Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Get the Right Memory / Ram for your Mac. Top Quality, Competitive Prices, Lifetime Warranty. Expert Support and Video Installation Guidies too! 4.0GB Matched Sets from $87.99, Options up to 32GB. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

25 Years of Mac

Macintosh History

1989: Mac SE/30, IIcx, IIci, and Portable

Dan Knight - updated 2008.01.19 - Tip Jar

Popularity: LEMLEMLEMLEM

In January 1989 (one of Apple's favorite months for new product releases), Apple unveiled the best ever compact Mac with a 9" b&w display, the Macintosh SE/30.

Essentially a Mac IIx in an SE case with only one expansion slot, the SE/30 with an ethernet card became a favorite network server, since it didn't require buying a video card and monitor like the IIx did.

Best of all, its expansion slot could hold an accelerator card, allowing today's SE/30 owner to buy a 50 MHz 68030-based upgrade and roughly triple performance. (Daystar once made a 33 MHz 68040, which was even more powerful.)

In March, Apple introduced two very practical monitors for professionals, the Portrait Display, which could show a full page at once, and the Two-Page Display, a 21" screen that showed two pages side-by-side. Both were high quality b&w screens, many of which remained in use for a decade or more.

Also in March, Apple released the first small modular Mac, the IIcx. Essentially a IIx with only three NuBus slots in a case about two-thirds the size, the IIcx was a runaway success, especially in the graphics community. Even with a video card and network card, the IIcx had a slot to spare.

But Apple didn't stop there - six months later it shipped the Mac IIci, the first Mac to run faster than 16 MHz. Not only did the IIci run at a blazing 25 MHz, but by adding a 32 KB level 2 cache card, you could boost performance another 30%, making it about twice as fast as the earlier 16 MHz Macs.

This was also the first modular Mac with integrated video. Using system memory, the IIci could run a 640 x 480 display at 256 colors or a Portrait Display with 16 shades of gray.

Of course, there were compromises involved with this design. Since video ran at 25 MHz, it was very fast, but because it used system memory, other processes were slowed by about 8%. To overcome this, many users installed NuBus video cards (accelerated ones when they became available), allowing all system memory to be used just for programs, not sharing some of it for video.

The IIci had the best SCSI throughput of any 60830-based Mac, hitting approximately 2.1MBps, compared with 1.4MBps for earlier models. Even the "wicked fast" 40 MHz IIfx introduced in 1990 had slower SCSI.

The Mac Portable

Macintosh PortableIntroduced simultaneously with the IIci, the Mac Portable was one of the largest "laptop" computers ever created. Weighing in at almost 16 pounds, the Portable had a lot of redeeming features:

  • the lead-acid battery provided up to 10 hours of power
  • the active matrix screen was the clearest on the market
  • the 16 MHz 68000 was as perky as any Mac - except the new 25 MHz IIci
  • it could have either a trackball or numeric keypad
  • the handle made it easy to tote
  • it was a Macintosh, so Mac users didn't have to learn DOS or Windows so they could work in the field

The Portable really was an impressive piece of hardware despite its weight. MacUser called it "by far the most complex piece of machinery devised for sale by Apple computer" (Nov. 1989). Also, unlike earlier 68000-based Macs, which were limited to 4 MB of RAM, the Portable could handle an amazing (and expensive) 9 MB of static RAM.

Even today, those who get their hands on the Portable are readily seduced by it. Just keep in mind that this is not a laptop; it's a Mac to go.

The Competition

Intel first shipped the 80486 in 1989, although it wasn't used in a shipping computer until 1990.

And NeXT introduced NeXTstep, it's Unix-derived, Mac-like operating system, which would eventually form the basis for Mac OS X.

Personal Perspective

When I worked at ComputerLand of Grand Rapids, I had an SE/30 on a pivot arm over my desk. That plus a 9600 bps NEC modem and an ImageWriter LQ printer kept me in business.

I used a IIci for several years, designing books on an Apple Two-Page Display. Although a powerhouse in its day, I was glad to move on to Quadras and Power Macs in later years. Of course, desktop publishing is one of those areas that drove the Mac market and never had enough speed.

I also own a couple Portables, both work but need to be cleaned up. One has 5 MB of RAM, and I used to tote it around, claiming it was my Macintosh Gameboy. It handles System 7.x quite nicely.

As I said above, the Portable is seductive. LEM

Next - 1990: The 'Wicked Fast' IIfx and the First Consumer Macs

Links for the Day

Recent Content

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.