IIsi vs se/30

[Phipli]

I had an SE as a kid when it was about 10 years old. The biggest frustration for me was software compatibility rather than speed (although if it hadn't been, I suspect speed would have been more of a frustration). By the mid through late 90s (using old cover disks in about 1998), most programs needed a bigger screen 020 and ROM functions that didn't exist in an SE like 32bit QuickDraw.

I mostly used it for HyperCard, Chipmunk BASIC, word processing, drawing and driving a HP Plotter. As well as playing Star'roids.

But "Child with a hand-me-down" isn't a valid target market for sales, so I consider my experience irrelevant!

 

[Scott Baret]

I'd keep both if I were you. They're similarly powered but two completely different machines. Interestingly, they occupied sort of the same place in the market in 1991: mid-level computers that were between the budget line (LC and Classic) and power user line (IIci and IIfx).

However, one thing to consider...if you ever need some quick cash in an emergency, an SE/30 will ALWAYS sell and will always net more than the IIsi. I've seen the SE/30 go for $550 (without new caps!) in eBay auctions lately, especially if it has some kind of card installed (video, or, especially, Ethernet).

They've been in hot demand on the secondhand market since October 1991, when they were discontinued.

 

[jmacz]

This is just a theory, but it’s probably the popularity of the original SE that made the SE/30 so desirable. The Macintosh II family was most likely out of reach for most people price-wise, but a LOT of people had the SE, and those machines did start feeling a bit limited eventually. Then the (almost identical looking) SE/30 came out that offered such a huge boost in performance while being “semi-affordable”, everybody was like “I want that!”

Like you, our first Mac was the SE (dual floppy), and I never thought that it was slow. But I also always wanted more RAM and was always trying to optimize the system to run lean etc. We had the Mac II but my dad was using it most of the time. When we upgraded to the SE/30, it was a massive jump. if I remember correctly, we upgraded to 20MB RAM which was insane for the time, plus an internal hard drive. Despite this, my most fond memories revolve around the original SE.

Yeah, I can totally see that. Dunno, for me, once I started feeling limited, I wanted the color/resolution too. The IIci/cx was a lot more expensive than the SE/30 and you had to get a monitor too on top of that. But I thought at the time that if I was going to take the next step, I should get the color and resolution too instead of being limited to the small black and white screen. So the SE/30 wasn't even on my radar at the time.

I had an SE as a kid when it was about 10 years old. The biggest frustration for me was software compatibility rather than speed (although if it hadn't been, I suspect speed would have been more of a frustration). By the mid through late 90s (using old cover disks in about 1998), most programs needed a bigger screen 020 and ROM functions that didn't exist in an SE like 32bit QuickDraw.

I mostly used it for HyperCard, Chipmunk BASIC, word processing, drawing and driving a HP Plotter. As well as playing Star'roids.

But "Child with a hand-me-down" isn't a valid target market for sales, so I consider my experience irrelevant!

Yeah, lots of HyperCard. And desktop publishing for me. Had an after school job as a kid at a local desktop publishing store and remember the first time seeing the full page and two page displays in person, the scanners, all the fonts from Adobe, good times. Lots of Think Pascal and Think C also (not from the desktop publishing store, but personally).

 

[oldmacuser]

I never owned IIsi but obviously IIsi can do everything what SE/30 can do and more For me, SE & SE/30 were the first Apple Macs I used (my family had...) as a kid. very nostalgic! and so all I really need is just SE & SE/30. But If I were you, I would keep both!

 

[Byte Knight]

I went from a SE/30 to a IIsi back in the day, and prior to that I had a IIgs. The IIsi was my first color Mac, and I was thrilled to have a color computer once again! Nowadays I enjoy playing around with both of them.

 

[lowlytech]

Thanks for all the input on this, enjoyed reading everyones experiences and views. Every time I try to consolidate down machines I find it particularly difficult. Just need a bigger space is the best option.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I started out my Macintosh journey with a Plus in 1990. I used and abused the heck out of that thing until I was able to get a job in the summer of 1993, whereby I immediately purchased a discontinued (and heavily discounted) IIsi, color monitor, and CDROM drive.

That was my first color Mac. From 1990 through the summer of 1993, I would visit the local computer store and play around on their color Macs when I wanted to play something in color. I also helped them with setup, troubleshooting, and even with some sales to customers who came in (showing them what the computers were capable of). They paid me in free software (usually “not for resale” promo copies but sometimes something they’d want demoed, too, like Prince of Persia 2).

The IIsi was quite a capable machine for the time, and I would often run it in 16 grays for added speed if I didn’t need color. Or sometimes even in 1bit only.

Mine only had 5MB of RAM so I was quite limited to what I could do. I never upgraded it, and instead I bought a discontinued Quadra 605 for $600 in the fall of 94, and then sold that IIsi for $250.

 

[Phipli]

I started out my Macintosh journey with a Plus in 1990. I used and abused the heck out of that thing until I was able to get a job in the summer of 1993, whereby I immediately purchased a discontinued (and heavily discounted) IIsi, color monitor, and CDROM drive.

That was my first color Mac. From 1990 through the summer of 1993, I would visit the local computer store and play around on their color Macs when I wanted to play something in color. I also helped them with setup, troubleshooting, and even with some sales to customers who came in (showing them what the computers were capable of). They paid me in free software (usually “not for resale” promo copies but sometimes something they’d want demoed, too, like Prince of Persia 2).

The IIsi was quite a capable machine for the time, and I would often run it in 16 grays for added speed if I didn’t need color. Or sometimes even in 1bit only.

Mine only had 5MB of RAM so I was quite limited to what I could do. I never upgraded it, and instead I bought a discontinued Quadra 605 for $600 in the fall of 94, and then sold that IIsi for $250.

A IIsi was my brother's University computer... into the early 2000s! He had access to more modern machines in the labs, but it was handy for writing things up etc.

He had trouble with having to kick people out of his room because they'd be playing Lemmings and Swoop late into the night

 

[8bitbubsy]

The IIsi is a nice machine, and by the cost of a 50MHz oscillator you can safely overclock it from 20 to 25MHz. The logic on the machine was actually designed for 25MHz [citation needed], but Apple decided to underclock it to 20MHz before production so that it wouldn't compete with the IIci. I think my only complaint is that it has sync-on-green video only (like the IIci), which makes it incompatible with quite a few (modern?) VGA monitors.

As for the SE/30, I think it's a slight gimmick. Why would you want all that processing power and RAM in a machine that has a 1-bit 9" B&W CRT? I mean, I have a 68030 accelerator in my SE (was included with the machine, wasn't even told about it), but it still feels a bit ... silly? Cool but silly.