The Macintosh IIvx is a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1992 to October 1993. It is the last of the

Macintosh II family The Macintosh II is a family of personal computers that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1987 to 1993. The Macintosh II was the initial model, representing the high-end of the Macintosh line for the time. Over th ...

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

computers. The IIvx was introduced at the same time as the Macintosh IIvi, with both models using the same metal case design as the earlier Performa 600 and Performa 600CD. Like the Performa 600CD, the IIvx could be equipped with an internal double-speed CD-ROM drive. The IIvx was described in a ''MacWorld'' magazine review as having "the best price-to-performance ratio of any computer Apple has ever built." The list price for a machine with an hard drive, main memory, and of video memory was US$2,949. Adding the CD-ROM and upgrading to of main memory and video memory increased the price to US$3,219, which ''Macworld'' deemed to be "the best CD-ROM drive bargain ever offered".

Overview

The Mac IIvx began its life in development as a

proof-of-concept Proof of concept (POC or PoC), also known as proof of principle, is a realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle with the aim of verifying that some concept or theory has prac ...

to see how an internal CD-ROM drive could be added to a Mac. But after Apple CEO

John Sculley John Sculley III (born April 6, 1939) is an American businessman, entrepreneur and investor in high-tech startups. Sculley was vice-president (1970–1977) and president of PepsiCo (1977–1983), until he became chief executive officer (CEO) ...

gave a speech at MacWorld Tokyo promising a Mac with a CD-ROM drive, the IIvx was rushed into production. Several shortcuts were taken in its design; most notably, its 32 MHz

Motorola 68030 The Motorola 68030 ("''sixty-eight-oh-thirty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general ...

processor was crippled by a 16 MHz bus, making it slightly slower than the popular but aging Macintosh IIci. Its serial port was limited to 57.6 kbit/s, which could cause problems with serial connections and MIDI hardware. The Macintosh IIvi (a slower version of the IIvx with a 16 MHz processor) was introduced at the same time in some markets (though not the United States) but discontinued four months later. Representing the high end of the original Performa lineup, the Performa 600 was also based on the same architecture. The IIvx was one of the only Macintosh II models with a 32K L2 cache, following the IIfx's onboard 32K cache and the IIci's optional 32K cache card; neither the IIvi nor the Performa 600 supported an L2 cache, despite their similarities to the IIvx.

Hardware

The IIvx was sold with hard drives ranging in capacity from 40 to , three

NuBus NuBus (pron. 'New Bus') is a 32-bit parallel computer bus, originally developed at MIT and standardized in 1987 as a part of the NuMachine workstation project. The first complete implementation of the NuBus was done by Western Digital for th ...

slots, and a

Processor Direct Slot A processor direct slot (PDS) is a slot incorporated into many older Macintosh models that allowed direct access to the signal pins of a CPU, similar to the functionality of a local bus in PCs. This would result in much higher speeds than having ...

. The Macintosh IIvx uses the same case as the Performa 600, Centris 650, Quadra 650 (the speed-bumped refresh of the Centris 650), and

Power Macintosh 7100 The Power Macintosh 7100 is a personal computer that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1994 to January 1996. It is the mid-range machine of the first generation of Power Macintosh line, between the Power Macintos ...

. The IIvx can be upgraded to Centris/Quadra 650 by swapping the logic board. While the IIvx shares the model designation of other Macintosh II computers, Apple originally intended the IIvx to be the first computer in the

Macintosh Centris Macintosh Centris is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. in 1992 and 1993. They were introduced as a replacement for the six-year-old Macintosh II family of computers; the name was chosen to ...

line. According to Apple, their lawyers were unable to complete the trademark check on the "Centris" name in time for the release of this computer so it ended up being sold the IIvx. Machines bearing the Centris name were introduced a few months later. Notably the Macintosh Centris 650 was released four months after the IIvx for $250 less, immediately rendering the IIvx obsolete, since the 650 was powered by the 68040 CPU. The IIvx's base price was slashed by more than a third. Because of increasing competition from Dell and other PC manufacturers, prices of the IIvx continued to fall quickly; by the end of June 1993, the price of the 5/80 + CD-ROM configuration had dropped to $1,799, about half its original price. For a while afterwards, people who bought an expensive Mac that quickly became outdated were said to have been "IIvx-ed".

Timelines

References

{{Apple hardware before 1998 vx IIvx IIvx IIvx IIvx Computer-related introductions in 1992