The First Expandable Macs and the Mac Portable

1986 marked the replacement of Mike Murray as head of marketing with Jean-Louis Gassée. Gassée started Apple’s French division and drove it in a few years to become one of the most successful divisions in Apple. Unlike Steve Jobs’ vision of an information appliance, Gassée hoped that the Macintosh would turn into an open platform […]

Memory Upgrades: Mac IIci

The Mac IIci took the popular Mac IIcx design and replaced its 16 MHz logic board with a 25 MHz 68030-based design. New features included built-in video and a Level 2 (L2) cache socket. The IIci was the first Mac with “32-bit clean” ROMs.

The 25 Most Important Macs

2009 – Others have published their thoughts on the Best Mac Ever, the 10 Best Macs, and the 25 Best Macs, but I’m taking a different approach. I want to identify the 25 most important Macs ever, clones included. (In some cases, I’ll lump together two or more models that were introduced simultaneously.)

Is a 56k Modem a Good Match for a Mac IIci?

1998 – DR writes: What kind of modem can I use with my Mac IIci? It has System 7.5.5 and a floppy disk drive (it’s a pretty much stock computer). I’d prefer a 56k modem, if possible. It will be primarily used for Internet access. I’ve had a tough time trying to buy a modem […]

Should I Push My Mac IIci Any Further?

1998 – GM writes: I have an old Mac IIci which I have already upgraded with a 2.1 GB hard drive, 32 MB RAM, and System 7.5.5. It however is too slow to support the graphics and word applications I’m using! Also most new programs now will not run on this 68030 processor!

Mac IIci

Building on the success of the Mac IIcx, the IIci offers 56% more power in the same compact case. A new feature was integrated video. The big advantage: Users no longer needed to buy a separate video card. The big disadvantage: The built-in video uses system memory (this is sometimes called “vampire video”).