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Which B&W Compact Mac is the BEST?!?

Which B&W Compact Mac is the BEST?!?

  • 128K/512K/512Ke

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Plus

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • SE/SE SuperDrive

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • SE/30

    Votes: 3 75.0%
  • Classic

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Classic II

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • None, I prefer Mac LC's

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    4

Scott Baret

Well-known member
OK folks, time for an honest poll that slams them against each other, rather than just if you like the SE/30 or Classic II. I know a lot of people were commenting that they love Pluses (me too, use one almost daily for real work) so here goes...

Note this is only for B&W compacts, no Color Classics here since we all seem to love them.

 

Bolle

Well-known member
i like them all. i voTed for classic cause its the only compact i own. :'( I´d love to get an SE/30 or (and ;) ) a Plus but I don´t have the $$$.

 

The Macster

Well-known member
Well I think I'll vote for the only one that I own too :) The Plus is quite a nice one because it has all the charm of the originals, but is actually useable ie it has an amount of memory in which you can actually do stuff (!), has SCSI, can run OS 7 etc.

Although the SE/30 is the other strong contender for the best Compact because of it's upgradeability ie it's the only Compact Mac that can be made into quite a powerful little beast without completely rebuilding it (which doesn't count :p ), the upgrades for them are generally so expensive that they're inaccessible to most of us, so if you found an SE/30 it would most likely remain largely stock (also if I had one and could find upgrades for it, I'd still be too scared to open it up to install them :p ).

 

pzler

Well-known member
i voted se/30 because it does so much and does it so well. plus comes second to me.

if you added the cc i still would have voted se/30 because it is da bomb

 

~tl

68kMLA Admin Emeritus
Without a doubt, the best is the SE/30. Just for specs alone... none of the others can touch it.

 

Kallikak

Well-known member
There's more to computing than specs - else this place wouldn't exist!

I judge by my assessment of a machine's contribution to the "Macintosh phenomenon" :)

Plus is therefore my choice.

 

The Macster

Well-known member
I judge by my assessment of a machine's contribution to the "Macintosh phenomenon" :)
Plus is therefore my choice.
Surely the original is the one that contributed the most to the "Macintosh phenomenon"? :p

 

Kallikak

Well-known member
I love the Classic II as well - I even bought one new in 1991 or 1992, but the SE/30 is around 10% faster because it has a full 32 bit System bus.

 

MacMan

Well-known member
I have got to say the Plus. It was my first Mac and I love its very "vintage" look in comparison to later compacts.

 

MultiFinder

Well-known member
Guess what I voted for? :p

The Classic II isn't as fast as the SE/30. However, it is the second-fastest Compact, it has a modern-looking case, and they're dirt cheap nowadays while SE/30's can still command a bit of a price }:)

Here's my little rundown of the Classic II vs. the SE/30:

  • *The Classic II and SE/30 are the only compacts with a 68030 CPU.
    *The Classic II is the only compact aside from the SE/30 that runs at 16MHz.
    *The Classic II is the only compact aside from the SE/30 that can take more than 4 megs of RAM.
    *A new SE/30 would have set you back $4,399.
    *A new Classic II would only cost you $1,899.
    *Today, a decent SE/30 will set you back about $75 plus shipping.
    *Today, a decent Classic II will set you back about $20 plus shipping.
    *The Classic II has 2 megs of logic board RAM, while the SE/30 only has 1 meg.
    *The Classic II weighs less than the SE/30, not counting any upgrades that are in the SE/30 (16 lbs and 19.5 lbs. respectively).
    *The Classic II has a 512k ROM versus the 256k ROM of the SE/30.



:)

 

FunnymanSE30

Well-known member
*The Classic II has 2 megs of logic board RAM, while the SE/30 only has 1 meg.
Who cares? when you can put in up to 128mb on the se/30, and the ram's not on the logic board that's just the amount it shipped with

*The Classic II weighs less than the SE/30, not counting any upgrades that are in the SE/30 (16 lbs and 19.5 lbs. respectively).
That's because the se/30 has a stronger/thicker internal steel frame than the whimpy classic II does.
*The Classic II has a 512k ROM versus the 256k ROM of the SE/30.
So? the se/30 can run a wider range of OSs

;)

 

MultiFinder

Well-known member
*The Classic II has 2 megs of logic board RAM, while the SE/30 only has 1 meg.
Who cares? when you can put in up to 128mb on the se/30, and the ram's not on the logic board that's just the amount it shipped with
Touché. On the SE/30, it's not on the logic board. However, it is on the logic board in the Classic II, meaning that you will never get one with less than 2 megs of RAM :)

*The Classic II weighs less than the SE/30, not counting any upgrades that are in the SE/30 (16 lbs and 19.5 lbs. respectively).
That's because the se/30 has a stronger/thicker internal steel frame than the whimpy classic II does.
The Classic II is a very solid computer. I've dropped mine several times (carrying it whilst eating fried chicken is NOT a good idea), and all it's suffered is a small crack in the plastic in the top corner :)

*The Classic II has a 512k ROM versus the 256k ROM of the SE/30.
So? the se/30 can run a wider range of OSs

;)
The SE/30 can run as far back as 6.0.3. The Classic II can still run System 6 (6.0.8L). So fine, the SE/30 can run further back, and probably a bit farther foward with more RAM. But why wouldn't you want to run 6.0.8? It's generally agreed upon to be the most stable version of System 6 :)

 

FunnymanSE30

Well-known member
*The Classic II has a 512k ROM versus the 256k ROM of the SE/30.
So? the se/30 can run a wider range of OSs

;)
The SE/30 can run as far back as 6.0.3. The Classic II can still run System 6 (6.0.8L). So fine, the SE/30 can run further back, and probably a bit farther foward with more RAM. But why wouldn't you want to run 6.0.8? It's generally agreed upon to be the most stable version of System 6 :)
Not just early versions of system 6, but A/UX, Linux, and netBSD, and with some hackery, 8.1 :p

 
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