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Also known as | "Aurora II", "Pacific" [1] |
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Developer | Apple Computer, Inc. |
Product family | Macintosh II |
Release date | September 20, 1989 |
Lifespan | 3 years, 4 months |
Introductory price | US$6,269(equivalent to $15,400 in 2023) |
Discontinued | February 10, 1993 |
Operating system | System 6.0.4 - Mac OS 7.6.1 |
CPU | Motorola 68030 @ 25 MHz |
Memory | 1 MB or 4 MB, expandable to 128 MB (80 ns 30-pin SIMM) |
Dimensions | Height: 5.5 in (140 mm) Width: 11.9 in (300 mm) Depth: 14.4 in (370 mm) |
Mass | 13.6 lb (6.2 kg) |
Predecessor | Macintosh IIcx |
Successor | Macintosh Quadra 700 Macintosh Centris 650 Macintosh Quadra 800 |
Related | Macintosh SE/30 Macintosh Classic Macintosh Portable |
The Macintosh IIci is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from September 1989 to February 1993. It is a more powerful version of the Macintosh IIcx, released earlier that year, and shares the same compact case design. With three NuBus expansion slots and a Processor Direct Slot, the IIci also improved upon the IIcx's 16 MHz Motorola 68030 CPU and 68882 FPU, replacing them with 25 MHz versions of these chips. [2]
The Macintosh Quadra 700 was introduced at the end of 1991 as Apple's mainstream workstation product to replace the IIci, albeit at a significantly higher price point: by this time, Apple authorized resellers were offering entry-level IIci systems for US$4,000 or less, whereas the Quadra 700 entered the market above US$6,000. Because of this, Apple continued to sell the IIci until early 1993 when the less expensive Quadra 650 and comparably priced Quadra 800 were introduced.
The IIci introduced several technical and architectural enhancements, some of which were important in preparing for System 7 (which was then called the Blue project) and would influence future Macintoshes, though some of them came at the cost of compatibility:
The IIci was one of the most popular and longest-lived Macintosh models of the 20th century. For much of its lifespan, it was the business "workhorse" of the Macintosh line. [4] For a short time in 1989, before the introduction of the 40 MHz Macintosh IIfx, the IIci was the fastest Mac available. [2]
The IIci came with either a 40- or an 80-megabyte hard disk.
Possible upgrades include the 40 or 50 MHz DayStar PowerCache 68030, a 33 or 40 MHz DayStar Turbo 040, and the DayStar Turbo 601 PowerPC Upgrade running at either 66 MHz or 100 MHz. DayStar Digital, which was bought by XLR8, still holds the Daystar product logo and name for its line of products. 68030 and 68040 upgrades were also made by Sonnet, Diimo and other companies. The MicroMac DiiMO 030 accelerator was a 50MHz 68030 CPU with optional 68882 FPU, in a form factor which plugged directly into the IIci processor direct slot.
When the Quadra 700 was released in 1991, a logic board upgrade was made available for the IIci to upgrade it to the performance level of the Quadra.
An easter egg exists in the IIci ROM. If the system date is set to September 20, 1989 (the machine's release date) and the ⌘ Command+⌥ Option+C+I keys are held during boot time, an image of the development team will be displayed. [1]
The signatures of the product design team can be seen in the molded plastic of the case if one removes the motherboard.
Timeline of Macintosh II family models |
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The Motorola 68040 ("sixty-eight-oh-forty") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 series, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060, skipping the 68050. In keeping with general Motorola naming, the 68040 is often referred to as simply the '040.
The Macintosh II is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from March 1987 to January 1990. Based on the Motorola 68020 32-bit CPU, it is the first Macintosh supporting color graphics. When introduced, a basic system with monitor and 20 MB hard drive cost US$5,498. With a 13-inch color monitor and 8-bit display card, the price was about US$7,145. This placed it in competition with workstations from Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, and Hewlett-Packard.
The Macintosh IIfx is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1990 to April 1992. At introduction it cost from US$9,000 to US$12,000, depending on configuration, and it was the fastest Macintosh available at the time.
The Macintosh SE/30 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from January 1989 to October 1991. It is the fastest of the original black-and-white compact Macintosh series.
The Macintosh II is a family of personal computers that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1987 to 1993. The Macintosh II was the initial model, representing the high-end of the Macintosh line for the time. Over the course of the next six years, seven more models were produced, culminating with the short-lived Macintosh IIvi and Macintosh IIvx models. Apple retired the Macintosh II name when it moved to Motorola 68040 processors; the Centris and Quadra names were used instead.
The Macintosh IIx is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from September 1988 to October 1990. This model was introduced as an update to the original Macintosh II, replacing the 16 MHz Motorola 68020 CPU and 68881 FPU with a 68030 CPU and 68882 FPU running at the same clock speed. The initial price of the IIx was US$7,769 or US$9,369 for the version with a 40 MB hard drive.
The Macintosh Quadra is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1991 to October 1995. The Quadra, named for the Motorola 68040 central processing unit, replaced the Macintosh II family as the high-end Macintosh model.
The Macintosh IIsi is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1990 to March 1993. Introduced as a lower-cost alternative to the other Macintosh II family of desktop models, it was popular for home use, as it offered more expandability and performance than the Macintosh LC, which was introduced at the same time. Like the LC, it has built-in sound support, as well as support for color displays, with a maximum screen resolution of 640 × 480 in 8-bit color.
The Macintosh IIcx is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from March 1989 to March 1991. Introduced six months after the Macintosh IIx, the IIcx resembles the IIx and provides the same performance, but is seven inches (18 cm) narrower, ten pounds (4.5 kg) lighter, and quieter due to a smaller internal fan. The relative compactness results in three NuBus slots being available, compared with six on the IIx.
The Macintosh Classic II is a personal computer designed and manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1991 to September 1993. The system has a compact, appliance design with an integrated 9" monitor, typical of the earliest of the Macintosh range. A carrying handle moulded into the case added a degree of portability at a time when laptops were still relatively uncommon.
A processor direct slot (PDS) is a slot incorporated into many older Macintosh models that allowed direct access to the signal pins of a CPU, similar to the functionality of a local bus in PCs. This would result in much higher speeds than having to go through a bus layer, such as NuBus, which typically ran at a slower 10 MHz speed.
The Macintosh IIvx is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1992 to October 1993. It is the last of the Macintosh II family of Macintosh computers. The IIvx was introduced at the same time as the Macintosh IIvi, with both models using the same metal case design as the earlier Performa 600 and Performa 600CD. Like the Performa 600CD, the IIvx could be equipped with an internal double-speed CD-ROM drive.
The Macintosh Quadra 950 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1992 to October 1995. It replaced the Quadra 900 that was introduced several months earlier, increasing the CPU clock rate of its 68040 CPU from 25 MHz to 33 MHz, and improving the graphics support. The two computers were otherwise identical, including the price. With a Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card installed, this computer is known as the Power Macintosh 950.
The Power Macintosh 6100 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1994 to March 1996. It is the first computer from Apple to use the new PowerPC processor created by IBM and Motorola. The low-profile ("pizza-box") case was inherited from the Centris/Quadra 610 and 660AV models, and replaced the Macintosh Quadra series that used the Motorola 68040 processor, Apple's previous high-end workstation line.
The Macintosh Quadra 700 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1991 to March 1993. It was introduced alongside the Quadra 900 as the first computers in the Quadra series, using Motorola 68040 processor in order to compete with IBM-compatible PCs powered by the Intel i486DX. The Quadra 700 is also the first computer from Apple to be housed in a mini-tower form factor, which in 1991 was becoming a popular alternative to standard desktop-on-monitor cases that were common through the 1980s.
The Macintosh Quadra 605 is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from October 1993 to July 1996. The model names reflect a decision made at Apple in 1993 to follow an emerging industry trend of naming product families for their target customers – Quadra for business, LC for education, and Performa for home. Accordingly, the Performa 475 and 476 was sold in department stores and electronics stores such as Circuit City, whereas the Quadra was purchased through an authorized Apple reseller.
The Macintosh Quadra 900 is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from October 1991 to May 1992. It was introduced alongside the Quadra 700 as the first computers in the Quadra family of Macintosh computers using the Motorola 68040 processor. It is also the first computer from Apple to be housed in an 18.6 inch tall mid-tower form factor, which by 1991 had gained momentum with PC manufacturers as a suitable design for departmental servers.
The Macintosh Quadra 800 is a personal computer that is a part of Apple Computer's Quadra series of Macintosh computers.
DayStar Digital, Inc., was a company founded in 1983 by Andrew Lewis as a subcontract manufacturer of electronic assemblies and circuit boards. In 1986, the company released memory upgrades for Apple Macintosh (Mac) computers as its first products, and in 1987, DayStar began to market processor upgrades exclusively for the Mac, the first being for the Macintosh II computer. The company focused exclusively on this market for the full range of Mac computers through 1995, utilizing the Motorola 68030, 68040 and PowerPC 601 processors. These upgrades were installed directly into the Processor Direct Slot of various Macintosh platforms, as on the Macintosh IIci, or via an adapter. DayStar became known as the leading "speed shop" for Macintosh computer systems; it won virtually every Mac editorial award given for product excellence and had the top rated brand among peripheral manufacturers. The company also formed unique strategic relationships with many companies including Apple, IBM and Adobe. In 1995, DayStar was one of three companies in the world awarded licenses by Apple to "clone" the Macintosh computer.
The Macintosh Quadra 650, originally sold as the Macintosh Centris 650, is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from February 1993 to September 1994. The Centris 650 was introduced alongside the smaller Centris 610 as the replacement for the Macintosh IIci and Quadra 700, and it was intended as the start of the new midrange Centris line of computers. Later in 1993, Apple decided to follow an emerging industry trend of naming product families for their target customers – Quadra for business, LC for education, and Performa for home – and folded the Centris 650 into the Quadra family.