Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uupsi!rodan.acs.syr.edu!amichiel From: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) Subject: Re: Cheap accelerator for a Mac+? Message-ID: <1991Mar21.143827.16263@rodan.acs.syr.edu> Sender: amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY References: <3510@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu> Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 14:38:27 GMT In article hankin@sauron.osf.org (Scott Hankin) >daniel@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu (big_belly@midsection.jiggles) writes: >>a company called Brainstorm which is supposed to give a Mac+ the >>performance of a Mac II for about $249. Our news connection has been > I was the original poster. I'd like to say I have more information, but > I don't. Yes, it's been a month. I decided to call and find out what's > release said that there would be upgrades to 68030's but I suspect they > may cost more than $249. Is it really that much cheaper? Dove, for > example, advertises a 68030 accelerator for $495. It includes the > accelerator, an auxilliary power supply, fan and "snap-on" installation > kit. I suspect that just the differences in cost between a 68000 and a > 68030 would cover a lot of the selling price difference. Of course, > people have said the Dove accelerator doesn't significantly speed up > your Mac+, probably because they are still dealing with an 8MHz bus. I have several railgun 030 accelerators for the plus and se. Personally, I haven;t bought the 16Mhz unit, and have the 25 Mhz ones. The railgun blows the dove away for features in operation. More specifically, I find that the performance of it is very close to that of the SE30 or IIc type products. In some areas the accelerators outperform these systems because it allows you to copy the slow system rom into very fast system ram. Then screen updates from scrolls and such happen faster than for a IIfx. In my opinion, anyone that scoffs at a accelerator because of the 8Mhz bus is a dimmwitted fool who doesn't know what they are babbling about any way shape or form. If the accelerator is reliable and cost effective it is a very good option. In that respect, most of my complaints about the older slow mac's today is speed. The 16Mhz 68000, cheap accelerator may be great because it's cheap and provides enough performance to keep you from waiting those annoying short periods of time in your applications.... al -- Al. Michielsen, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University InterNet: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu Bitnet: AMICHIEL@SUNRISE