Like the first Macintosh, the Plus, SE, and Classic shared the same
design: a built-in 9" b&w display, a floppy drive, an 8 MHz
68000 processor, two serial ports, and a port for an external floppy
drive. Unlike the first
Macintosh, these three models shipped with 1 MB of memory,
could be expanded to 4 MB, supported 800K floppies, and had SCSI
for adding hard drives, scanners, and other peripherals.
Each model has something that sets it apart from the other two, so
each has its own following, despite the fact that they are very similar
machines.
The Mac Plus
I consider this the first really successful Mac. It was Apple's
third model, released two years after the original. The Plus was the
first designed for memory expansion, the first with a SCSI interface
(which allowed much faster drives than the floppy port), and the first
to use double-sided floppies. Compared with the SE and Classic, the
Plus runs a little bit slower.
What makes the Plus attractive today is silence. Like the first Macs
and like slot-loading iMacs, there's no fan. If you're not using a hard
drive, the only sound is the clacking of keys as you type, the click of
the mouse button, and reading & writing to the floppy drive.
When buying a Mac Plus, make sure it has a good mouse and keyboard.
Because the Plus doesn't use an ADB connector like newer Macs, it can
be difficult to find a replacement mouse or keyboard these days.
The Mac Plus shipped in beige from January 1986 through April 1987,
when Apple switched its entire product line to platinum - Apple's name
for Macintosh gray.
The Mac SE
About 14 months after Apple introduced the Plus, it released the SE
and Mac II, the first Macs to use
ADB peripherals, support internal hard drives, have room for two
internal floppies, and have expansion slots. Because it supports an
internal hard drive, the SE has a cooling fan - even in the dual-floppy
version.
The Plus remained in the Apple line as a less costly alternative to
the SE for those who didn't need two internal floppies or an internal
hard drive, but the convenience of an internal hard drive made the SE
very attractive.
The only significant change to the SE came in August 1989, when
Apple replaced the 800K floppy with a SuperDrive, also known as the
FDHD 1.4 MB floppy. This version could read and write PC formatted
floppies using Apple File Exchange - along with several third-party
programs, such as DOS Mounter.
The SE's unique feature compared to the Plus and Classic is an
expansion slot, which supports ethernet cards, accelerators, external
video, and even an 8086 DOS card made by AST.
The Classic
It's incredible by today's standards, but the 1990 Classic ran at
exactly the same speed and with exactly the same CPU as the 1984 Macintosh. (For
comparison, the fastest Mac six years ago, the 9500, ran at 132 MHz. Today's
lowest MHz Mac is the 400
MHz PowerBook G4.) According to Apple, the Classic was discontinued
in September 1992, over 8-1/2 years after the first 8 MHz Mac was
announced.
Okay, we've beat that dead horse. And if you ask why Apple did it,
there's a very simple answer: price. The single-floppy, no hard drive
Classic was the first $999 Macintosh - and you could get it with
2 MB of memory and a 40 MB hard drive for just $500 more.
The Classic has two unique features compared with the Plus and SE.
First, you can boot from ROM, no floppy or hard drive necessary, by
holding down command-option-x-o at startup. This gives you a custom
version of System 6.0.3 that can access an AppleTalk network. You can't
modify this system, since it's burned into ROM, but it is kinda
neat.
The second unique Classic feature is the way you expand memory.
Where the Plus and SE have four SIMM sockets on the system board, the
Classic has 1 MB of memory on the system board and a memory
expansion slot. The card that plugs into this slot adds a second MB of
memory and has two additional SIMM sockets, allowing you to add a pair
of 256 KB or 1 MB SIMMs and bring the Classic to 2.5 or 4 MB total
RAM.
That means you should never buy a 1 MB Classic unless you have
access to the memory card or know you'll never want to go past the
1 MB mark.
Hardware Overview
Similarities
- 1 MB RAM, expandable to 4 MB
- 8 MHz 68000 CPU
- 9" b&w 512 x 342 pixel display
- supports external floppy
- 25-pin SCSI port on back
- two RS-422 serial ports
- size (HxWxD): 13.2-13.6" x 9.6-9.7" x 10.9-11.2"
- weight: 16-17 lb.
Differences
- Plus 10-15% slower due to older design
- Plus SCSI about one-third slower
- Plus mouse and keyboard are not ADB; replacements hard to
find
- Plus and early SE use 800K floppy; later SE and Classic use 1.4M
floppy
- Only SE supports two internal floppy drives; some have hacked the
SE to use two floppies and an internal hard drive
- Only SE has an expansion slot, although cards may be hard to
find
- Classic can boot from ROM
- Classic requires special card to boost RAM beyond 1 MB
Performance
We've benchmarked each of these models - click the name of each in
the table below to read the entire benchmark report.
model CPU graphics disk math processor
Plus 0.87 0.91 0.67 0.99 8 MHz 68000
SE 0.98 0.98 1.12 0.99 8 MHz 68000
Classic 0.99 0.99 1.51 1.00 8 MHz 68000
Note that the Classic has a much newer, more efficient hard drive
than the SE. Using the same drive, these two models would have
virtually identical benchmark results.
That's the quick hardware overview and introduction to the compact
Mac trio. The next chapter looks at upgrading your hardware: adding
RAM, installing a hard drive, replacing the battery, etc.
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