[peter303]

Frame buffer memory was still incredibly expensive in 1980. Our labs 512 x 512 x 8bit table lookup color buffer cost $30,000 in 1980. Mac's 512 x 384 x 8bit buffer in 1984 had to fit the Macs $2500 price. The Xerox Alto was earlier than these two devices and would have cost even more if it had a full frame buffer.

[sroussey]

Wasn’t the original Mac at 512 x 342 x 1bit?

[mkl]

Yes: https://512pixels.net/2025/05/original-macintosh-resolution/

There was a discussion here a couple of weeks ago (with a typo in the title): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44110219