Even with the fabulous press reception given to the Macintosh upon its release (see my previous article), it did not sell well. There were a number of reasons for that.
Tag Archives: Mac Plus
Prior to 1986, the best Mac had 512 KB of memory with no expansion path, a 400 KB floppy drive, and no standard way of connecting a fast hard drive. The Mac Plus, introduced on January 16, 1986, changed all that.
The Mac Plus shipped from the factory with 1 MB of system memory installed in the form of four 256 KB SIMMs. It can be upgraded to 2.5 MB and 4 MB configurations using 150ns or faster 1 MB 30-pin SIMMs.
Many Mac models can be “chipped” to run at a higher speed, but none of the compact Macs can. That said, some can be upgraded with third-party accelerators, so you’re not necessarily stuck with the original CPU speed – although finding those upgrades nowadays may be difficult.
This is the first in a series of articles showing how Adam Rosen uses four vintage Macs to read, recover, convert, transfer, and return files to his clients. Today’s installment covers the Mac Plus.
We all get nostalgic about certain things. For some, it’s the first car. And sometimes, it’s the first Macintosh.
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.)
In 1993, I was 11 years old. My experience with Macs had amounted to whatever time I could get alone with the Mac Plus sitting in the back of the classroom. I didn’t do much then. Mostly I would just play games like Shufflepuck Café or Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? I had no […]
2006 – January 16th marks the 20th anniversary of the Mac Plus, the first Mac with a SCSI port, LocalTalk networking, and several other things. It’s hard to believe this machine is 20 years old – the one I use still works fine, and at times I almost find myself using it more than my newer […]
In my previous article, I discussed the care and maintenance of the venerable Mac Plus. Well, I displayed my imperfections as a Triassic Mac user. I know a number of things about old Macs. However, I am a writer, not an engineer (with apologies to the late DeForest “Bones” Kelley).
Of all of the Triassic Macs, the Mac Plus has the most sentimental value among the Low End Mac community. For many 1980s computer users, it was the first Mac they ever owned. For others, it was the first device they used as a replacement for the venerable typewriter.
The Mac Plus came with an 8 MHz 68000 CPU; the Brainstorm upgrade replaces that with a low power 16 MHz 68000. Brainstorm had the guts to claim it could more than double performance. Some claims just beg to be tested.
The Mac Plus uses the same 8 MHz 68000 CPU found in the original Macintosh and the 512K Fat Mac. The attached hard drive is a 160 MB Quantum, and the computer has 4 MB of memory. Because it is an older design, the Plus is generally considered to be about 15% slower than the 8 […]
1999 – What is System 6, and why is it the preferred system for 8 MHz compact Macs?
I just got a Mac Plus, Mac SE, or Classic. What can one do with this ancient Mac today? (This is a typical Mac Daniel question.)
1998: The original Macintosh of 1984 was an incredibly cool computer – but impractical. With just 128 KB of RAM and a single 400 KB floppy drive, using it was an exercise in frustration involving a lot of disk swaps. A second floppy drive made the Macintosh a much more practical computer, but it was […]
