gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu (02/21/88)
Here is my wishlist for a Mid-Price Macintosh II, due in the middle of
the year from Apple. I had a very hard time deciding which machine to
purchase (SE or II) -- a machine in the middle would have made the
decision much easier. Here are the preferences, highest priority
first.
(0) 68020 chip, of course. 12-16Mhz.
(1) Small, perhaps slightly larger than SE. Slightly portable.
(2) Quiet Fan. Quieter than the current Mac SE.
(3) SIMM space for 8Mb. People will soon hit the 4MB ceiling!
(4) 1:1 interleave hard disk driver. 1.25Mb/sec (=maximum) transfer rate.
(5) Full Color Quickdraw. Even if you buy a monochrome machine.
(6) Ability to run A/UX. Maybe someday A/UX will be cheap(er)?
(7) Multifinder/Multitasking demands a large display. Either
(a) Video display card that can drive a Multiscan monitor at Max
Resolution (560*800?) (decapitated macintosh)
or
(b) Built-in grey-scale or color monitor with at least 640*480 resolution.
(swelled-head macintosh)
(8) 2-3 slots. Either NuBus or SE-bus, I suppose. Because most people may
eventually want an (a) accelerator, (b) modem/ethernet, and (c) a display??
(9) Sockets for 68881 and 68851, unpopulated.
(10) 1.6 or 3.2Mb floppy disk drive -- today's floppies are puny!
Except for the floppy drive, it should be possible to retail a
stripped machine like this for $500-$1000 less than a similarly
equipped Mac II (you save on power supplies, cases, 12Mhz 68020, bus
slots, no 68881). That would have been very nice.