MrNexx wrote:In neither case (rods vs. marker studs) am I talking about antiques, though. I'm talking about new, production-line materials. Both achieve the same bonuses, the same goals... just one of them is much smaller.
Buy 2 new computers, complete with mouse, monitor, and keyboard. 80 gig hard drive, 1 gig RAM, 2 gig processor. One is a desktop (rods), one is a laptop (marker studs). The marker studs one is going to be more expensive because there will be more minaturization involved in making it. It's going to be more difficult/expensive to service, because there will be more specialization needed to service it. It with rods, as with the desktop, you can open up the case and acces fairly easily; I've done it with my desktop hundreds of times. I've got a desktop in arm's reach which is open. With a laptop, it's much more difficult, and it will require at least minor surgery with marker studs.
That's where the expense comes from. Not from the black powder vs. AR-15. But from two top-of-the-line computers, one being a heck of alot smaller than the other.
In no case was I proposing something that was antiquated. I was speaking of brand new equipment, and in my case, the old designs cost more.
As I explained in a previous post (that came after your reply - I'm not ragging on you, just pointing you back a little bit), new technology may in fact be both superior and cheaper than old technology. Computers are a FINE example.
Old technology on computers - here's a *FINE* example:
In 1989, a 386 machine had the following stats:
20mhz 386 processor (Intel)
2mb RAM (max - 16mb)
Cache memory (actually listed in the ad - quantity isn't given...assumed to be 256KB).
256K color VGA graphics
Micro-Channel bus
Monitor and mouse not included.
This fine and amazingly fast machine was sold for a a piddling $8499, plus tax.
These days you can get a computer that is quite literally hundreds of times more powerful for a twentieth of the price...and it will come with a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and a more modern OS. It'll also likely have a modem and a network card to boot, in addition to weighing less, having better graphics capability, and requiring less power.
Old technology is cheap. New technology CAN be cheaper.
These days, it'd be difficult to make the machine described there. It could be done, but it'd require substantial effort to retool to put it together.
/Sub
There's a reason...and a very good one...that I have certain people in this forum blocked both here and on Facebook.
I can see an illustration of that nearly every time I come here.