gwe@cbdkc1.UUCP ( George Erhart ) (10/11/85)
Well folks, I finally have the blessing of my wife to order a 2meg upgrade
for my Mac. (I am soooo tired of having only 128k!) Anyway, I flipped through
the November issue of MacWorld and made a few phone calls to get info. The
following list is what I found:
System Notes
--------------------------------------------------
VOAD .5,1,1.5 and 2 meg upgrades
price for 128K to 2Meg is currently $894
procedure: mail VOAD a money order or check
VOAD mails you the board + tools
you return the tools + your board to VOAD
Warrenty: VOAD will express mail a replacement board
if you experience and problem in the first 120 days
if you experience a non-memory problem, VOAD will
mail you a virgin 128K board to use when
you get you mac service. (A nice Idea.)
Promised service after 120 days for a price.
Promised support for future Apple upgrades.
(hint ... ROMS & DISK)
Not a licenced Apple VAR (Value Added Retailer)
(See ad in Nov. MacWorld, page 164)
uC .5,1,2 and 4 meg upgrades
price for 2 meg upgrade is $999
procedure: remove your board and mail it plus a
check to uC, or find a local dealer.
uC mails the upgraded board back.
Warrenty: did not ask.
Special: They are not going to ship until 10/15 and
are back ordered through 6/85. (Hint, not
available now.) Claimed that their upgrade
bypassed the DRAMs on the Mac motherboard
and connected in such a fashion that the
hyperdrive upgrade would fit also. (I would
have to see it to believe it!)
(See ad in Nov. MacWorld, page 16)
MacMemory,Inc .5 and 1.5 meg upgrades
price for 128K to 1.5 meg is $795+tools (If you don't have them)
procedure: send money for tools and return packaging
MM,Inc send tools and mailing package to you
you remove the mac motherboard and mail to MM,Inc
MM,Inc mails upgraded board to you.
Warrenty: 90 days, plus extentions available for $$$
Special: This upgrade does not provide a true 1.5 meg machine,
instead, you can have 512K ram and 1 meg ram disk
or 1 meg ram and 400K ram disk. They claim that
the rumored 128K ROM upgrade will make it truly
1.5 meg mac. Added bonus, the MM,Inc board will
accept 1Meg RAM chips when available. (Claimed
to be close to testing with 1 Meg chips) The
sad part is that the 256K DRAMs are soldered in
and the board will require "minor" rework to
run the larger chips.
(See ad in Nov. MacWorld, page 18)
Mass Tech .5,1,1.5 and 2 Meg upgrades
price for the 128 to 2 Meg is $1099 (For October)
procedure: .5 or 1 Meg mail the motherboard.
1.5 or 2 meg mail the Mac to them
Warrenty: 120 days, year extension available
(See as in Nov. MacWorld, page 148)
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This is info that I have gotten by reading MacWorld ads and calling the
companies. I did not have a number for Levco, but several people on the
net have gotten their upgrade, perhaps they could set us straight on the
Levco story.
From this information, I believe I will purchase the VOAD upgrade. The Idea
of not losing any down time and their fairly low price are really nice. If
I can believe what they said over the phone about support, then I have
confidence that I will never get stuck with a dead Apple!
By the way, one important question I asked of all the manufacturers is
will they support Apple's rumored ROM and DISK enhancements. The answer
from all of them was the same, YES.
I hope that some of you will be able to use this info. Oh, one good
rumor. One company, who I will not name, mentioned that Apple was
looking into licensing one of the current 512K+ upgrades in the same
fashion that they did with GCC and the HyperDrive. (Remember this
is only a rumor!)
DISCLAIMER: I have know ties to any of the companies mention in
this article. Please check out this info for your self before you buy!
--
George Erhart at AT&T Bell Laboratories Columbus, Ohio
614-860-4021 {ihnp4,cbosgd}!cbdkc1!gwe