mac plus

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macpluscompare.jpg (35776 bytes)  
(click on picture)

 

Introduced  January 1986
Discontinued  October 1990
Release Price     $2600.00

 

      Exactly 2 years after the introduction of the original Macintosh, Apple released the Macintosh Plus. This was the third in the series and proved to be the most popular. This Mac solved most of the short comings of the earlier Macs. It came standard with 1 MB of  RAM and was expandable to 4 MB by simply removing the 4-256K SIMMs from the RAM slots and plugging in 4-1 MB SIMMs. It was the first Mac to come with a built in SCSI port for an external Hard Drive, a feature included standard on every Macintosh model since. The Plus also sported a new expanded keyboard with a numeric keypad. All these new features now made the Macintosh a true contender in the desktop publishing market that it would soon dominate. 

      The Plus also marked the end of the beige colored case for all Macs. There are two versions of the Plus, the earlier version prior to 1987 came in a beige colored case and the later version (after the release of the SE in 1987) came in a platinum colored case. See the picture above of the two versions. Also the platinum Plus also marked the end of the 'signature' Macs. Every Macintosh including the beige Mac Plus has on its inside cover the signatures of the original Macintosh design team. This practice ended with the platinum case.

      There are currently 4 Mac Plus computers in the museum, one of which is a platinum version. They were purchased at local thrift shops. The first was added to the museum on August 30, 1999. It came complete with a keyboard and mouse.

 
System Architecture Ports Disk Storage
Processor: Motorola 68000, 8 MHz
PMMU: none
FPU: none
Data Path: 16-bit, 8 MHz
L1 Cache: none
L2 Cache: none
2nd Processor: none
Slots: none
Bus type Apple proprietary
Data Bus width 16 bit
Address bus width 24 bit
CMOS real time clock Yes
USB: none
ADB: none
Video: none
Floppy: DB-19
SCSI: none
Serial: RS-232 / RS-422
Parallel: none
Geoports: none
Ethernet: none
FireWire: none
Mic Type: none
AirPort Ready: n/a
Other Ports: Printer, Modem, Speaker,
Floppy Size: 800K
Floppy auto
Int HD Size: none
Int HD Interface: none
Orig CD Speed n/a
Int CD Support: n/a
Internal drive bays 1
Standard floppy drives 1 - 3.5" x 800k
Optional floppy drives: 1 - 3.5" x 800k
* 5 1/4 inch 160k none
* 5 1/4 inch 1.2MB none
* 3 1/2 inch 800k 1 external
* 3 1/2 inch 1.44MB none
* 3 1/2 inch 2.88MB none
Hard disk controller included none
Memory Video and Graphics
Logic Board: 1 MB 
RAM Slots: 4 
Min - Max RAM: 1 MB - 4 MB
Min RAM Speed: 150 ns
RAM Sizes: 256K, 512K, 1 MB 
Install in Groups of: 4 
System board memory socket type SIMM Modules 
Number of memory module sockets 4 Slots 
Notes:  
Graphics Processor Uses CPU
Screen size - columns & rows bitmapped
Video on board Built in Monitor
Video RAM n/a
Max colors Mono - B & W
RGB output n/a
Composit Video Output none
Screen Resolution 512 x 384 *note: Screen size is 512x342
Sprites or Missiles none
Physical Specs. Software Power
Introduced: 1/24/1984
Discontinued: 10/1/1995
Form Factor: 128
Gestalt ID: 1
Weight (lbs): 16.5
Dimensions (in): 13.6 H x 9.6 W x 10.9 D
Notes:  
Keyboard Specs  
Number of Keys 58
upper/lower case Yes/Yes
Sound  
Sound interface device  
Sound Generation 4 voice
ADSR capable no
Addressing Modes: 24-bit
Orig SSW: 0.0
Orig Enabler: none
ROM ID: $0000
ROM Ver: n/a
ROM Size: 128K
AppleTalk Ver: n/a
Mac OS Supported: 1.0 to 7.0.1P
Max Watts: 60
Amps: 0.50
BTU per Hr: 205.2
Voltage: 105-125
Freq Range: 50-60 Hz
Battery Type: 4.5V #523
Soft Power: n/a
Pass Through: n/a
Programming language  
Built in language none
Built in M L monitor none