing than in graphics? Planning
on creating the ultimate game system
instead of the ultimate database?
Read on. And may the power be
with you.
MS-DOS
Five years ago, when you bought your
IBM PC or compatible, a power user
was a gas-station grease monkey with
an air wrench. Today, you're still
clicking along with 512K. of RAM. a
monochrome monitor, and two floppy
disk drives. But something's wrong.
Every computer magazine you open
bristles with the hottest hardware this
side of a crooked pawn shop. Face it:
You're an 8088 chip in a 386 world,
and it's time for a makeover.
Game Master
If you're a gamester looking to bring
your PC compatible up to the level of
today's competition, you'll want EGA
color, the minimum standard for top
flight gameplay. You'll also want to in
crease your computer's RAM to 640K.
and add a game card and a joystick.
The Boca Research EGA by Boca
board will give you the colors you
need for $249. The board supports not
only EGA. but MDA, CGA, and
Hercules standards as well. A scan of
mail-order houses reveals no-name
EGA cards priced as low as $145.
Of course your new board is use
less without a color monitor. The
choices are mind-boggling. Mail-order
prices for EGA monitors can be as low
as $325. Mitsubishi's XC1410C mon
itor lists for S659. but can be had
through the mail for $375. Samsung's
CM4531 display retails for $349.
That's about $550 so far. The
next step is to boost your PC's mem
ory. For about $55, you can add two
banks of 64K RAM chips {a total of
18) to your computer's motherboard.