Macintosh Trio Answers the Calls
Terian Tyre · T.H.E. Journal Technological Horizons in Education · 1990
Teachers, students and other fans of the Macintosh platform have been calling for new, lower-cost models. On October 15, 1990, Apple Computer, Inc. responded, unveiling three new Macs. * Classic Is Under $1,000 Long-awaited, the Macintosh Classic will undoubtedly find its way into many classrooms, labs, offices and homes. It's an entry-level model boasting a retail price tag of $999, which the educational discount lowers to $800. Its 7.8-MHz Motorola 68000 32-bit microprocessor offers up to 25 percent faster performance than a Mac Plus. It comes with 2MB of RAM, expandable to 4MB. Also standard is the Apple SuperDrive, a 1.4MB-capacity, 3.5 disk drive that can read and write to MS-DOS, OS/2 and ProDOS disks as well as to Mac disks, allowing easy data transfer between DOS, PS/2 and Apple II machines, respectively. Built into the Macintosh Classic are AppleTalk and LocalTalk networking capabilities and six ports. One SCSI port lets up to seven peripherals--such as CD-ROM drives, scanners and printers--be connected. There's also a sound output port, a port to connect an extra 3.5 disk drive, a printer port, a modem port and an ADB port for the mouse. A keyboard with numeric keypad and a mouse are also standard. The Macintosh Classic 2/40 has a 40MB internal hard disk. Software included with all the new models are System Version 6.0.6 or later, a disk of utilities, HyperCard Version 2.0 featuring new Audio stacks, and a training disk. Multi-tasking under Multi-Finder is standard on all the new machines, as is the ability to run System 7.0 when it's released. * Macintosh LC Does Color The new Macintosh LC is the firm's lowest-cost, color-capable machine that also features sound-input capabilities. The result is a new, low-cost platform for multimedia. The unit's sleek cabinet measures 12.2 wide, 15 deep and 3 tall. Monitors are separate. Computing power is provided by: a 16-MHz 68020 32-bit CPU offering performance over 100 percent faster than a Mac Classic; 2MB of RAM, expandable to 10MB; an internal 40MB hard disk; and a SuperDrive. Built-in video capabilities support 256 colors on the Macintosh 12 RGB Display (512 x 384 pixels), 16 colors on the AppleColor RGB Monitor (640 x 480), and 16 shades of gray on a Macintosh 12 Monochrome Display (640 x 480). Further, an optional 512K video-memory board boosts the number of shades from 16 to 256 on both the AppleColor and Monochrome monitors and from 256 to 32,000 on the 12 RGB unit. If equip-ped with a video expansion board, other monitors are supported. Although Macs traditionally offer sound output, the new LC model allows for sound input. …