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From: wsinkees@lso.win.tue.nl (Kees Huizing)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Help!!! What does a (soon to be)Mac user buy? Se vs. Plus
Message-ID: <959@tuewsd.lso.win.tue.nl>
Date: 5 Mar 90 13:06:07 GMT
References: <1092@njitgw.njit.edu>
Sender: wsinkees@lso.win.tue.nl (Kees Huizing)
Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Lines: 60

mg5184@mars.njit.edu (Michael Gaines) writes:

>	I need some help. I want to buy a Mac within the next two weeks or
>so. I am torn between the Plus and the SE only because I can't seem to get
>a straight answer to what the differences are. It SEEMS that you can run 
>anything on a + that you can on an SE (of course II programs are out). All
>I can see is that you can use the extended keyboard on an SE. I'm not
>getting an SE/30 'cause I need the money for a 30Meg Hard Drive.

A couple of months ago I asked about the same question.  Here is my opinion.
I mailed all the responses I got to the author of the question.

The advantages of the SE are (in arbitrary order):

- ADB (standard) interface for keyboard and mouse.  Most of the interesting
alternatives you might want for your input devices are available for the
Plus too, however.  

- Nicer keyboard, esthetically, mechanically and functionally.  The Plus
echoes a bit when you hit the keys vitally.  What I like, however, is that
it's small. It fits between the arms of an arm-chair.  For about $250 you
can get a "doctored" SE keyboard that works with a Plus.

- Quicker.  The same CPU is used with the same clock speed (MC68000 at ~8MHz),
but the screen drawing routines are better, the SCSI port is faster (check
this, I am not sure), etc.  The difference doesn't seem
that much (5-15%) in practice.  If you buy a fast hard disk and a Plus, you
are probably as fast as an SE with the an in-built hard disk from Apple.

- Internal hard disk possible.  Convenient and compact.  Here
in Holland is a shop that builds a hard disk (and a fan) in a Plus for about
$600.  Some people discourage this.  I have no experience.

- FDHD (super drive).  Lets you read and write MS-DOS floppies and 1.44Mbyte
flops.  The Plus lacks the SWIM chip to connect a superdrive.  Alternatives
exist, however.

- Free extension slot, e.g., for a video card to connect a big monitor.

- Less obselete.  Some say the Plus is "dead".  Nevertheless, it has the
largest users group and virtually anything that runs on a SE will run on a
Plus.  This might change in future, but beware, the SE is not that vital
either...

*************************************************************************

I decided to buy a Plus.  Here in Holland the price different is large
(about $1500) and I didn't forsee to use the expansion slot in some years.
(If you hardly have the money for an SE, what are you going to use the slot
for: a two-page monitor?)  If the only thing you are afraid of is obsolence,
and you need a computer *now*, I would advise to buy a Plus (do your own
calculation for your local prices, however).  If the day comes that you
really have to worry about programs that you can't run on your Plus, you
might need the money to buy a new computer.  I am sure that it won't be 
an SE.

						Kees
-- 
Kees Huizing - Eindhoven Univ of Techn - Dept Math & Comp Sc - The Netherlands
DOMAIN: wsinkees@win.tue.nl    BITNET: wsdckeesh@heitue5    FAX: +31-40-436685