Macintosh line of personal computers.

Apple is taking on IBM and computer clones by lowering its prices and enhancing the Macintosh Desktop Line to faster processors.

The new Macintosh Quadra line will carry the much faster 68040 processors that were previously reserved only for high-end Macintoshes.

The existing Macintosh LC and Centris lines have been consolidated into the Quadra line.

Mr. Robert Burns, general manager of local Apple dealer MCS, said: "The new naming scheme, based on the Macintosh Quadra name, simplifies product identification for users and businesses as well as denoting the overall move to the advanced 68040 processor.'' The Macintosh Quadra line is made up of five new Macintoshes, each with several memory and Disks storage configurations and come standard with a 14-inch RGB High Resolution Colour Monitor, although larger monitors are also supported.

The new line of PCs consists of the Quadra 605, which is expected to retail in Bermuda for under $2,500; the Quadra 610, under $3,200; the Quadra 650, under $4,500; the Quadra 660AV, under $5,600; and the previously released Quadra 840AV. All the computers are expected to be on sale in Bermuda by the end of the week, said Mr. Tim Kerr, account executive at MCS.

He added: "The Quadra 610 has become the workstation. Its built-in Ethernet and connectivity to Novell, as well as the distributed connectivity solutions to AS/400s and Dec VAX, should make it very attractive to traditional Large System Sites.'' Also released were two new printers: the LaserWriter Select 360, offering ten pages per minute and print resolutions of up to 600-dpi, and the LaserWriter Pro 810, offering 20 pages per minute.