Macintosh LC series

The Macintosh LC is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 1990 to 1996.

History
Introduced alongside the Macintosh Classic and IIsi as part of a new wave of lower-priced Macintosh computers, the first Macintosh LC offered the same Motorola 68020 processor as the Macintosh II for half the price. "LC" was a reference to "Low-cost Color", but was described by some users as "Lacking Chip" due to the lack of an floating-point unit. However, the LC processor direct slot did allow for upgrades which included a Motorola 68882 floating-point co-processor for Motorola 68020 and 68030-based models. Part of Apple's goal was to produce a machine that could be sold to school boards for the same price as an Apple II GS, a machine that was very successful in the education market. Not long after the Apple IIe Card was introduced for the LC, Apple officially announced the retirement of the II GS, as the company wanted to focus its sales and marketing efforts on the LC.

The original Macintosh LC was introduced on October 15, 1990, with updates in the form of the LC II and LC III in early 1992 and 1993, respectively. These early models all shared the same, and were joined by the Macintosh LC 500 series of all-in-one desktop machines in mid-1993. A total of twelve different LC models were produced by the company, the last of which, the Power Macintosh 5300 LC, was introduced on August 28, 1995. PowerPC 601 upgrades were offered for 68LC040-based models before the LC product line was phased out in mid-1996.

Models
As the LC series became more focused on education, it was supplanted in the consumer market by the Macintosh Performa series, which rebadged LC model names and bundled consumer-oriented software and peripheral packages.