Which Was The Best Compact Mac Made?

[Schmoburger]

Hands down, I must choose the SE, specifically the FDHD amd SuperDrive models as they are realistically the most useful, having an internal hard drive and ROM support for the HD FDD out of the box. I choose the SE by virtue of reliability and good engineering alone... in most other respects they are the same as any other 8MHz compact. Unlike the Plus however, the SE has active cooling, rather than convection cooling and the associated shortening of lifespans on the AB componentry as suffered by the Plus, and also 128k and 512K. There are still no SMD electrolytics in sight on the SE, so logic board rot or cap failure an almost a non-issue. The implementation of ADB is also very much a positive in favour of the SE, rather than that ridiculous RJ11/DB9 serial combination of input device sockets, and of course, the PDS slot, unique to the SE and SE/30. They also have the nicest looking case in my opinion. Whilst I do enjoy the Classic, it really is operationally just a  cheapened SE, without any expansion slot, and with terrible surface mount electrolytic capacitors on the logic board that claim many a Classic... So realistically it can hardly be rated as the best as it performs the same, has no processor direct expandability, and breaks more readily. The Classic isnt an intrinsically bad machine in concept, being a little faster and better, and just as sexy, but unfortunately it is let down by the same issues  that let down the Classic so it is a bit of a vote of little confidence also.

The SE/30 is definitely worthy of second place by virtue of the huge amount of power and potential it packed into that tiny little SE case, however it is very much let down by the rubbish logic board capacitors also, having some of the absolute worst of cap rot issues. For this reason, it will oonly ever get second place in my books.

So yes, all things taken into account, the SE FDHD and SE SuperDrive are the winners for me.

 

[Bunsen]

Colour Classic with a quad-core Mac Mini in it

 

[Bunsen]

As far as case style goes, I really like the look of the Classic and Classic II, and the Colour Classic/CCII.  I know the latter have their haters, but whatevahh. 

 

[ArmorAlley]

At the time of their release, the Mac Plus and Mac SE were most affordable macs that were useful. The SE/30 was insanely expensive and I would have rather spent the money I wished I had (at the time) on a IIci or Quadra 700. All of the compact macs after the SE were needlessly underpowered and there existed better options (say, Mac LC onwards), unless you valued luggability.

I started college in the late eighties and we students had the oldest machines. Pluses were usable, SEs most usable ( they had hard drives *and* HD floppies) and the LCs were worth the extra trip because they had a colour screen, faster processor as well as the HD and hard drive.

Nowadays, for anyone who wants to recreate the compact mac experience, I recommend a Mac SE. Almost no game written for the small compact monochrome screen benefits from the 68030 processor and the bucketful of RAM (unless you a RAM disk) of an SE/30, unless you want to torture yourself with a game of Civilization. Get an ethernet card for the SE, 4MB of RAM and get it recapped, and you're sorted. A SCSI2SD, the nifty drive from BMOW or even just a simple 9GB SCA drive with connector will make it quieter and faster.

My reasons for picking either the Mac Plus or the Mac SE as the best compact Macs. That or the first that you played with as a child.. Nostalgia is a powerful force.

 

[bse5150]

I vote for the Classic II.  The first Mac I've ever owned.

 

[uniserver]

i guess if we went by what you got vs price... the Classic II might win anyways.  

 

[Macdrone]

The CC maybe "gimped" but I always enjyed it.  A little updated style with color.  Of course the CC2 should have been released instead and that would have made it much better.  Lots of things here a=have showed with 640x480 and a 040 motherboard would made it a beast new with very little changes from Apple.

 

[Elfen]

When I had them in the 1990s, I liked the Color Classics. But there was one thing I hate about them - their handles are too small for my big hands so I ended up carrying them with both hands by the bottom. My hands will barely fit into a 128K - classic II's handle recess and I can carry it that way, but not a Color Classic.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

SE in any of its iterations, mine was first rev. SE/20. Addition of ADB/HDD/PDS hit the Compact Trifecta. The Classic was a definite step down.

"Compact" = 68000 to me, so the SE/30's not really a Compact in my book. Architecturally it's more like a badly gimped IIcx with a crappy monitor built in, should have been grayscale. I see it as a step backwards from the Mac II line more than an upgrade/advancement of the Compact series' architecture.

p.s. the CC's not "Compact" at all, way too big. :

 

[billynomates]

Gotta be an SE/30 for me. The SE/30 is nicely expandable, in terms of memory and peripherals. Rubbishy capacitors let the machine down a bit, but once they're replaced it's hard to beat. 

At the time these machines were new - there was no way I could justify the price of any Mac. In my very humble opinion they were always vastly over-priced for what you got. Windows was pretty poor at v3.1 but it was affordable, and compatible. I just remember classrooms full of Mac IIs and Compacts at both my A-level College and University with no-one using them; everyone gravitated towards Windows for some reason. I'd guess something to do with software support. I remember cheap software being sparse on the mac platform for a while and I think that pushed a lot of students over to the PC platform. 

I use my SE/30 a fair bit; often as a terminal for something else as the keyboard's pretty good (Apple Keyboard II), and now I've re-soldered some of the analog bits the screen is pretty good.

I'd love a colour classic though. Sigh.

 

[SE30_Neal]

What about the colour classic, great tiny mac with fab colour screen, built in microphone and great build quality

 

[aplmak]

SE/30 was and is the bomb.... I never got into the SE.... It just (without accelerators) was never fast enough for me.. I never cared for it.. When I was in school we had a computer lab with mixed machines... I always tried to beat everyone else to class to the seat with and SE/30... Sucked when I got stuck with a Plus!!!

The Classic made no sense to me... it was like going backwards.... I mean WTF.. but Classic II wasn't too bad.. but you could only get so much RAM in it..

Apple cut costs sometimes just to sell them.. and by doing that downgraded machines into jokes.... I honestly don't have one 128K which was the worst machine... It was basically a demo box... not a computer... I don't even collect them because I feel they are a joke. I have Lisa's which can offer more than some of these other's can...  

But to answer the question.... SE/30 FOREVER! (bad caps replaced an all!)

 

[uniserver]

SE/30 was and is the bomb....

and very expensive

Sucked when I got stuck with a Plus!!!

still tons better then a lisa.

The Classic made no sense to me

it was cheap... times were a changing ... Remember?  

Classic II wasn't too bad..

it was affordable!  and 8-10 megs of ram is a lot... plenty...  especially fro back then.

It has Sound In and Sound out.   Was a very great feature of the era.

128K which was the worst machine... It was basically a demo box... not a computer...

I think the 128k was much more useful then a LISA.  The Mac Os is really good.

and the 128k was less then 1/4 what the lisa was.

I have Lisa's

I think LISA is a joke... Completely useless and have no desire what so ever to own one.

a 128k is 100% more useful... 100% more energy efficient...  100% more reliable...  and 50% faster.

Back when Sun Remarketing was offering the LISA for the same price as the 512k

Even then you would have been better off getting the 512k... then ate last it would have been a real mac... not a Hacintosh.

They had to hack the Mac OS to work on LISA because otherwise she was not even slightly marketable...  i guess that is why

they dumped all those lisa's in the land fill after all.  Worthless.. and not even a real mac.    haha.

 

[aplmak]

To each his own Uni.... lol!!! We all have opinions... Just giving you mine... And I really hated the Plus.... just a personal vendetta.... I can remember the awful smell of the room from the cooking analog/power supply boards... oh that smell... The LWII ozone smell was much better... lol!!!!! And the Classic and Classic II have their own leaky cap issues...... Still SE/30 is my top favorite!

You can put an 18mhz accelerator in a Lisa... (I wouldn't myself), throw in scsi cards, CF Flash card... multiple serial ports, parallel ports... run Lisa OS, Mac OS (emulated), Xenix.. larger screen.... and on the 128k????

I am not saying the Lisa is the best... just throwing out a few differences...

 

[uniserver]

yeah and you know I'm your buddy... so haha...  

 

[aplmak]

LOL!!!!! It's all good... They all have their own issues... I think Elfen knew he was going to rile a few people up with this topic!!! Haaaa.... I think that was his point!!! 

 

[uniserver]

yup just as ford cars have issues

 

[Elfen]

I think Elfen knew he was going to rile a few people up with this topic!!! Haaaa.... I think that was his point!!! 

Oh Shit! I've been caught! Run!!! Hide!!!

And onward to the next forum member and his love/hate for the classic Mac!!!

 

[SE30_Neal]

lol Elfen! well as I've just brought an SE/30 it must be the best because I choose it even with the leaky caps!

BTW chaps I've just acquired a newton, my sister found it in her draw and believe it or not it was actually used by HP to push printer repair jobs to the engineers back in the 1990-2000.  so I'll link it up my SE/30 once its up and running. 

 

[Macdrone]

The color classic is still compact, it fits in the same carry bags as the SE.  I love the little buddy.  It has always been an adventure and a joy to play with.