Macintosh upgrade questions General 0 What do you plan to do with your Macintosh in the future? 0 Are your needs changing slowly or rapidly? How fast is your business growing? How many Macs per year do you need? 0 What are the most significant constraints you face? 0 Any special packaging, chassis, environmental, expansion, or reliability requirements? Software D What kind of System software-System 6.0x, MultiFinder, System 7.0, A/UX? 0 What kind of application software-word processing, spreadsheet, page layout, graphics, multimedia, etc.? 0 Does your upgraded Macintosh support your software needs? Money 0 How much money do you have available for the complete system purchase? 0 Lump sum or spread over time? D Lease or purchase? Capitalize or expense? 0 Do you have a budget plan? Annual or multi-year? CPU D Does it support your software needs? 0 Does it support your storage, display, input/output, and printer needs? D Does it support your constraints? Storage 0 What kind of short-term storage do you need? Floppy disks sufficient? 0 What kind of working storage do you need? Hard disks? Removables? What size, speed, type? What will you be saving and for how long? 0 What kind of long-tem1 storage do you need? Optical? Tape? Display 0 Monochrome or color? 0 VGA 14 ", full page, or two page? D Hi-Res graphics, compression, or accelerators? Input/output 0 Do you like your keyboard and mouse? 0 Do you have video/multimedia or sound requirements? 0 Any high speed or special input/output requirements? 0 What do you require for communications and networking? Printers 0 What kind of printing? How much? D Network or remote printing a requirement? 0 Dot matrix laser or other printer? Macintosh upgrade cost worksheet Upgrade cost New Mac Mac upgrade A Mac upgrade B CPU RAM Accelerator Floppy Hard disk Backup Monitor 1/0 cards Printer Network cards Communication cards Subtotal hardware Software Buying Other Subtotal other Total Notices ATM™ Adobe Systems, Inc. PostScript® Apple® Apple Computer, Inc. Apple Desktop Bus® Apple'Thlk® AfUXTM Finder® HyperCard® ImageW riter® LaserWrite~ Lisa® Mac® Macintosh® MacworldTM MultiFinder® System 7® 'Ihle'Ifpe® Unix SystemsTM AT&T Information ffiM® International Business Machines IBM AT™ IBM PCTM ffiMXT™ PC-DOS® MicrosoftTM Microsoft Corp. MS-DQS® MotoroJaTM Motorola, Inc. Radio Shack® Tandy Corp. NuBusTM Texas Instruments Ethernet™ Xerox Corp. Upgrade Your Macintosh® and Save a Bundle Bob Brant [WWINDCREST® FIRST EDITION FIRST PRINTING © 1991 by Bob Brant. Published by Windcrest Books, an imprint of TAB Books. TAB Books is a division of McGraw-Hill, Inc. The name "Windcrest" is a registered trademark of TAB Books. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. The publisher takes no responsibility for the use of any of the materials or methods described in this book, nor for the products thereof. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brant, Bob. Upgrade your Macintosh and save a bundle I by Bob Brant. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8306-7770-4 ISBN 0-8306-3770-2 (pbk.) 1. Macintosh (Computer) 2. Microcomputers-Upgrading. I. Title. TK7889.M33B73 1991 621.39'16- dc20 91-16522 CIP TAB Books offers software for sale. For information and a catalog, please contact TAB Software Department, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0850. Acquisitions Editor: Ron Powers Book Editor: John W. Bottomley Production: Katherine G. Brown Book Design: Jaclyn]. Boone Paperbound Cover: Sandra Blair Design, Harrisburg, PA ELI Contents Acknowledgments x Preface xii In the beginning xii Your input and feedback xm May the Force be with you xm Who I am xiv Introduction xv Organization and purpose xv Philosophy, options, process xvi Low-end focus xvi Who should use this book xvii How you should use this book xvtt Chapter overview xvii You can do it xx 1 Why upgrade your Macintosh 1 Why throw it away 2 Why upgrade it 4 Decisions, decisions, decisions 6 In a nutshell 10 2 Apple Macintosh family overview 11 A short Apple Macintosh family history 12 Macintosh 1990 20 Macintosh models 26 In a nutshell 42 3 How used Macs can help you 43 Move over Superman 44 New versus used car analogy 44 The rules of the game 46 Other important points to keep in mind 50 What have you got? 51 In a nutshell 52 Sources 52 4 Upgrade options overview 55 Options, options, options-how to choose 56 Playing with blocks 56 Apple upgrades 59 In a nutshell 61 5 How to make the best choice 63 The fundamental tradeoff 65 Build on the foundation 66 Where do I fit? 68 Some actual examples 70 A practical formula 76 A worksheet for you 79 In a nutshell 80 6 Memory and CPU upgrade options 81 The Macintosh in more detail 82 The Motorola 68000 chip family 82 ROM, RAM, DRAM, SRAM, PRAM, cache, memory chips, SIMMs 85 SIMM price trends 87 Playing the slots 88 Memory upgrades 92 Early Mac memory upgrades 93 Mac Portable SRAM memory rules 104 In memory of 105 Accelerator boards 106 Full-function accelerators 109 CPU/clock accelerators 115 Memory/cache accelerators 116 SCSI bus accelerators 117 File compression accelerators 118 The envelope please 118 Coprocessors 119 In a nutshell 122 Sources 122 7 Storage options 129 A brief overview and history lesson on storage 130 Store me 134 Short term storage-floppy disks 134 Working storage hard disks 139 Removable long-term storage 149 Tape long-term storage 155 In a nutshell 156 Sources 157 8 Display options 163 The Macintosh monitor story 164 Monitor me 165 All monitors are not created equal 166 What to look for 167 Monochrome monitors 169 Color monitors 178 Video cards 182 In a nutshell 186 Sources 187 9 Input/output options 191 Input data 192 Audio and video 202 High speed 205 Communications and networking 207 Mac to the rest of them 213 Modems 217 Fax 218 In a nutshell 219 Sources 219 10 Printer upgrade options 227 The Macintosh printer story 228 Dot matrix printers 229 Laser printers 230 Other printers 238 The high-end is hot stuff 240 In a nutshell 240 Sources 241 11 Chassis options 243 Expansion chassis 244 Repackaging your Mac 251 Mac clones 257 In a nutshell 259 Sources 259 12 Upgrade process overview 261 My basic assumption 262 Myths and disclaimers 263 Tools 265 Dos and don'ts 269 Troubleshooting 273 In a nutshell 274 Sources 274 13 Upgrade your clip-on Mac 128, 512, or Plus 277 Thking apart your clip-on Mac 277 Adding upgrades 288 Other upgrades 298 In a nutshell 298 14 Upgrade your one-slot Mac SE or SE 30 301 Taking apart your one-slot Mac 302 Adding upgrades 312 In a nutshell 325 15 Upgrade your NuBus Mac II, Ilx, Ilfx, Ilcx, Ilci 327 Take the cover off your six-slot Mac II, Ilx, or Ilfx 328 Upgrading your six-slot Max II, Ilx, or Ilfx 331 Thking apart your three-slot Mac Ilcx and Mac Ilfx 345 Upgrading your three-slot Mac Ilcx and Mac Ilci 345 In a nutshell 359 16 Upgrade your new Mac Classic, LC, or Ilsi 361 Thking apart your Mac Classic 362 Upgrading your Mac Classic 367 Take the cover off your Mac LC 372 Upgrading your Mac LC 374 Thke the cover off your Mac Ilsi 380 Upgrading your Mac Ilsi 382 In a nutshell 387