Go to Main Story

Go to Business Section

Go to Home Page

Some Input on the New Mac Clones

A week from today will begin a brave new world for mainstream Macintosh users. They'll be able to buy a Mac clone made by a company other than Apple Computer Inc.

And that means they will wrestle with the same tough choice that faced the buyers of th first IBM clones: to take a chance or not.

Power Computing Corp., a Silicon Valley start-up company financed in part by Olivetti Group, is taking orders now for its Austin, Tex.-made Macintosh clones and plans to begin shipping May 1. Power Computing is relying on mail orders to build its business and has set its prices enticingly below the name-brand manufacturer's.

Last year, after resisting the idea for a decade, Apple said it would license the basic technology of the Macintosh and allow clones. Power Computing isn't the only one to get a license -- it's just the first one out of the gate, with a machine targeting mainstream home and office users.

Radius Inc. will also be shipping Mac clones, but it's focusing on color publishing professionals as its customers. Pioneer Electronic Corp. is expected to sell clones largely in Japan. Other licensees are expected.

Power Computing will start out with two models, though until summer they'll be available only in small numbers. Both are high-grade machines run by the PowerPC 601 chip at 100 and 110 megahertz. They are comparable to Apple's Power Macintosh 8100 model, and intended for serious home, education or business use. PCC's third model, the Power 80 (the same chip at 80 megahertz), is scheduled to be available in June or July.

While only test models have been available so far, the early performance reports are good. According to MacWeek magazine's lab, the speed of the Power 100 (the 100-megahertz version) is "virtually identical" to that of the Power Mac 8100/100.

Compatibility seems not to be an issue, either, MacWeek reports. Applications, utilities and system extensions on the test model worked like they do on Power Macs.

So, then, what are the factors for prospective buyers, be they newcomers, upgraders or PC-switchers?

Cost and support, just as they were for the early IBM-clone buyers.

PCC lists its lowest-priced Power 100 at $2,599. It includes a 730-megabyte hard drive, 8 megabytes of memory and 2 megabytes of video random access memory, or VRAM, which lets monitors display millions of colors. A similarly equipped Power Mac 8100/100 retails for around $3,399 in a good mail-order catalogue -- an $800 difference.

Unlike the Power Mac, the Power 100 comes with an extended keyboard, worth about $85, and several hundred dollars' worth of software that includes ClarisWorks and Quicken. So make the price difference something over $1,000.

PCC will install a Toshiba Corp. quadruple-speed CD-ROM drive on the 100 for another $300 -- very competitive for a four-speed today.

Since it expects to be strictly mail-order for a while, PCC has put up a World Wide Web page on the Internet with specific technical information (http://www.powercc.com) and is answering questions in several of the comp.sys.mac Usenet news groups.

Besides its Web on-line support, PCC will have other services worthy of a major-league computer maker: a 30-day money-back guarantee and toll-free technical support, for starters. And, if you can believe this from any company in the personal computer industry, it has set a goal of a three-minute response time on the phone. Anyone who has spent time on hold on Apple's toll-free line will likely give a good cheer.

But despite grandiose plans and goals, Power Computing Corp. is a completely untried entity. Remember that PeopleExpress airline sounded like an idea that couldn't miss, too.

Apple has been around doing its "computers for the rest of us" number for years. It's a Fortune 500 firm with proven reliability, thousands of employees and a lot of money for research and development.

In fact, whatever enhancements Apple develops for Macintosh hardware or software will be exclusive to Apple's own Macintoshes -- well before any of the clones get it.

A minor thing, perhaps, but the clones' physical appearance, a hallmark of Apple, will be different as well. In its initial form, the boxy Power 100 won't be winning the design recognition Apple is acclaimed for.

But for many who haven't bought any computer, or Mac owners salivating to move up to the very fast PowerPC chip, the price point may well be what sells them. A devoted Mac user on the Internet welcomed PCC with this comment, "Move over Apple, someone's gonna push Mac hardware the right way!"