11/70 - original or 570 model more desirable?

[Rick Bensene]

Bill D. wrote:

>Random question
>would you prefer having, if you had to pick only one, the original PDP
>11/70 or the newer "blue cabinets" PDP 11/70, assuming both were complete
>configurations with racks of storage etc as they would have been sold, more
>or less.
>Assume space and power are not issues, consider just the machine itself.

If either one showed up at my place, I would most certainly not kick it to the curb!

In fact, I'd figure out how to shoehorn it into the museum, spend the money to get the power needed, and upgrade the cooling.
I'd want to be able to run it periods of time, limited only by my electric bill :-)

Even running the 11/34A with three RL02's, an RK05 and RX02 for a day makes a definite jump on the little bar graph showing usage on our electric bill.
The PDP 8/e system, with three RK05's and RX01 running for a day makes a bump on the graph also.  
If I run both for a full day, my wife complains about the electric bill going up enough that it attracts her attention as an anomaly.

I can't imagine what impact it'd have on the electric bill to run a loaded up 11/70 system for a full day.  
I suspect if I by some miracle ended up with a system like this (which I've dreamt of since I was in high school), I'd have to take a second job to pay the electric bill to keep it running.

-Rick