Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!camex!circus!kent
From: kent@circus.camex.com (Kent Borg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: A IIsi or a IIci?
Summary: Depends on expansion needs.
Keywords: Which would you buy?
Message-ID: <1660@camex.COM>
Date: 28 Nov 90 06:39:23 GMT
References: <1034@sppy00.UUCP>
Sender: news@Camex.COM
Reply-To: kent@camex.com (Kent Borg)
Organization: Camex Inc., Boston, MA
Lines: 54

In article <1034@sppy00.UUCP> www@sppy00.UUCP (Victor Shakapopolis) writes:
>
>I am considering replacing my Mac Plus with either a Mac IIsi or a Mac
>IIci.
...
>My question, is the IIci worth the additional $1,300 over the IIsi?  


The differences are approximately four:

	1) The IIci is faster then the IIsi
	2) The IIci is more expandable than the IIsi.
	3) The IIsi is smaller, cheaper, and quieter than the IIci.
	4) The IIsi has sexy (but useless??) sound input hardware.

Do you plan on adding more than one card to your new Macintosh?
(Remember, the IIsi does have built-in 13", 8-bit video--like the
IIci.)

The IIci is somewhat faster than the IIsi, partly because of its 25Mhz
clock (vs. 20MHz) and partly because the IIci includes a math chip
out-of-the-box.  The IIsi only includes an FPU when you add a
necessary Apple adaptor card for a Nubus or PDS card.  The IIci can
also take a plugin cache card for a 30%-ish speedup.

On the IIsi's plus-side, it is smaller, lighter, quieter (?), and
cheaper than the IIci.  (At home I recently swapped a worked-owned
IIsi for a work-owned IIfx.  I am waiting to get the IIsi back home.
The IIfx might be faster, but it also takes up so much more room, and
is *so* much louder--besides, I need Ethernet and the slots at work
but not at home.)

As for power supply problems, it depends on whether the Nubus card you
want to add is a power hog.  Most Nubus cards are not a problem.  The
ones that are power hogs are the ones that are "high performance".
Fancy accelerator chips are power-hungry.  Some (all?) 24-bit video
cards are also power hogs--the video RAM needs to be fast and fast
means hungry.


What should you buy?  Count up all the Nubus cards you know you want
to install.  If the number is even slightly greater than one, buy a
IIci.  If you still have a IIsi and no more than a single Nubus board
in mind, check that the board follows the Apple power limits.

If the IIsi still looks good to you, *buy* one.  It is a great
machine.  Apple is going to sell tons of the--for good reason.


--
Kent Borg                            internet: kent@camex.com   AOL: kent borg
                                            H:(617) 776-6899  W:(617) 426-3577
"The prospect of their mass excites astrophysicists, who are always on the
 lookout for ways to make the universe heavier"   -- The Economist, 9-22-90