I purchased my SE/30 just over two years ago for a painfully large amount of money, so I’ve been quite aware of Apple’s push over the past 15 months to grab a share of the low-end computing market.
The bumper crop of new Apple offerings in October dazzled the high-end users with the 68040 Quadras (at a very good price) and the three PowerBook portable Macs that don’t need to come with their own chiropractor.
Surprisingly, what has been somewhat overlooked is the new Classic II, a compact Macintosh with the soul of an SE/30.
A cheap SE/30? I wince at the thought.
I had the opportunity this month to put a Classic II through its paces. What I found was a powerful little computer for a mighty tiny price. But even though the SE/30 and the Classic II are built around the same central processing unit — Motorola’s 68030 microprocessor — Apple didn’t equip its latest Classic to be a workhorse.
It is no SE/30.
But then Apple, I don’t think, ever intended it to replace its high-end compact Macintosh, even if Apple did discontinue the line the same time it unveiled the Classic II.
No, more likely it was meant to replace the original Classic. At a retail price of $1,900 for a Classic II with 2MB RAM and a 40MB internal hard drive (and a street price of under $1,600), the Classic II is a much better buy than its predecessor because of its many additional features, which include:
• 68030 CPU: This, of course, means everything because it leaves behind the 68000 microprocessor from the lower-end Mac line in speed, features and ability to take advantage of new technology.
• 32-bit addressing: By shoving data through 32 bits at a time, you’ll move a lot more quickly. This also allows the Classic II to address up to 128MB of real random-access memory (RAM) and up to a gigabyte (that’s 1,000 megabytes!) of virtual memory. However, while the ’030 and System 7 can handle up to 128MB RAM, the Classic II doesn’t have the room for it. It comes with 2MB soldered onto the logic board and room for two more SIMMs (single in-line memory modules). Therefore, your choices are the original 2MB that come on the board, 4MB with two 1MB SIMMs or 10MB with two 4MB SIMMs. Unfortunately, the Classic II cannot handle 16MB SIMMs, so it can’t be upgraded to 34MB with two 16MB SIMMs. With 1MB SIMMs costing about $35 on the street right now, the best bet is to upgrade to 4MB, then add RAM using System 7’s virtual memory capabilities. Virtual memory, however, tends to be quite slow (though cheap), so those wishing to grab a little more speed could take advantage of the plummeting prices of 4MB SIMMs. They currently run about $135, down more than $50 from a year ago.
• Built-in microphone: This was hailed a year ago as forward-thinking by Apple when it introduced the LC and IIsi with built-in microphones. This lets you input sound directly through the Sound control panel. The microphone, which has its own plug-in on the Classic II, was left off the original Classic. As sound features and multimedia become more useful, the microphone that comes with the Classic II looks better and better. Those who use voice mail systems (such as with Microsoft Mail) will love the microphone, which is much lighter — though has fewer features — than Farallon’s MacRecorder.
• Clean ROMs: The SE/30 and the IIcx shipped with what are described as “dirty” ROMs (read-only memory). This doesn’t allow the SE/30 or IIcx to take advantage of 32-bit addressing without a software patch. The Classic II ships with the clean ROMs, which makes sense since all ’030 Macs since the IIci have shipped with them. The new ROMs also have 32-bit QuickDraw built in. This automatically displays color images in simulated shades of gray on a monochrome monitor. This also means that, unlike the Classic, the Classic II will be able to play QuickTime animation, once Apple releases this new technology.
With these features, I don’t see any way a consumer shopping for a new Mac can choose a Classic over a Classic II, even over the difference of about $400. For a retail price (no street price available yet) of about $700, Classic owners can upgrade to a Classic II. Classic owners who want more RAM, full System 7 capabilities and significantly better speed should consider this option.
What does the Classic II have over the SE/30? On paper, three features. In reality, one: price.
• 32-bit addressing: With the clean ROMs, the Classic II can take full advantage of System 7. The SE/30 never shipped with the clean ROMs, but this fall Apple released MODE32, a ROM patch from a company called Connectix, for free to appease owners of Macs with dirty ROMs.
• Sound input: The built-in microphone is fine, but for about $100 a Farallon MacRecorder can be added.
• Price: At less than half the price, the Classic II is mighty tough to turn away from. Apple has a wonderful little machine here. It should begin to outsell the Classic right away. And unless you want expansion or need cheap color, the LC (and its outdated 68020 CPU) isn’t nearly as attractive as it was a year ago.
So what does the SE/30 have on the Classic II? For starters: speed. This is because Apple was in a hurry to get the Classic II out the door this fall with its other new Macs and borrowed from the LC. This reduced development time and kept the price at the low end. The Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips from the LC were revised to handle the Classic II’s smaller monochrome monitor. And the LC’s 16-bit data path between the CPU and RAM significantly reduces the Classic II’s speed and power. Re-engineering the ASIC for a 32-bit path would have pushed the machine’s release well into this year and boosted the price considerably. And because the Classic II’s logic board is the same size as the Classic’s — and half the size of the SE/30’s — there also was no room for an expansion slot or numeric coprocessor.
In addition, the SE/30 comes with built-in stereo sound and a universal power supply. If you want to plug the Classic II into 240-volt power, you’ll need a 100-watt, grounded isolation step-down transformer, according to the December issue of Macworld magazine.
The lack of an expansion slot is a bummer. I rely heavily on my Ehman full-page display for desktop publishing. It’s even easier to add an external monitor to a Classic than a Classic II because third-party developers offer clip-on adapters for the 68000. Reliable clip-ons for the ’030 reportedly aren’t yet available. Don’t worry, though. Major manufacturers already are hard at work to bring external monitors to the Classic II through the SCSI port.
And, though this may not be important to most, the Classic II can’t run any operating system below 7.0.1. If you are holding off from converting to System 7 (or you are switching between the two) because of a favorite application that only runs under 6.x, you’ll be out of luck with the Classic II. We weren’t even able to get it to boot using 7.0.
Rumors have it that Apple is planning a Classic II-like machine with a built-in, 9-inch color monitor, perhaps in 1992. Anybody who saw the cover of the January issue of MacUser probably was surprised by the picture of a Classic II with such a monitor. If Apple can do this with a street price under $2,000, it will truly have a masterpiece.
As you can see from the above chart, we ran our own comparisons between the Classic II and SE/30. The first two were pure speed tests using two notoriously slow applications. The rest of the tests were conducted using Speedometer, a shareware application. This is a rundown of the tests and what they do:
• Towers, Quick Sort, Bubble Sort, Queens, Puzzle and Permutations all are good tests of straight CPU horsepower. As you can see, the Classic II did well for itself, at least staying in the ballpark with the SE/30.
• QuickDraw runs a series of tests changing shapes on the screen. The Classic II was nearly twice as slow as the SE/30.
• Fast Fourier is a test of computations relying heavily on floating-point math, an area where the Classic II is painfully naked, since it lacks a numeric coprocessor. This is obvious in this test.
• Int. Matrix and Sieve test both floating-point math and CPU horsepower. The Classic II did well for itself in both performance tests.
Conclusions? I have no reason to sell my SE/30 and buy a Classic II. More than two years after buying it, my SE/30 holds its own against the IIsi, IIci and IIfx, despite the tradeoffs for being compact.
If I were purchasing a Mac today, however, my best buy would be a Classic II, no doubt whatsoever.
Its size, speed and price are unmatched. Educators, especially, get a great bargain. A Classic II with 2MB RAM and a 40MB hard drive runs just about $1,400. With an additional 2MB RAM (which can be installed in about five minutes) and a little RAM borrowed from the hard drive, you’ll have no memory problems.
Non-profit computer users group have full permission to reprint this article providing the author and the Mid-Columbia Macintosh Users Group in Tri-Cities, Wash., are fully credited and a copy of the newsletter in which the article appears is sent to:
