vita@sunny.dab.ge.com (Mark Vita) (10/17/90)
On America Online last night there was an on-line discussion with some Apple engineers (Noah Price and a couple other guys whose names I unfortunately don't recall) about the new Macs. Here are some tidbits that I gleaned from the discussion: Macintosh Classic ----------------- * The Classic is about 25% faster than the Mac Plus overall. This is about 5% faster than the SE. The speed increase over the SE is attributable to improvements in the ROM, especially QuickDraw. * The reason an 8-MHz 68000 was used in the Classic instead of a higher speed part was to keep the cost down. * The brightness control on the Classic is in software (the control panel, I presume). * The Classic lacks the Mac SE's expansion slot. There is, however, a slot for a memory expansion card. The memory expansion card takes standard SIMMs. Macintosh LC ------------ * According to the Apple engineers, it will not be possible to put a PMMU into the LC (I didn't get a chance to ask about the Dynamac board). A FPU can be added via the PDS slot. * The LC has 512K of socketed ROM. * Someone asked about the performance of the LC relative to original Mac II (both being 020 machines and all). He said that the graphics performance of the LC should be slightly better due to ROM improvements. However, the LC has a 16-bit path to memory (!), rather than the II's 32-bit path; hence, the LC will be slower on CPU-intensive tasks. Overall he characterized the performance of the LC as twice that of the Classic. * Out of the box, the built-in video of the LC supports: 8-bit color on the new 12" RGB display; 4-bit grayscale on the 12" monochrome display; and 4-bit color on the old 13" RGB display. With the 512K video DRAM upgrade, the LC supports: 16-bit color (!) on the new 12" RGB display; 8-bit grayscale on the 12" monochrome display; and 8-bit color on the old 13" RGB display. * Unlike the IIci, the LC does not suffer a performance hit due to memory contention when using the built-in video. This is because the video memory is in a separate bank of DRAM. * The Apple II board for the LC is Apple IIe emulation, not Apple IIgs emulation. They said that IIgs emulation woud have added several hundred dollars to the cost of the board, and they wanted to keep the cost low. They also said that the vast majority of educational software is written for the IIe. * The Apple II board is for the LC's PDS slot only. At present there are no plans for a NuBus version. * With the Apple II board, the LC can be run in either Macintosh mode OR Apple II mode. You can switch modes without rebooting. However, you cannot run Apple II software and Macintosh software simultaneously. Macintosh IIsi -------------- * The slot in the IIsi is not usable as-is. You need one of the adapter cards to make it into either a NuBus slot or a PDS slot. * The IIsi's PDS slot is electrically equivalent to the SE/30's PDS slot. There could be problems using SE/30 cards due to the difference in size, however. * The 68882 math coprocessor is optional on the IIsi. * The IIsi internal hard drives are third-height drives manufactured by Conner and Quantum. Only third-height drives will fit inside the case (i.e., garden variety 3.5-inch drives such as the Quantum 105 won't fit). Miscellaneous ------------- * The Classic and LC come with a new, small keyboard included in the box. This new keyboard is based on "membrane" technology and has a somewhat softer feel than existing keyboards. It is an ADB device and can be used with other ADB Macs. * The new Macs have only one ADB port; you need to plug the mouse into the keyboard. * The LC and IIsi are shipped with hard drives in their minimum configurations; i.e., you can't order one without a hard drive. * The new machines (at least the Classic and LC; not sure about the IIsi) don't have the traditional programmer's switch; instead, the reset and interrupt signals are sent by hitting certain keyboard combinations; something like Cmd-Option-PowerOn (shades of Ctrl-Alt-Delete! ack!!). They claimed that the new keyboard controller is smart enough so that this will work even if the Mac is locked up. * Maximum RAM in the Classic: 4 MB Maximum RAM in the LC: 10 MB Maximum RAM in the IIsi: 17 MB (!) * The new Macs will make use of some odd-sized SIMMs. Mention was made of a 512K SIMM and a 2MB SIMM. * The "new" monochrome monitor is the SAME CRT as the old monochrome monitor; just repackaged (different case?) and repriced. * Apple has no plans to introduce an Apple-label sound input device for older Macs. (However, someone else mentioned that some company has announced a new sound input device called the MacMic for $59.95! Certainly a lot cheaper than the MacRecorder. Anyone have any info on this thing?) -- Mark Vita vita@sunny.dab.ge.com Advanced Engineering GE Simulation and Control Systems Daytona Beach, FL