The Macintosh IIfx is an extremely high-speed and elegantly-engineered
personal computer that has been designed for people who need the ultimate
in Macintosh responsiveness and new Macintosh capabilities.
To provide maximum Macintosh performance and responsiveness, the
Macintosh IIfx incorporates a high-speed, 40-megahertz 68030 CPU, a 32K
Static RAM Cache memory subsystem, and a 68882 floating-point coprocessor
for high-speed program execution and calculations.
The Macintosh IIfx also introduces dedicated I/O processors to the
Macintosh family. These custom-designed ASICs (Application Specific
Integrated Circuits) boost system efficiency by managing all of the
low-level I/O tasks for the Apple Desktop Bus, floppy disk drives, and
serial ports. Previously, the 68030 processor had to handle these tasks.
In addition, the Macintosh IIfx contains a dedicated, SCSI, DMA
controller that improved SCSI performance.
The Macintosh IIfx supports Macintosh System Software 6.0.5 or higher and
A/UX 2.0 (Apple UNIX).
Users who need maximum system expandability will especially appreciate
the versatility of the Macintosh IIfx. First, system memory can be
expanded from 4 to 8 megabytes with Apple RAM, up to 128 MB with
third-party RAM, for high-performance applications that demand superior,
system responsiveness.
Second, the Macintosh IIfx includes six NuBus expansion slots that can
accommodate a wide range of Apple and third-party expansion cards, like
additional network interfaces and graphics cards. A new Processor Direct
Slot (PDS) provides a high-speed interface for third-party hardware
options. And six external interface ports accommodate peripherals like
hard disks and printers, LocalTalk network connections, and color and
gray-scale graphics systems.
For floppy-disk storage, the Macintosh IIfx uses the 1.4-megabyte Apple
SuperDrive, which lets users read and write to 3.5-inch Macintosh floppy
disks and 3.5-inch disks used in a variety of other personal computers.
The Macintosh IIfx also can be configured with up to 160 megabytes of
internal hard disk storage. It will also accommodate a second SuperDrive.
Best of all, the Macintosh IIfx is a Macintosh. This means that it still
offers all of the benefits of earlier Macintosh systems: access to more
than 3,000 of the most powerful, graphics-based applications available;
ease of learning and ease of use through a consistent, graphics-based
interface; choice without confusion in hardware and software; the
convenience of "plug and play" compatibility; and the assurance that all
Macintosh components work together smoothly.