--- Jeff Walther <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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.
Yep, during the Jobs-less years (and some during the first Jobs era) Apple was a master at shooting themselves in both feet at the same time. ;) All those deliberately hobbled bad designs made to be "affordable" but which were just cheap were sold in stores like Wal*Mart next to faster PCs like Packard Bells with more Mhz, more RAM and bigger hard drives. Thus the general public got an impression of Macs being slow and limited in their hardware. IMHO, the LC and the Mac TV were the lowest point in Macintosh hardware history. Makes me ask WHY!? Apple clearly did not "get it" that computer users (in those years) shopped mostly on capability, performance and upgradeability, not price, as the major buying decision points. If they wanted X amount of computer they were going to buy it, not something offering only x amount even if it cost a lot less. Had the IIsi been shipped at the originally planned 25Mhz instead of 20Mhz it would not have cut into sales of the IIci because people buying the IIci wanted it for features like the three Nubus slots. Anyone shopping on price would go for the IIsi. Nobody looking for the expandability of the IIci would give the IIsi a first look because it could never be the computer they wanted. Expandability has alwyas been a varying thing with the Macintosh. First there was none, then the Plus had the ability to go up to 4 megabytes RAM. Then the SE/30 had the capacity for 128megs RAM and the PDS connector. The Mac II had six NuBus slots, so did the IIx and the IIfx. Then Apple released the IIcx with only three slots and the IIci with three. Here's where Apple made a big miss, no three slot 40Mhz 030! Could've made some cash off people looking for the speed of the IIfx but not the size so they settled for the IIci. Then Apple made yet another goof by only putting two NuBus slots in the Quadra 700. It gained built in Ethernet over the IIci, but what was the IIci owner with three NuBus cards (none of them ethernet) going to do? One card had to be dumped to make the upgrade. Could be Apple figured such customers would simply have to upgrade to the Quadra 840? Then along came the massive Quadra 900/950 with more NuBus slots. A brilliant move there. Then Apple got dumb again by only putting three slots in the 7100 and 8100 PowerMacs. Back to smart with the 9500/9600 PowerMac with 6 slots, which hasn't been seen since. I wish I knew why Apple has so many times done the two steps forward and one step back routine when going to a faster/better CPU. So they may build more standard features into the box, but cutting expandability at the same time only cut a significant number of Mac owners right out of a desire to upgrade because they'd have to give up some of their stuff. I know many people who would run right out and slap the money down for a G4/Dual G4 with AGP Pro and six or more PCI slots, no matter what it cost, because that is what they want. Apple just refuses to build it. Another $10,000 Mac wouldn't ruffle their feathers at all, they'd gloat about spending so much just like they did when they bought a IIfx so long ago. ;) IMHO, the Power Express, prototypes of which have stuff that has never been on any production Mac, would've been a big success. It woulda been the "Monster Mac" that many have desired for so long! ===== "Why do Zik-Zak Burgers come in plastic packs? Some of the plastic rubs off on them and increases their nutritional value!" Max Headroom __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com -- 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
