Apple Macintosh IIci
Having used Macintosh computers almost exclusively in labs throughout my
undergraduate years at Brock University (we had SGI workstations too), it
was only natural for me to want one of my own. Despite owning Mac Pluses
and having access to a Powerbook 145B, I longed for a real desktop Mac
with colour that could run "real" applications. I finally ended up
purchasing this used machine, with an Asante Nubus ethernet card. It
originally came with 8MB of RAM and an 80MB hard drive. I have since
upgraded the RAM to 20MB. That should be more than enough for the
life-span of this machine, literally. It originally came with System 7.0.1,
but I have since upgraded it to System 7.1.
When this machine was released, back in 1989, it was a machine
to be reckoned with, and a pricey one at that. Today, it makes a nice
little unit for someone who just wants a Mac to perform odd jobs or simply
have fun with.
Also pictured here is a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 17" monitor.
Unfortunately, even with a monitor like this, the IIci can at best put out
only a 640x480 8-bit display. I could really use a cheap high resolution,
high colour Nubus video card. Come to think it, I could also use a cheap
PPC 601 accelerator card, too. Finally, to the right of this unit sit an
external 800K 3.5" floppy drive, and my SCSI Zip drive, which with its
~90MB capacity outsizes the disk inside the system itself.
(06/05/99) I recently sold this machine, after reducing it again to 8MB of RAM,
to offset the cost of my newer Macintosh LC 475. The IIci was a prettier,
more elegant machine than the LC 475, and for that it is missed. The LC 475,
however, is faster. That doesn't always matter, but when you'd like to run
current applications on a platform that is still being developed for, you've
got to keep up or give up.
Links of interest:
Apple Computer, Inc.
The Macintosh IIci Page
Macintosh FAQs Index
Back to the computer jamboree.