| Apple's latest desktop Macintosh, the LC 520, will
initially be sold only to schools — but it sports some
interesting features that are likely to appear in future
Macs. Among other things, the LC 520 is the first Mac to
come standard with a CD-ROM drive, internal stereo
speakers, modular plug-and-play components, and a built-in
14-inch color monitor. Although Apple won't rule out the
possibility of introducing the machine through normal
channels, for now it's available only to the educational
market. Schools prefer one-piece computers, says Apple, so the LC 520 puts everything into a single one-plug box. The front panel has push-button brightness and volume controls, a headphone jack, and a microphone. Phase-shifting circuits enhance the stereo effects of the internal speakers. The CD-ROM is a double-speed drive that transfers data at 300 KBps. The 640- by 480-pixel screen is 4 inches larger than a Color Classic's and displays up to 32,768 colors. It qualifies for an Energy Star rating by shutting down after a predetermined period of inactivity, cutting power consumption by 50 percent. Schools also like computers that are easily repaired, so most of the major components in the LC 520 — including the motherboard and disk drives — can be swapped without tools. The slide-out motherboard is the same size as the Color Classic's but is otherwise equivalent to the LC III's. It has a 25-MHz 68030 CPU, 72-pin SIMM slots for up to 36 MB of RAM, and a 114-pin Processor Direct Slot that accepts PDS boards made for other LC-series machines. The BYTE preliminary low-level benchmarks showed the LC 520 to be comparable to a IIci and LC III. An LC 520 with 5 MB of RAM and an 80-MB hard drive is priced at about $1600. Other configurations have 8 MB of RAM and 160-MB hard drives. Contact: Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, CA, (408)
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