Bigger, Better Apples Sell Out at Computer Store: Professors, Grad Students Snap Up MacPluses

The MacPlus, Apple Computer's newest and most advanced personal computer, is selling faster than Harvard's computer store can order them, officials at the university outlet said yesterday.

"We can't keep them in stock," said a staff assistant at the Technology Products Center. The center sold its first shipment of 100 machines in only two weeks, with demand "way beyond what I predicted it to be," said Dianne M. Terp, manager of marketing and new business development at the center.

Students aren't the ones snapping up the latest technology craze, however; graduate students and professors are laying down $1539 and gobbling up Apple's new, more powerful machine, Terp said.

The new computers are twice as powerful as the Macintosh, Apple's previous top-of-the-line model. MacPluses are selling as well as the Macintoshes even though they've only been available since late February, computer officials said.

The MacPlus is designed to cater to the business community, Terp said, adding that quite a bit of what a "big university does is comparable to what a business does." Though she said that the MacPlus features are beyond what the average student is going to need, "there will be a few students, faculty, and administration officials who will find that kind of power attractive."

"I am heavily recommending it over the [Macintosh]," said Scott O. Bradner, technical associate and senior preceptor in psychology. Bradner is currently using a MacPlus to make foreign language characters for the Harvard Theological Review. He said that the psychology department has just purchased one of the machines to use for experiments.

"It's significantly faster, a significantly better machine," said Bradner, adding that he foresaw the department buying more in the future.

Pushing Pluses

Apple is promoting its new product on the college market with the same marketing techniques that helped it snap up a large share of the college market two years ago with the highly publicized Macintosh. The computer firm invited college computer officials from all over the country to attend an all-expenses-paid information seminar on the MacPlus in San Francisco in January.

The schools invited are all part of the Apple University Consortium, a 24-university organization which includes the Ivy League and state institutions such as the University of Michigan and the University of Texas. Those schools, which have been able tosell Macintoshes to their students at reducedprices, can also offer MacPluses at discountedrates.

Harvard has no plans, however, to installMacPluses in the Science Center computer rooms,said Lewis A. Law, director of computeroperations. "I see no real need," he said, addingthat it was more important to have more machinesthan fewer with greater capabilities. Law saidthat the current Macintoshes in the Science Centerwill be upgraded, though not to the level of theMacPlus.

The MacPlus offers increased speed and twice asmuch internal memory as the earlier Macintosh. Themachine also has redesigned disk drives whichstore more information and an additional port toaccomodate a hard disk drive.

A Macintosh, such as the original 128 kilobytemodel--which is not produced anymore--and thecurrent "fat" 512k machine, can be upgraded toMacPluses for a fee. Equipment to upgrade thosemachines will be available in April