Lisa II/Macintosh XL

Introduced: January 1984
Terminated: July 1986

Description

The Lisa II offered several upgrades from the original Lisa.  The duel 5.25” drives were replaced by a single 3.5” drive.  It was available with up to 2 MB of RAM and a 10 MB external hard drive.  When the Lisa II was renamed the Macintosh XL in 1986, it included MacWorks.  This emulator allowed the Lisa II to run the new Macintosh operating system.

History

The release of the much cheaper Macintosh had a significant effect on the Lisa line.  Because of this, Apple halved the price on the Lisa II.  Purchasers of the original Lisa had a window of time for a free upgrade after which they had to pay an upgrade fee.  The name change was undoubtedly based on the success of the Macintosh line; however, it was still too expensive to become a widely adopted computer.

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Specifications

Processor: Motorola 68000
Processor Speed: 5 MHz
Cache: None
System Bus: 5 MHz
Hard Drive: 10 MB Internal or 5 - 10 MB External
Media: 400k Floppy
Weight and Dimensions (US): 48 lbs., 15.2” H x 18.7” W x 13.8” D
Weight and Dimensions (Metric): 21.8 kg, 38.6 cm H x 47.5 cm W x 35.1 cm D
Original Mac OS: MacWorks
Maximum Mac OS: MacWorks 6.0.5
Firmware: Macintosh ROM
Model Number:—
Logicboard RAM: None
Maximum RAM: 2 MB
Type of RAM Slots: 2 - Lisa Cards
Minimum RAM Speed:—
Interleaving Support: No
Graphics Card: None
Graphics Memory: None
Built-in Display: 12” 720 x 360 (B and W)
Display Connection: RCA
Expansion Slots: 3 Proprietary
Hard Drive Bus: None
Backup Battery: 4.8 V NICAD or None
Max Watts: 150 W
Ethernet: None
Modem: None
ADB: None
Serial: 2 - RS 232
SCSI: None (2-port parallel)
USB: None
FireWire: None
Audio In: None
Audio Out: Continuously Variable Slope Demodulator (CVSD)

Timeline

The Lisa II was released in 1984.  Despite slow sales, Apple renamed it the Macintosh XL in 1986 in attempt to revive it.  However, later that year it was discontinued.

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