Umax Mac Computer Apus 2000, SN20-55-16

Part No. 960147-15
Serial No. H6E01516C0119
CPU board 603e/160
1.2GB H D D

8 X CD-ROM

"With the Apus 2000/160, UMAX has proven that a 603e Mac can be cheap enough for the home and still powerful enough for the busiest office, while offering the kind of quality of manufacture that would put any PC to shame.

The machine is built inside a very strong, slimline case with a footprint of 350mm by 406mm, sitting pretty under any heavy 17in monitor, yet less than 10cm high. Details on the front fascia are limited to the floppy drive, CD-ROM drive, an earphones socket and a single on/off button with integrated LED power indicator. Around the back, there is a nearly full complement of connectors: two serial ports, one ADB port, SCSI port, a DB-15 Mac monitor port and sockets for stereo speakers and microphone.

The motherboard has been designed for user upgradeability, with all the most important areas accessible; only the 256K Level 2 cache RAM module is partly covered. Upgrading the cache to the Apus's maximum of 1Mb would require you to unmount the floppy drive, but again this is a simple matter of unclipping the front fascia, releasing two screws and sliding the drive backwards. This done, it is also possible to lift up the entire inner chassis, which holds both the hard disk and CD-ROM drive, although only the power and data connectors are hidden underneath.

There are no free drive bays for additional storage units, but with the implementation of the EIDE drive interface for internal devices, this leaves the external SCSI bus completely free for external ones.

As far as performance is concerned, the Apus 2000/160 is an easy match for other 160MHz 603e machines on the market. UMAX is not the only manufacturer to launch new Macs based on this specification, with Motorola's StarMax 3160 and Apple's Power Mac 4400 both hitting the streets at the end of November. Despite the similarity, the Apus is far from an also-ran, using its own motherboard rather than the Tanzania designs used by Motorola and Apple. The results give the Apus 2000/160 the occasional edge, most notably in our 3D rendering test using Infini-D, where the Apus shaved nearly 10 seconds off the Motorola score. In both cases, the 1Mb video memory supplied with the on-board video circuitry led to very poor scrolling test results: no-one should consider less than 2Mb, and the maximum 4Mb is heartily recommended, not least for games players.

At £895, the Apus is a direct challenge to Apple's almost identically priced Power Mac 4400, but includes the keyboard as well as the CPU and mouse. And with 15in monitors available by mail order for around £200, you could have a very powerful Mac in the home for less than £1000."

Review 1st December 1996

Our Unit is complete with the following:

Software: UMAX Freehand Graphics Studio
MAC OS Version 7.5.5 and 7.6 System Install P/N 870007-03

MAC OS Powerpc User's Guide P/N 830399-00

Kindly Donated by Adam

Manufacturer: Umax
Date: 1st December 1996

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH16183. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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