textfiles/magazines/TOXICSHOCK/ts-075.txt

 
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  ..:::::::::::::..      ::::    ::::                     Mac IIfx
.:::   :::::::   :::.    ::::.     :                   Product Review
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  :      :::      :         :::::::.                 by Gross Genitalia
         :::                  :::::::                  Toxic File #75
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        :::::             :       ::::        Centre of Eternity  615.552.5747
        ::::: oxic       :::.....:::: hock          750+ files / 40 megs
      .:::::::.           ::::::::::            Headquarters of Toxic Shock
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This is a "product review" of the newest of the Macintosh modular monsters,
the IIfx. Most of the info and some of the file is taken from the July 1990
"Computer Shopper", intermingled with comments of my own.
 
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                                  THE 486-BUSTER?
                    Macintosh IIfx:  The Mac for the Fast of Us
                           Review by Richard Santalesa
                  Comments and even more review by Gross Genitalia
 
 
    Just as with every other modular Mac, just as with the revolutionary Mac
portable, people sat around for months wondering and speculating about Apple's
newest high-end Mac. And Apple finally pulled the covers off. It seems that
it was well-worth the wait: the IIfx is the fastest Mac to date, with a
significant new hardware design as well as clear speed advantages over every
other personal computer on the market. I believe the nearest thing that will
be competing with the IIfx speed-wise in any near future will be Intel's
80486 processor and the hype and clever electronic techniques to be poured
into it, or perhaps the clones that burn the 80386 out with 55 MHz speeds.
    The IIfx outperforms Apple's previous top gun, the IIci, by 60 to 100
percent in everyday usage, and by nearly a 200-percent margin in processor-
intensive operations. The IIfx is somewhere around 900 percent faster than
the seemingly-ancient Mac SE.
    With Apple's traditional concern for high margins, it might have been
expected to see an almost Fetus-blowing price tag on the new system, but the
IIfx's value is well worth the cost. Some Mac II owners might be pleasantly
surprised to find that the IIfx upgrade, available later this year, lists
for $2,999 plus the cost of RAM ($400-$1000). With a $599 SuperDrive you'll
have a complete IIfx without the variable speed fan.
    In fact, if Mac performance is your "personal poison", it's recommended
that you take a look at the IIfx over the IIci.
    It seems somewhat disappointing to see the powerful racehorse IIfx to
be housed in a case that looks like any other large-footprint Mac. It's
easy to mistake it for a II or IIx. Apple can retort by saying that a
consistent design in the product line would make economic sense, but it
still seems like this powerhorse deserves a more attractive chariot.
    Not only is the case design similar to the II-line ancestors, but the
rear panel shows the two serial ports, two ADB ports, a 25-pin SCSI
connector, and a stereo sound port that can provide true CD-audio 44.1KHz
digital sound - an improvement over other Macs. The IIfx, like the II or IIx,
has six NuBus slots, and can hold two SuperDrive floppies and one 5.25-inch
or 3.5-inch hard disk.
 
    With the outside similarities aside, what distinguishes the IIfx? With
the cover off, the differences become apparent. While the same 230-watt
power supply stretches from front to rear of the left side of the case, a
much more sophisticated fan takes the place of the older one. The fan has
larger blades and spins at varying speeds, depending on how hot things get
inside the case, to hold noise down and provide efficient cooling to the
internals.
    Looking down to the motherboard, you'll see seven new Apple-designed
chips and smatterings of caches.
    There are several reasons for no onboard video, one being the potential
applications the IIfx will be used for: 24-bit color-intensive work, design,
and other CPU/video-hungry work. For such uses, the IIfx coupled with
Apple's new 8*24 GC video card with onboard RISC acceleration should be a
screamer, and the lack of onboard video isn't much of a concern when speed
is an issue.
    Ironically, a IIci with cache in 8-bit onboard video mode can be faster
at scrolling images than a non-8*24 GC-equipped IIfx, and this points the
finger at one bottleneck in the Mac: the 10MHz NuBus. A faster NuBus
operating at 20MHz clock rate should appear in the future Macs once the
NuBus standards committee releases its NuBus 90 specifications. But that's
then, and this is now.
 
    Apple surprised many people by leapfrogging the 33MHz 68030 in favor
of the 40MHz 68030 with 40MHz 68882 FPU (floating-point unit). Like the
IIci, the IIfx takes advantage of the 68030's burst mode, resulting in
an approximately 40 percent faster transfer of large blocks of data (for
programs supporting burst mode).
    Further on the plus side, the IIfx is the first Mac to boast a fast 32K
static-RAM cache between RAM and the CPU as standard equipment - something
optional in the IIci. Apple claims that 96 percent of all RAM accesses
takes place with zero wait states. This is an improvement compared to the
two wait states in the Mac II and IIx.
 
    It has been said that only Apple could make a 68030-based computer
look slow. However much this may hold true with earlier Macs, the IIfx goes
out of its way to knock this claim down.
    The problem is actually quite simple. In other Macs, the Motorola-made
CPU controls EVERYTHING that's happening. Apple engineers have seemed to
think they don't need to use coprocessors.
    Take a look at the maligned Amiga. For all of Commodore's marketing
mistakes, the Amiga is, in many ways, a technical tour de force. The Amiga
has coprocessor chips sprinkled around the motherboard to remove video,
disk, and other operations from the CPU, freeing it for other processing.
With these coprocessors the Amiga is enabled, with only 512k of RAM, to
perform true pre-emptive multitasking. Apple can only promise this for
some distant future release.
 
    The IIfx includes three coprocessors to free the 68030; a SCSI DMA
controller; a floppy drive/ADB processor; and a serial port I/O processor.
    According to Apple, the SCSI/DMA controller allows for a maximum
data-transfer rate of 3Mb per second, and when multiple SCSI devices are
attached, the difference should be particularly noticeable.
    Another important improvement the DMA controller offers is the concept
of "data latches," where data can be simultaneously read from and written to
RAM.
    The two serial processors each contain their own 32K RAM buffer and
processor. One directs communications on the modem and printer ports,
while the other manages the ADB devices (mouse and keyboard) and floppy
drives. Floppy accesses should be substantially faster on the IIfx, as the
floppy drive/ADB processor performs track caching for the floppies.
    Of greater benefit, the serial port I/O processor speeds the IIfx's
handling of AppleTalk data packets. Because of AppleTalk timing specs, in
other Macs, the CPU effectively goes dormant for up to 20 milliseconds per
packet. In the IIfx, the CPU reads a packet from the I/O processor's RAM
cache rather than directly from the network. There's no hibernation time
here, and look for better network response as a result. Of course, AppleTalk
itself runs at AppleTalk's usual pokey speed.
 
    Forget about using your 1Mb SIMMs in the IIfx. The 80ns SIMMs used in the
IIfx have 64-pin connectors, not the 32-pin connectors found in standard
SIMMs. Remember the "data latches"? The extra 32 pins are needed for
simultaneous reads and writes to memory via the SCSI/DMA controller. The IIfx
also supports 4- and 16-megabyte SIMMs for a total of 128Mb on the motherboard.
For those needing it, a parity-checking RAM version of the IIfx is available.
 
    In comparison to the nervous IIci, where a strong sneeze seems to crash
the system, the IIfx is positively hearty.
    Running System 6.0.5 (the only system the IIfx will boot with), the
reviewers for the article ran a wide variety of software applications and
experience few problems. There are still known applications that snag when
running on the IIfx. Among these are: Macsbug 6.1; applications not compatible
with 32-bit Quickdraw; MIDI applications that directly tap into the serial
processor chip; and copy protection schemes that use low-level floppy drive,
ADB, or serial port routines.
    Apple finally coughed up a one-year warranty on hardware. Supposedly,
even if your IIfx gives up the ghost overseas, you can repair it wherever you
may be and Apple will reimburse your expenses.
 
    If you need dick-blistering, uterus-rattling Macintosh speed, there can
be no question: the IIfx is for you. There isn't a faster personal computer
with such a widespread and useful windowing environment on the market today,
objections from DOS aficionados notwithstanding.
    People who get cheap sex thrills bashing Apple may find it hard to
admit that the IIfx is fairly priced for the performance it delivers. That
in itself may be as significant as the technological marvel to be found
within the IIfx.
 
PRODUCT SUMMARY
---------------
Macintosh IIfx
Apple Computer, Inc.
20525 Mariani Avenue
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408)996-1010
 
Suggested list prices (monitors, video cards, and keyboards not included in
IIfx totals): $8,689 for Mac IIfx CPU with 4Mb 80ns DRAM, SuperDrive 1.4Mb
floppy drive, HyperCard 1.2.5 and System 6.0.5; $9,869 with 4Mb RAM, 80Mb
3.5-inch hard drive, SuperDrive 1.4Mb floppy drive; $10,369 with 4Mb of
parity-checking DRAM, 80Mb 3.5-inch hard drive, SuperDrive 1.4Mb floppy drive;
and $10,969 with 4Mb RAM, 160Mb hard drive, SuperDrive 1.4Mb floppy drive;
Extended Keyboard - $229; 13-inch RGB color monitor - $999.
 
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It seems somewhat un-Toxic of myself to do something serious and informative.
Or does it? Read Bloody Afterbirth's editorial in the Falming Fetus, Issue #1.
That explains it all. The general telecommunicating public has completely
lost the thirst for knowledge and information for pursuit of schmoozerism. It
disgusts me.
 
So if you found this to be a sickening, boring, worthless fucking file, then
go fuck yourself and the dog you humped in here on. I wrote this file as a
tribute to those elite few who still thirst for knowledge. I loved this
article and chose to edit it, add my comments, and present it to you for
information on this wonderful, powerful new machines. The schmucks of today
really don't deserve such a machine; they'd probably use it to play games
on. The true programmers and true hackers would drink up a system like the
Macintosh IIfx. *I* don't even find myself worthy of such an awesome machine.
Now Fetal Juice could probably work unlimited wonders with a IIfx, and I'm
sure he'd appreciate a nice Amiga 3000 on the side... heh heh!
 
The thirst for knowledge is gone. I enjoyed the information present as it
kept me up-to-date with Mac technology and the possibilities and potentials
for the future. When knowledge and information are presented to me in some
form or the other I usually take it in. I feel gifted by it. I hope you
do and feel similar.
 
If not, fuck off. Go write and sex n' slaughter, keen-0 krad gnarly file and
send it to all your loser friends
 
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(c)July 1990. Gross Genitalia / Toxic Shock.  #75.
 
The information age shall return.
The Age of Enlightenment is here.
 
Apply for Toxinship Following at Centre of Eternity, 615*552<5747.