Macintosh LC
The Macintosh LC is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1990 to March 1992.
For the product family, see Macintosh LC family.Also known as
"Elsie"
October 15, 1990
US$2,499 (equivalent to $5,828 in 2023)
March 23, 1992
Motorola 68020 @ 16 MHz
2 MB, expandable to 10 MB (100ns 30-pin SIMM)
Height: 2.9 inches (7.4 cm)
Width: 12.2 inches (31 cm)
Depth: 15.3 inches (39 cm)
8.8 pounds (4.0 kg)
Overview[edit]
The first in the Macintosh LC family, the LC was introduced with the Macintosh Classic (a repackaging of the older Macintosh SE) and the Macintosh IIsi (a new entry-level machine for the Macintosh II series), and offered for half the price of the Macintosh II but significantly lesser in performance overall.[1] The creation of the LC was prompted by Apple's desire to produce a product that could be sold to school boards for the same price as an Apple IIGS. It was designed for inexpensive manufacturing, with five major components that robots could assemble. The computer had a $2,400 list price; it and the new $600 12-inch color display were $3,500 less expensive than the Macintosh II.[2] Not long after the Apple IIe Card was introduced for the LC, Apple quietly removed the IIGS from its price list, forceably retiring it, as the company wanted to focus its sales and marketing efforts on the LC.[3]
The original Macintosh LC was introduced in October 1990, with initial shipments to dealers following in December and January.[4] It was replaced by Macintosh LC II, which was largely the same but was built around a Motorola 68030 processor.
Reception[edit]
Computer Gaming World in 1990 criticized the LC as too expensive, stating that consumers would prefer a $2,000 IBM PS/1 with VGA graphics to a $3,000 LC with color monitor.[6] Although the Classic was more popular at first, by May 1992 the LC (560,000 sold) was outselling the Classic (1.2 million). More than half of LCs were used in homes and schools; Apple claimed that it helped the company regain educational market share lost to inexpensive PC clones, with the IIe Card used in about half of schools' LCs.[7]
Introduced October 15, 1990: