Macintosh LC History (part 2)
This is the second part of a two part article.
The LC family remained a very popular range as Apple’s entry level Macintosh. Since the release of the LC in 1990 the computers were very accessible to consumers and education.
Apple released many variations of the successful all in one design sold as the LC 550, LC 575 and LC 580. One notable computer based on the LC 520 all in one design was the Macintosh TV. This computer was a limited run (of around 10 000) black all in one. The computer was produced to enable it to function as an integrated multimedia machine that functioned as both a computer and TV. It included a 33MHz 68030 processor, CD drive and TV tuner card. The Macintosh TV is one of only a few desktop Macintoshes released in black.
The LC 550 had the same specifications as the LC 520 but included a processor speed bump to 33Mhz. It wasn’t until the release of the LC 575 that the all in one LC family saw an upgrade beyond simple speed bumps. The LC 575 had a 68LC040 processor running at 33MHz, included System 7.5 and had a special comm slot for modems and network cards. A late upgrade in 1995 called the LC 580 had most of the features of the LC 630 in a slightly modified LC 520 style case design.
The desktop style LC 630 saw the Quadra and LC line meet once more. The LC 630 had a 33MHz 68LC040 processor and saw a departure from the SCSI internal drive interface in favour of IDE. This move allowed Apple to reduce costs and provide larger hard disk capacities. A special feature of the LC 630 was the option of a DOS card that was essentially a 66MHz Intel 486 on an expansion card. This allowed the LC 630 to run both DOS and Windows and enabled easy access to either operating system from within the Mac operating system. The LC 630 case design became one of Apple’s most robust designs and was used throughout the Power Macintosh family.
In 1995 the LC family was phased out for the new Power Macintosh line.