The Macintosh IIfx is a personal computer produced by Apple Computer, Inc., and released in March 1990 as part of the Macintosh II series. It was positioned as a high‑performance workstation aimed at professional users requiring advanced processing capabilities.
Design and hardware
- Processor: 33 MHz Motorola 68030 CPU with a 32‑bit data bus, supplemented by a 40 MHz 68882 floating‑point coprocessor.
- Memory: 4 MB of RAM standard, expandable to 128 MB using 30‑nanosecond SIMM modules; it utilized a 32‑bit memory bus.
- Storage: Options included a 40 MB or 80 MB SCSI hard drive; the system supported up to four internal SCSI devices.
- Video: Integrated 640 × 480‑pixel, 8‑bit color display output via a built-in video controller, with the ability to add external monitors.
- Expansion: Six NuBus slots for additional cards and a dedicated video slot.
Operating system
The IIfx shipped with System 6.0.1 and was later compatible with System 7.0 through System 7.5.5. It could also run early versions of A/UX, Apple’s UNIX‑based operating system.
Notable features
- It was the fastest Macintosh model at the time of release, largely due to its high‑clock‑rate CPU and coprocessor, as well as a 32‑bit memory architecture.
- The machine employed a “fast cache” architecture with a 32 KB L1 cache and a 256 KB L2 cache, a rarity in Macintosh models of that era.
- The case design was similar to the preceding Macintosh IIci but incorporated a larger power supply and enhanced cooling to manage the higher performance components.
Reception and legacy
The Macintosh IIfx received positive reviews for its speed and expandability, though its high price—approximately US$7,500 for the base configuration—limited its market to businesses, graphics professionals, and scientific users. It was succeeded by the Macintosh IIfx’s higher‑end sibling, the Macintosh Quadra series, which introduced the Motorola 68040 processor.
Historical significance
The IIfx represents the culmination of the Macintosh II line and illustrates Apple’s transition toward more powerful, processor‑intensive machines in the early 1990s, preceding the shift to the PowerPC architecture later in the decade.
