>Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 18:46:52 -0500 >From: Fletch Brendan Good <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: new 68k for Dad
>If you need a third choice, I would actually suggest an LC (not an LC >II or III), even though LowEndMac declared it a Road Apple. Though it >is essentially a repackaging of the Mac II (it has a 68020), If the LC were actually a repackaged Mac II, say with the NuBus slots removed and the SIMM slots reduced in number it would not be so bad. However, that is not the case. The LC has a 16 bit path between the CPU and memory, where the Mac II has a 32 bit path. This causes a very significant reduction in performance in the LC vs. the II. Additionally, the Mac II had a maximum RAM of 128 MB. The LC goes up to 10 MB. What's up with that? It's not even a power of 2. Apple must have done something seriously stupid in the ROM and/or the memory map, because that's not the kind of number you're likely to get from a hardware limitation. Basically, the LC could be a better machine with exactly the same hardware, if the ROM was better written. It could be a pretty good machine, albeit a little more expensive with a wider data bus. The marketing weenies were probably pressuring the engineering folks to build a machine that wouldn't compete with the IIsi and the abominable LC is what we got. It didn't become what it should have been until the LC III. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the design for the LC III was basically laying around during the entire lifetime of the LC and the LCII. Wooo. I wouldn't go on about this so much, but this is a pet peeve of mine about Apple. They release models that are handicapped beyond the requirements of any cost savings. By that, I mean that for the same money, and using pretty much the same parts, there have been several machines that could have been much better were it not for the marketing weenies. It's darned inefficient, it is. Anyway, don't dishonor the Mac II, which was a fine machine for its day, by saying that the LC is a close relative. :-) Jeff -- Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
