Re: Any idea what this is?

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

Greg Buchner <apple22@mn.rr.com> wrote:

>In article <M8_We.1701$Jm.1675@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net>,
> Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com> wrote:
>
>> I was going through more boxes of stuff that I had and found the 
>> following, which this link to pictures shows:
>> 
>> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shlichter@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/4728&.src=ph
>> 
>> 
>> I know it is for a IIgs
>
>Well, it looks like the MDIdeas version of the Kensington System Saver.  
>You could stick two Apple 3.5" drives in there and put that between the 
>GS and the monitor.

    I think it may predate the Kensington System Saver IIgs. It was called
"The Conserver" and designed by MDIdeas. When they went bankrupt, 
Applied Engineering bought the rights and reintroduced it, though with 
a more stylish front panel/button setup.

>Looks like the center switch powers up the 4 center plugs in the rear 
>and the other two power up the outlet on the corresponding side.
>
>Always wanted one, but never had the money when they were for sale, 
>don't really have the money now...

    From what I remember, it had three independent power switches (you
can see what AC plugs they affect by the labeling in back) and let you
mount either one or two Apple 3.5 drives. If you had only one, the empty
bay had a little tray inserted for holding loose floppy diskettes.

    The cooling fan wasn't as efficient as the System Saver IIgs, which
sat directly above the internal powersupply--drawing air over the cards,
over the supply and out the top (the powersupply was the main source
of heat). The Conserver had the fan awkwardly positioned at the back.

    I also thought it looked less aesthetically pleasing than Kensington's 
product because it was longer than the IIgs case (sticked out in the
back) and didn't have the same horizontal line cut outs patterns on 
the sides. The extra power switches/outlets and place to mount your
floppy drives was nice though, lots of space was wasted by the 
System Saver (though I know people who mounted SCSI hardisks
inside the case).

Mitchell Spector