Due to its affordability and Apple II compatibility the LC was adopted primarily in the education and home markets. Together with the Mac IIsi, it introduced built-in audio input on the Mac. The "LC" name was subsequently used for a line of low-end Macintosh computers for several years and spanned the 68k to PowerPC transition.
The original LC was an attempt at an affordable, modular, color-capable Macintosh. As such, when compared with earlier Macs Apple cut some corners on performance and features in order to keep the price down. The LC's system specifications nearly duplicated those of the 3 year old Macintosh II. Nevertheless, the machine hit a sweet spot and, with the pent-up demand for a low-cost Macintosh, it was a strong seller. In 1991 was succeeded by the LC II, which replaced the LC's 68020 processor with a 68030. It retained the original LC's 16-bit system bus however, making its performance roughly the same as the earlier model. The main benefit of the 030 processor in the LC II was the ability to use System 7's virtual memory feature. In spite of this, the new model sold even better than the LC.
The success of the LC II spawned a whole series of LC models, most of which later were sold both with the LC name to the education world and to consumers via traditional Apple dealers, and as Performa to the consumer market via electronics stores, and department stores such as Sears. (For example, the LC 475 was also known as the Performa 475.) The last official "LC" was the Power Macintosh 5200/75 LC, which was released in 1995 and discontinued in 1996. The LC 580 was notable for being the last desktop 680x0-based Macintosh of any kind. All subsequent Macintoshes used PowerPC processors and, later, Intel processors.
Details
- Apple
Specs
- LC II introduced October 15, 1990 at $2500
US; discontinued March 23, 1992
- Supported MacOS: 6.0.7-7.5.1,7.5.3-7.5.5
- CPU: 16 MHz 68020
- ROM: 512 KB
- RAM: 2 MB on motherboard, expandable to 10
MB using a pair of 100 ns 30-pin SIMM
- VRAM: accepts one 100ns VRAM SIMM, 256 KB
standard, can be upgraded with single 512 KB
VRAM SIMM, other specs unknown
- ADB ports for keyboard and mouse
- DIN-8 serial ports on back of computer, DB-25
SCSI connector on back of computer,
- LC PDS slot
- addressing: 16-bit
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