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512ke with Dove 2mb SCSI card

$400?!? Dang.. He/she should have at least made it open to bidding, and started a little lower. Then he/she would be fairly likely to get that. But with a simple buy-it-now at $400, it's not going to sell anytime soon. (And default shipping is $15 parcel-post? On a $400 seller-acknowledged-'antique' system?)

Also, what's up with the picture? He kludged three photos into one JPG, with a huge white border... Too cheap to pay for three pictures, and too lazy to properly format it?

 
I read that as 2MB of RAM with SCSI from the auction. Was the 512ke able to go that high without a Mac Plus logic board swap?

 
The Dove board fitted over the existing RAM. I'm not quite sure how, but everything I've seen about it says it snaps into place on top of the existing RAM chips. The Dove upgrade consisted of two boards. One large board with the RAM chips and a smaller board with the SCSI controller. The smaller boards look like it piggybacks on over the top of the 68000.

 
Folks, unless you want this merely to say you've added "a Dove board to your collection," you'd be better off with a true Mac Plus. Seriously. Besides, there's a Dove upgrade board by itself "New in box" for a price less than this 512KE auction. That "New in box" auction has been up for weeks (if not months) now.

 
That upgrade doesn't look like it includes the SCSI controller and only has 512k on the board. The seller needs to add more pictures to make it more clear what's included.

 
Quadraman, JDW's right, if you want a compact Mac with SCSI and more than 512K RAM, a Mac Plus is the way to. There is absolutely no difference between them, except the Dove Mac Snap RAM will definitely be more problematic. Those killy clips were notoriously problematic. Plus, the type of RAM used in the Mac Snap actually draws more power and runs hotter than that in the Plus. That's the last thing a 512K needs is a larger power draw or more heat inside the case.

The only reason to buy a Dove MacSnap, is if you simply want one. Not to actually use it. And I certainly wouldn't pay a premium for one. And buying it in a vintage Mac may be a way to get it, but any 512K or 128K (and even a 512Ke) will be worth far more restored to original condition.

If you want more details on the Dove MacSnap, check out charlieman's excellent article at vintagemacworld.com.

On the other hand, I do have a Dove Mac Snap SCSI board which installs directly into the ROM sockets and requires the 128K ROMs, so a 512Ke. It's actually indispensable with my 512K, does not use any additional power and generates no more heat.

 
$400 does seem to be a bit high, he will probably keep lowering the price over time until somebody snags it.

I sometimes wonder where prices for this kind of stuff will end up being in 10 years. If Apple is at peak popularity now, maybe in 10 years this stuff will be worth less, who knows.

 
I didn't mean to imply it was in any way a better value than an actual Plus, just trying my best with the limited knowledge I have to explain how it works. If I were to recommend anything, it would be an SE because you can get those for the same price as a Plus if you look hard enough and they are a much better machine.

 
Unknown K, $400 is way too much for a 512Ke. I rarely see those even get close to $100. I haven't priced these cards lately on eBay, but assuming they are quite rare then maybe. But I certainly wouldn't use it.

As for which is better, a Plus or an SE, I suppose that is all subjective, based on what you want. From a hardware standpoint, a late model Plus will have the same robust components of an SE and run all the same software. My 1990 Plus is still going strong without ever having had a single repair. And it doesn't have a fan, so it operates in blissful silence. Since I am long past needing a Compact Mac for speed, the marginal differences between those two Macs is of no relevance to me. I use a ZIP drive with it, which is ample and silent, so no need for an internal hard drive. Since expansion cards are all but non-existant for the SE (and were at the time as well, not to mention expensive), that is of little use. Now it does have ADB which could be important to some. But that is not enough for me to have to live with what I consider one of the ugliest of the Compacts. The compact was never a business machine (it was the computer for the rest of us), so putting the Snow White corporate face of Apple on it was just a dumb move. They should have just left those dust attracting lines off of it. So it comes down really to what looks best and what serves best for the user.

The only reason I ever encourage anyone to buy an SE over a Plus is if they get an SE FDHD to maintain compatibility with modern computer floppy drives and complete backward compatibility with their stock 128K or 512K.

 
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