Re: Apple II suicide--a sermon...

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

Just a quick word about the Apple product line...

I realize that this may sound like blasphemy, especially coming from an
Apple ][ person like myself, but...

The most technologically advanced PERSONAL computer on the market right now is
the Power Macintosh.  The PowerPC architecture gives it the ability to
outperform just about every other computer on the market.  Of course,
Apple handcuffs it with MacOS, but that's another story...

Just to point out, the Macintosh...even the Macintosh 128...in fact, even
the Lisa...those machines are all based on the M68000 microprocessor (in
fact, the latest non-PowerPC Macintoshes are based on the 32-bit M68040
processor.)  Unlike processors-with-greater-than-8-bits introduced to
other platforms (I won't mention any names, but a sample chip is the Intel
80486...), the 68n00 has always been given free-reign within the Macintosh
product line since it was part of the original design, and the design
supports the high power of a 32-bit processor.

The IIgs, on the other hand, is based on the M65C816, which is essentially
a 16-bit version of the M65C02 8-bit chip around which the Apple ][ series
is based.  The switch from the 6502 to the 65C816 is a little like the
switch from a Z-80 to an 8088 or 8086.

This should give you a pretty good idea, though, that Apple ][ designers
and programmers know what they are doing.  My 3MHz IIgs can do certain
critical things faster and better than either a Macintosh Quadra 660AV (30
MHz 68030?) or an MS-DOS based 66MHz 80486 machine.  And I don't need a
CPU fan and heat sink.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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