From: hades@coos.dartmouth.edu (Hades)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Let's talk Performas, Boys and Girls
Date: 28 Sep 92 15:01:59 GMT
Reply-To: hades@Dartmouth.Edu
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Disclaimer: Personally, I really don't care who you think I speak for.
Moderator: Rec.Arts.Comics.Info

tsirbasc@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Tsirbas Christos) writes:

>I just read the specs on the 600s in Byte magazine, and I am pretty
>sure that Apple has crippled it and that it is not as powerful as
>the IIVx will be.

    Well, that's because the Performa 600 is not intended to be
purchaced by the same people who would buy a IIvx, but that doesn't mean
it's crippled.

>First of all, the famous Performa 600 accelerator slot.
> 
>This is not a Cache slot, it is a dedicated accelerator slot.  It cannot
>be used as a cache slot for the simple reason that it's bus to the CPU
>is designed in such a way as to support only a board with a separate
>processor on it, effectively replacing or cutting off the existing CPU.
>This slot cannot address the high speed static RAM of traditional cache
>cards, so that option is closed to Performa owners.

    The Performa 600 is intended for those people who really don't know
much about personal computers, or computers in general. That is why the
Performa line only comes in one standard configuration for the 200, 400,
600, and 600CD. I mean, lets be reasonable. Anyone who knows what a
cache card is would never go to Sears to buy a computer.
 
>Secondly, the Performa has Mono sound (it basically has the same sound
>chip as the LCs), I doubt very much that the IIVX will have mono sound.

    Yup, mono input, and stereo output, just like all the other Macs
that have built in sound out.
 
>As for expansion: the Performa 600 has only a single 4-slot Ram
>expansion bank (four Megs of Ram are soldered onto the Motherboard),
>therefore, if one wants to upgrade to 68 megs, one must use
>ultra-expensive 16Meg simms.  Also, please remember that in such a
>configuration one must fill all the slots with equivalent simms at the
>same time.  Therefore, for all intents and purposes, the max. mem ory
>for the intended users would be 20 megs using affordable 4meg simms.

    Again, anyone who would buy their computer from Sears will probably
never need more than 20MB of memory. Besides, I don't really see the
problem with this, since the Quadra 700 has the exact same Ram
configuration, and so will the IIvi/vx.

>Next, the Performa uses standard Nu-bus slots, rather than the New-bus
>90 slots found on the Quadras.  Also, I believe that the Performas will
>have standard SCS I rather than SCSI II implimentation.

    So. The Performa 600 isn't a Quadra. As for SCSI II, no mac ever
made before has had it, so I don't see this as crippling, certainly not
compared to the IIvx which won't have NuBus 90 or SCSI II.

>Furthermore, and I think this is the most important.  The Performa 600 only
>has support for 14" colour monitors.  No support for full page displays or 
>larger monitors, which effectively eliminates it as a serious machine for 
>desktop publishing (Even the IIsi has support for a full page monitor).

    The P600 is not intended to be used for serious DTP. It is more of a
multi-media machine. That is why you can get 16bit colot in a 640x480
resolution and stereo sound-out for use with the CD-ROM drive and
Quicktime.

>So basically, the Performa is a crippled Mac, no two ways about it.

    This is just wrong. There are a number of things that Apple has put
into some of their other machines that are not in the P600, but this is
because Apple is attempting to keep the price down, so that the P600
will better appeal to the types of people who would buy a personal
computer from Sears.

>Here are my predictions for the IIvx (which will replace the IIci)

    Please keep in mind that the IIvx will use the same box that the
P600 uses, so that means that it will probably have a very similar, if
not exact duplicate, motherboard.

>1. Vram will probably go up to 24-bit colour rather than 16-bit.

    Where are they going to get the extra space for the additional 1 MB
of VRAM that will need to be added?

>2. Support for the full range of Apple Monitors (up to the 20" and including
>the full page display)

    This is probably accurate in that the IIvx will probably support
full-page diplays and also the Apple 16" monitor (especially since the
box has been designed to support the weight of the Apple 16"), but you
can forget the Apple 21" monitors and there will only be 8bit color on
the 16".

>3. SCSI II and NuBus-90 implimentation.

    This is just not going to happen.

>Actually, this is more like a wish list, but I suspect that this will be the
>case for the IIvx, after all, simply boosting the speed of the IIsi would
>hardly be what I would call an upgrade.

    You call the P600 "simply boosting the speed of the IIsi"? That's
nonsense. The P600 has a better case design, with support for 2 internal
drives, one of which is a full-height, as well as a built-in accelerator
slot, 3 NuBus slots and a PDS slot. This alone is far more than a
speedier IIsi. Not to mention the fact that the P600 has dedicated VRAM
rather than having to use the bank A RAM like the IIsi, and the P600 can
drive the Apple 13" at 16bit a hell of alot faster than the IIsi can
drive it at it's max of 8bit.

>As for having 1 or 2 banks for RAM, I am not sure about that, I can't
>remember whether the Quadra 700 has one or two banks.

    The Q700 only has 1 bank with 4MB soldered on the motherboard, just
like the P600.


--
-Hades (Brian V. Hughes) 
   "You know Television has gone to hell when, with every commercial,
	 you find yourself hoping to see the Energizer Bunny."