Pair of Macintosh IIs

Once upon a time, there was a used Macintosh place called the Calgary Computer Exchange. In the early 90s, they had TONS of used Macs that were leased, and then became available for sale to the public once the lease was over. I found a Macintosh IIx there, and was very happy with it. I also purchased the IIFX upgrade logic board kit from Shreve Systems. (Remember them?). Then, I later sold it to a friend so they could get online with it. Unfortunately, they disposed of it, and I forgot to ask them to give/sell it back to me if they didn't want it anymore. I've been bummed about it for years.

Fast forward to November 2025: I meet an older gentleman just north of Edmonton who was getting rid of a BUNCH of vintage Macs, but also had NEXT hardware, SGI Indys, IBM stuff, etc. They were all assets from the University of Alberta that were purchased at auctions.

Anyway, I bought an ADB keyboard for a Color Classic, and IBM Floppy drive, and a ColecoVision system.

Then, I noticed two larger Mac boxes hiding in the back of his room.

There's TWO Macintosh IIs there!!

Not only is there TWO of these things, ONE of them was actually a IIFX!!! It either had the wrong lid (just said Macintosh II on it), or the upgrade only affected the bottom, because the bottom plate said IIFX.

HE GAVE THEM TO ME FOR FREE. They both have ethernet AND video cards.

I was completely dumbfounded. And incredibly thankful. And yes, batteries have been removed. Recapping is scheduled for January 2026.

Hurray!!!

Congrats on the great find, post some pics for us!

Massive score and win there. Let’s see them!

@nottomhanks A common upgrade for the II and IIx. You got a motherboard and a sticker to slap on the bottom.

There are probably more Mac II's upgraded to IIfx then stock these days.

Great find! I LOVE my original Mac II. I use it all the time and it's rock solid, I'm disappointed that I waited until just this year to get one actually. I was missing out! I really like the PC-like form factor if the first-gen IIs. The overall build quality of them is just excellent too.

Oh and that's super cool that one of them is a IIfx upgrade! And not battery bombed... so many IIfxs have been killed from the batteries exploding.

Unknown_K said:

There are probably more Mac II's upgraded to IIfx then stock these days.

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Correct, and the IIx is the hardest to find.

that means the average IIfx owner has the LOUD power supply very sad!

And, a lot of the real IIfx machines with the supposedly quiet power supply are just as loud as the Astec powered II and IIx machines. My fx, which still has its original Sony CR-45 sounds as loud as my old stealth fx did with the original Astec II supply.

I have done side by side comparisons, and I find that the original Sony CR45S (699-0389) is by far the loudest, with the Astec being slightly quieter, and the newer Sony CR45S (699-0393), which was only included with the IIfx, is much much quieter than the other two.

Interestingly, I’m pretty sure the two Sonys are identical. The only difference the bigger fan on the newer Sony. I suspect it’s running at lower RPM which is responsible to its low noise. I’ve read claims that they are variable speed, but I’m skeptical.

joshc said:

Correct, and the IIx is the hardest to find.

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Yea, I was lucky when I found mine.

Apple must have sold a million IIfx motherboards as upgrades to Mac II and IIx's.

As far as power supplies go, I never really noticed much noise difference but never did a side-by-side comparison. Cooling fans even from the same batch can sound different because of hours of use and operating conditions.

Unknown_K said:

As far as power supplies go, I never really noticed much noise difference but never did a side-by-side comparison. Cooling fans even from the same batch can sound different because of hours of use and operating conditions.

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That is possible, and perhaps attributing to my results at least with the Astec since I only have one of those. But I do have 3 of each of the old and new Sonys (6 total Sony PSUs) and the difference between 699-0389 and 699-0393 is huge in my experience. I’m pretty sure these were redesigned with the goal of making them quieter, which would explain why they included larger fans and larger hole in the cover. Perhaps your 0393 is exceptionally loud? Or your Astec is exceptionally quiet?

Or that certain IIfx machines came with the -0389 power supply. I'll have to pop the case lid off my fx and see if the power supply is the earlier version or if it's the later version.