The Macintosh IIci is a

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from September 1989 to February 1993. It is a more powerful version of the

Macintosh IIcx The Macintosh IIcx is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc. from March 1989 to March 1991. Introduced six months after the Macintosh IIx, the IIcx resembles the IIx and provides the same perform ...

, released earlier that year, and shares the same compact case design. With three NuBus

expansion slot Expansion may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''L'Expansion'', a French monthly business magazine * Expansion (album), ''Expansion'' (album), by American jazz pianist Dave Burrell, released in 2004 * Expansions (McCoy Tyner album), ''Ex ...

s 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 IIci also improved upon the IIcx's 16

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

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 gener ...

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...

and 68882 FPU, replacing them with 25 MHz versions of these chips. The

Macintosh Quadra 700 The Macintosh Quadra 700 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1991 to March 1993. It was introduced alongside the Quadra 900 as the first computers in the Quadra series, using the Motorola 6804 ...

was introduced at the end of 1991 as Apple's mainstream workstation product to replace the IIci, albeit at a significantly higher price point: by this time, Apple authorized resellers were offering entry-level IIci systems for US$4,000 or less, whereas the Quadra 700 entered the market above US$6,000. Because of this, Apple continued to sell the IIci until early 1993 when it was succeeded by the Centris 650 while the Quadra 700 was replaced by the

Quadra 800 The Macintosh Quadra 800 (also sold with bundled server software as the Apple Workgroup Server 80) is a personal computer that is a part of Apple Computer's Quadra series of Macintosh computers. Introduced in February 1993 alongside the first ...

Hardware

The IIci introduced several technical and architectural enhancements, some of which were important in preparing for

System 7 System 7 (later named Mac OS 7) is the seventh major release of the classic Mac OS operating system for Macintosh computers, made by Apple Computer. It was launched on May 13, 1991, to succeed System 6 with virtual memory, personal file shari ...

(which was then called the Blue project) and would influence future Macintoshes, though some of them came at the cost of compatibility: * a new,

32-bit clean Historically, the classic Mac OS used a form of memory management that has fallen out of favor in modern systems. Criticism of this approach was one of the key areas addressed by the change to . The original problem for the engineers of the Maci ...

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

with built-in 32-bit QuickDraw that consists of two parts: one part that is the same across all Macintoshes, and another area (called the overpatch area) that is specific to each Macintosh. * discontiguous physical memory that is mapped into a contiguous memory area by the MMU. Some of the

virtual memory functions had to be added to the ROM to support getting the physical address of the memory. * an optional 32 KB Level 2

cache Cache, caching, or caché may refer to: Science and technology * Cache (computing), a technique used in computer storage for easier data access * Cache (biology) or hoarding, a food storing behavior of animals * Cache (archaeology), artifacts p ...

. The cache card, which fit into the

(initially called a "cache connector" by Apple), was later included in all systems at no charge. Third-party cards offered up to 128 KB, but the added cache size yielded little benefit over the base card. * a first for a modular Macintosh — onboard graphics for an external display. This freed one of the system's three NuBus slots. However, because the

integrated graphics A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal co ...

used the system's RAM for its

framebuffer A framebuffer (frame buffer, or sometimes framestore) is a portion of random-access memory (RAM) containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It is a memory buffer containing data representing all the pixels in a complete video frame. Mode ...

, some users used a NuBus graphics card to reclaim the lost memory. Also, it was popular to install faster memory in the first bank of SIMM slots, as this is the bank used by the video subsystem. The onboard graphics supported up to 8-bit color at resolutions of either 640x480 or 512x384. The IIci was one of the most popular and longest-lived Macintosh models of the 20th century. For much of its lifespan, it was the business "workhorse" of the Macintosh line. For a short time in 1989, before the introduction of the 40 MHz

Macintosh IIfx The Macintosh IIfx is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1990 to April 1992. At introduction it cost from to , depending on configuration, and it was the fastest Macintosh available at the time. ...

, the IIci was the fastest Mac available. The IIci came with either a 40- or an 80-megabyte hard disk.

Upgradability

Possible upgrades include the 40 or 50 MHz DayStar PowerCache 68030, a 33 or 40 MHz DayStar Turbo 040, and the DayStar Turbo 601

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

Upgrade running at either 66 MHz or 100 MHz. DayStar Digital, which was bought by XLR8, still holds the Daystar product logo and name for its line of products. 68030 and 68040 upgrades were also made by Sonnet, Diimo and other companies. The MicroMa
DiiMO 030 accelerator
was a 50MHz 68030 CPU with optional 68882 FPU, in a form factor which plugged directly into the IIci processor direct slot. When the Quadra 700 was released in 1991, a logic board upgrade was made available for the IIci to upgrade it to the performance level of the Quadra.

Easter eggs

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

exists in the IIci ROM. If the system date is set to September 20, 1989 (the machine's release date) and the keys are held during boot time, an image of the development team will be displayed. Macintosh IIci product design team signatures

Macintosh IIci product design team signatures

The signatures of the product design team can be seen in the molded plastic of the case if one removes the motherboard.

Timeline

References

* ''Macintosh Buyer's Guide'', vol. 7 no. 3 (Summer 1990)

External links

Macintosh IIci technical specification
at apple.com

at EveryMac.com {{Apple hardware before 1998 ci IIci IIci IIci Computer-related introductions in 1989 Products and services discontinued in 1993