Macintosh IIvx

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Macintosh IIvx

Manufacturer	Apple Computer
Introduced	October 19, 1992
Discontinued	October 21, 1993
Price	US$2,950
CPU	Motorola 68030, 32 MHz
RAM	4 MiB, expandable to 68 MiB, 80 ns 30-pin SIMM
OS	System 7.1

The Macintosh IIvx (code name Brazil) was the last of the Macintosh II series of Macintosh computers from Apple. The IIvx included either a 40, 80, 160 or 400 MB hard drive, three NuBus slots, and a Processor Direct Slot. It was the first Macintosh to have a metal case and an optional internal CD-ROM drive.

The Mac IIvx began its life in development as a proof-of-concept to see how an internal CD-ROM drive could be added to a Mac. But after Apple CEO John Sculley gave a speech at MacWorld Tokyo which promised a Mac with a CD-ROM drive, the IIvx was rushed into production. Several shortcuts were taken in its design, most notably that its 32 MHz processor was crippled by its 16 MHz bus, making it slightly slower than the popular but aging Macintosh IIci. Its serial port was limited to 57.6 kbit/s, which could cause problems with serial connections and MIDI hardware. The Macintosh IIvi (a slower version of the IIvx) was introduced at the same time but discontinued only four months later. The IIvx shared the processor with the IIvi-based Performa 600. The IIvx was the only model in the series with a 32K L2 cache.

The final nail was driven into its coffin when the much-more-powerful Macintosh Centris 650 was released four months later for the same price. Since then, people who buy an expensive Mac which quickly becomes obsolete are said to be "IIvxed".

The Macintosh IIvx has the same chassis as the Centris 650 (later known as the Quadra 650). It can be upgraded to this machine by a simple logic board swap.