Dale Adams on Errors in December '93 MacUser on New '040 Macs

If anyone's read the article in the latest issue of MacUser (December '93) on the new '040 Macs, you've probably noticed a few items that are curious. . . well, outright wrong, really. So, before things go too far, here's a list of the factual errors that I found in this article:

• The article states that the Q650 allows you to add an FPU. This is downright silly. First of all, all Q650s come with a 68040 which includes floating point hardware. Secondly, there's no way to 'add' and FPU to an '040 machine - presuming you have a machine with an 'LC040, you have to totally replace the processor to get hardware floating point support.

• In several places it's said that expanding VRAM to 1 MB allows up to 16-bit color on a 14" display. While technically this isn't incorrect, it is misleading in that it implies that a 14" display is the maximum size display on which you can get 16-bit color. This is not correct. All '040 Macs support at least 16 bits/pixel on a 16" display.

• The article claims that maximum memory expansion on the Q610 is 64 MB. It's really 68 MB. The article claims that maximum memory expansion on the Q650 is 132 MB. It's really 136 MB.

• The feature tables on the LC and Performa lines show support for 21" display on the LC II, II and 520, as well as the Performa 410, 460, 466 and 467. None of these machines support 21" displays from their built-in video. The table for the Quadras indicates that the Q650 and 800 support 16-bit video on a 21" display. The maximum pixel depth for these machines on that size display is actually 8-bits. The table also lists the maximum amount of VRAM for the Q800 to be 2 MB. It's really 1 MB.

• The Quadra feature table lists an 'optional' FPU for the Q605. There is no such option. It is possible, however, to replace the 68LC040 with a 68040 and thereby get hardware floating point support.

• Note that the ethernet 'option' listed for the Q605 is really an LC-style expansion card, not built in to the motherboard.

• Finally, while this isn't strictly an error, MacUser's performance tests show that the video performance on the P475 and LC475 is much better than that of the Q605 (something like 31% better). This is clearly ludicrous as these are exactly the same motherboards. For that matter, the video performance they show on these machines is about the same as the Q800 and Q840av, which is also ridiculous.

They did manage to get most of the other stuff right. :-)

- Dale Adams

November 16, 1993 - Robert Lentz (ralentz@ralentz.com)