Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!3comvax!bridge2!ngg
From: ngg@bridge2.3Com.Com (Norman Goodger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: 16Mhz  why in the world....
Message-ID: <545@bridge2.3Com.Com>
Date: 28 Mar 89 21:58:18 GMT
References: <430095@hpcea.CE.HP.COM>
Reply-To: ngg@bridge2.3Com.com (Norman Goodger)
Organization: 3Com Corp., Mt. View, CA
Lines: 26

In article <430095@hpcea.CE.HP.COM> twakeman@hpcea.CE.HP.COM (Teriann Wakeman) writes:
>Anyone know why Apple is bothering with 16Meg 68030s?????????
>The result is essentually a MacII with a cheaper upgrade path. All the timing
>comparisons I have seen show Mac SE/30 / IIx / IIcx to be in the same speed
>league as the Mac II. 

>Why in the world didn't the SE/30 & IIcx come out with 33Mhz 68030s??????
>What about a second processor to handle the screen?? Third party
>manufacturers seem to be able to build 33Mhz 68030 accellerator boards that
>work with the newer Macs using Mac software. Why does Apple's R&D hesitate
>where companies with comparitively pico R&D budgets can do it?????
>Just wondering,
TeriAnn

One Reason I can think of is a design at 33mhz without a fair amount of
caching which would in itself incease the cost somewhat, would require
faster RAM, probably on the order of at least 80ns or faster, which
are still low volume, and HIGH cost chips, so if you think that the II
series is spendy now, you have not seen anything if you start plugging
in 4-8 megs of high speed ram....The price of the system would soar...


-- 
Norm Goodger				SysOp - MacInfo BBS @415-795-8862
3Com Corp.				Co-Sysop FreeSoft RT - GEnie.
Enterprise Systems Division             (I disclaim anything and everything)