Macintosh SE/30

The Macintosh SE/30 is a personal computer made and sold by Apple Computer between January 1989 and October 1991. It is the fastest model in the original black-and-white compact Macintosh series.

The SE/30 has a black-and-white screen and one Processor Direct Slot (PDS) for upgrades like faster processors, network cards, or display adapters. It could use up to 32 MB of RAM, which was a lot at that time. It usually came with a 40 MB or 80 MB hard drive. It was also the first small Mac to come with a 1.44 MB high-density floppy disk drive (later versions of the SE had one too, but early ones did not).

The SE/30 was powerful enough to make This Week, the first color tabloid newspaper in the UK to use digital pre-press technology on a personal computer.

Apple offered an upgrade for US$1,699 that turned a regular Macintosh SE into an SE/30. This upgrade changed the logic board and added a new front bezel to match the SE/30.

Even though the Macintosh Classic came out in late 1990, the SE/30 stayed on sale until the Macintosh Classic II replaced it in 1991. The Classic II used the same processor and speed but was slower overall because of its 16-bit data path, supported only 10 MB of RAM, had no expansion slot, and made the Motorola 68882 FPU optional.

Hardware
The Motorola 68030 chip in the SE/30 could handle 32-bit memory addressing. However, the computer's built-in software (ROM) used some older 24-bit code, making it "32-bit dirty." Because of this, the SE/30 could only use up to 8 MB of RAM under System 6 unless users installed a special extension called MODE32.

Under System 7, it could use up to 128 MB of RAM. Users could also install a ROM chip from a Mac IIsi or IIfx to make the SE/30 fully "32-bit clean" and use newer operating systems like Mac OS 7.5 and 7.6.1.

A normal SE/30 can run up to System 7.5.5, but Mac OS 7.6 needs a "32-bit clean" ROM.

The SE/30 could also run A/UX, Apple's version of Unix that could also run Mac programs.

Some companies sold upgrades that made the SE/30 even better. Adding a 68040 chip allowed it to run Mac OS 8.1. Video cards from Micron Technology let users add color monitors or even turn the built-in display into 8-bit greyscale.; ; 

Reception
In February 1989, Nick Baran from BYTE said the SE/30 was much faster than the SE and II. He said the only reason to buy a IIx instead was for its expansion slots and better A/UX support.

Bruce F. Webster wrote in Macworld (March 1989) that the SE/30 didn't "break new ground" but added a powerful and portable choice to Apple's product line.

In 2009, Adam C. Engst, John Gruber, and John Siracusa called the SE/30 their favorite Mac ever. Gruber said the SE/30 "remained usable for years."

The SE/30 is still popular with hobbyists and collectors today. Some models have been upgraded with WiFi and even used as Spotify music players.

References

Category:Apple hardware
Category:1991 disestablishments
Category:1989 establishments