mac classic lcd screen for sale

A vintage Apple monitor isn"t just a blast from the past to add to your Mac collection, but it can also be used for retro computing. Apple has been producing computer monitors since 1976 in varying sizes and capabilities. If you plan on using a vintage Apple monitor, then you should first learn about the display capabilities and required connections to ensure proper functioning of your iMac.

Apple first started producing monochrome monitors and then eventually moved onto cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal display (LCD) options. Apple nicknamed monochrome monitors "Green Screens" due to the bright green text color on their screens. These original devices were bulky and lacked color capabilities in their resolutions, making them fade out of popularity towards the 1980"s. CRT displays are also heavy, but they offered more colors and a higher-quality display. Apple used these monitors until the late 1990"s when LCD monitors took over the market.

LCD technology uses a flat panel screen, rather than the bulky screens of CTR standards. Today LCD monitors are the standard screen for laptops and desktops almost exclusively, and they began to outsell CTRs by 2004.

The earliest monitors were very small. Most monitors only measured 13-14 inches. However, in the 1990"s and early 2000"s, larger LCD monitor sizes became more popular. Monitor sizes up to 30 inches are common, but the most-used option is the 27-inch display. This size creates a resolution that is suitable for daily Mac use as well as gaming and entertainment purposes.

Apple Macbooks and iMac models are designed with portability and ease of use in mind. Mac never produced a model over 17 inches as a result. Most displays found in Apple Macbook products utilize Retina technology, which is a type of LED format that offers higher pixel density. The most common Mac sizes include the following:

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I have mixed opinions about this "Color Classic". For me, the heart of a Mac, that which makes it a particular Mac, is the motherboard. Replace it with another motherboard and you have, at heart, another Mac.

To be sure, the case and, especially in this case, the monitor are a part of what make it a Colour Classic. It looks good, it is practical but it is neither fish nor flesh. But then, I also am happy to use CF cards to boot my PM G3 MT and I am happy to use accelerators to make the Mac much faster. Hmmmm.

This fellow (gal?) has put a lot of work into renovating old Macs. I do like what he has done with his other Macs but he is not aiming at us. I don"t really know whom his target sellers are. Investors want something as mint as possible. Those who used them in years gone by probably already have one by now and, while these people could afford one of his macs, I"m not sure as to whether you"d spend a couple of thousand on upgraded nostalgia.

There are only 4 screws on the back of the Classic II that hold the case together. Two on the bottom near the ports, and two on the top near the built in handle. Removal of the two near the handle require a longer tool to reach in the deep sockets. Once the screws are removed, it was a little difficult prying the front panel from the rear. I am not sure if it is designed that way or if it was the age of the plastic. Essentially the internals are mounted on a frame and screwed to the front panel, so the back is just a cover.

I searched around and found others who have done a similar mod. There are really no high definition panels out there in this small of a size. I suppose an iPad mini with retina display at 7.9 inches would be high resolution, but good luck finding a driver for it. The best I could find was 8.0 inches at 1024x768. There are plenty of 800x600, but I wanted the best I could find. I could not find anything between 8 and 9, as 8.7 would have been optimal. The 1994 Color Classic had a 10" CRT with 512x384 resolution. The Classic II had 9" monochrome CRT 512x342. My mod has a smaller screen and 4x the pixels.

The screen I chose was off eBay, a kit with LVDS driver board. When I received it, initially it worked great, then it fizzled out. I think it was a bad driver board, so I ordered a separate replacement, and it failed to work as well. I then thought it was possibly the screen so I ordered a 2nd screen. The 2nd one was dim, so I ordered a 3rd screen. Still dim, so ordered a 3rd board, different design. Screen one was confirmed dead, screen 2 and 3 worked fine with board 3. Lots of waste on this project, SMH.

The driver board supports multiple inputs (VGA, HDMI, composite 1 and 2). There are on screen controls to adjust the typical LCD monitor and the original controller came with an IR remote as well as a control panel. The 3rd driver board did not have the IR sensor mounted, so I stole it from the first fried controller. Since the original Classic II had tube monitor adjustments hidden on the rear behind a detachable panel, I thought that was the ideal place to put this screen control panel as well. I had to design and 3D print an interface panel, and figure out how to mount it, and then cut out a hole for it in the back case. I could not see the button icons when printed in black, so I printed them in white for the contrast. The internal VGA out from the GT730 drives the LCD VGA input. The HDMI input is directed to the rear panel so this Classic II can be used as an external monitor (just a pure goofy effect). The HDMI from the GT730 goes to the rear panel so you can drive an external monitor with this Hackintosh (think HTPC in the living room, or large desktop monitor).

A few months ago, I wrote about my experience in rehabilitating a derelict Mac SE/30. It was an immensely satisfying project, but ultimately, not fully realized as I could not find a replacement SE/30 logic board to plug in. Some time passed, and the Mac sat on my desk, patiently awaiting its resurrection.

To be sure, it was a crazy idea, but I’m not one to shy away from a challenge. I had seen videos of other compact Macs kitted out with LCD displays, but many of the solutions required permanently modifying the front bezel of the Mac. What I wanted was a simple, reversible method to couple a color LCD to the Mac SE/30, while simultaneously having the SE/30 house my 2018 Mac mini and its assorted drives.

The acrylic frame and mounting bracket was designed for the purpose of installing an iPad mini inside a compact Mac case. Designed by Trav DeRose, this kit consists of a rectangular bracket that fits perfectly into the CRT mount holes on the Mac SE/30’s front bezel, along with two vertical supports to secure the display in place. Customers must provide their own screws and bolts to assemble the kit. To get to the front bezel, I removed all the guts of the Mac SE/30, which includes the CRT, analog board, power supply and floppy drive cage. (Fret not, I have all the original parts tucked away safely.)

I also wanted to see if the Mac mini would fit inside the SE/30’s chassis. It was nearly a perfect fit! It was at this point I felt confident that everything would come together.

The biggest variable in this project was the display. I initially bought a TOGUARD portable 7″ display, but it was disappointing, to say the least. The display was bulky, the picture was not sharp, and the controls were garbage unintuitive. I’ll save you some time and tell you that the Pimoroni 8″ IPS LCD is the one you’ll want. Not only does the Pimoroni 8″ LCD fit perfectly inside the confines of the compact Mac, but it has a really nice, sharp picture, with a detached LCD menu that gives you flexibility during your install. This display has been a popular choice for Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, since its 4:3 aspect ratio makes it perfectly sized for the Pi’s arcade game emulation capabilities.

The display includes a small, thin ribbon cable that will need to be connected to the display driver board. The power cable includes a micro USB connector that powers the display driver. The display’s menu buttons also attach to the driver board via a thin ribbon cable. After plugging everything up, I did a quick “fire in the hole” test by connecting the display to my MacBook Pro. Once I confirmed that the display was working, I moved onto mounting it into the SE/30’s front bezel. (Don’t forget to remove the screen protector!)

Finding a proper place for the display’s menu buttons was a bit of a challenge. I settled on securing it to one of the Mac SE/30’s chassis mounts. It’s not a great location, but it is accessible and does the job.

With the display installed it was time to test it out. Initially the color and brightness of the display were lacking. After some adjustments to contrast, brightness, and saturation, there were slight improvements. The big improvement to picture quality came when I applied the Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 color profile in the macOS Display control panel.

My first premise: Conservate all components of the Mac Classic, don´t break anything, or alterate something that has no reverse gear. I have saved all original components, and lets go to start with it. Who knows, maybe 10 years from now I get to mount the Vintage Macintosh again.

When the Macintosh arrived, I see that the color is very... yellow... . Yes, its a machine with more than 30 years old, and formerly the cases of these Computer are make with a bromine compound, to act as a fire retardant...curious, but with years, its provocate this color on these components (Computer, keyboard, mouse, etc... ). I searched on the WEB, and find a method that call RETROBRIGHT, there are a lot of technies to apply them (you can find it in google too), but I applied the one that i Read the mosts positive comments, and the less complicated method for me.

My Proccess: 3 days of apply the product and 8 hours per day in the Sun (the was no bright sun, they were somewhat cloudy days). Some days, I wrapped the Macinstosh with transparent paper, but my recommendation is no use this paper, because this make me some stain on the plastic. And for that, I applied some days more the proccess, so that they would disappear as much as possible. With these word, I wanted to tell you that this proccess exists, and I obtained a very good results, but not a perfect result. Constantly monitor the proccess result, dont leave the product in the sun, and return when the 8 hours pass.

Later, i washed very well the Macinstosh, with a non-abrasive sponge, and a neutral soap. Dry very well with a soft cloth, and the next day, when its dry completely, I applied a special lacquer (as a UV protector, to delay the reapperance of the yellowish color... yes, that color will return after a time, hopefully many years). Here the lacquer I use (glossy finish).

My Model is Apple Design Keyboard and Mouse. They have some Yellow color like Macintosh, but with some retrobright session (more easily process than other), them looks perfectly. I clean all the internal pieces, dismount everything, and clean with Isopropyl alcohol. Here you are a photo of them (you can see the difference between the photos of the first post):

First, I tried to put one more modern Keyboard, but the connector of this machine is ADB (Apple Device Bus), and i thought that its a PS2 connector... bad luck. For a looking on Google, I found some cable, but so expensive, and finally, I learned that ADB is the identical that a S-VIDEO connector. And you can find a lot of cheap offers of S-VIDEO connectors, I bought one and mounted (sold require). For this model of keyboard, the wire is directly connect to his motherboard, other model have an individual wire... .

I think that it was a correct decisión, because I wanted use it for Music, Games (I am not a full gamer), Video, and something else... . And because the Macinstosh Classic is an original machine, I wanted use the original component for Raspberry (I bought too some fun details, that I mush show you later

First: When I bought the Macintosh, I believed that screen is broken. Consequently, I want to take advantage of the CRT Crystal, for make my own new Screen (insert a LCD, maybe 7-8 inch into de CRT Crystal). I saw some videos for people that cut the original CRT Crystalwith a Dremel (with a diamond edge), and I thought that it maybe be a good decision. But when I managed to fix the original Macintosh, I discard this option, because as I have already told us,I want to keep the original parts instact.

Second: From discard the first option... I decided to include aLCD monitor behind the monitor case. Originally, the Macintosh Classic have a 9 inch 4:3 format Monitor (more info here, https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Classic), but when I use it, I saw that the monitor have a black overscan. The people that make a similar project, includes a LCD for 8 inch (most popular in store), but I want to aproach the maximun of the hole for the monitor. I discart the option for a LCD with too much overscan).

Third (and finally): I want a really good Screen, because honestly, it will be the most eye-catching for the project. After some WEB analizyng, I decided to buy this option: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/hdmi ... t-1024x768, a 10 INCH SCREEN 4:3 FOMAT for PIMORONI. I thought too for the Screen LCD for IPAD, but it was to much expensive, and I read that have some dificults to configure and install.

- The screen (with his frame) is bigger than the hole for the monitor. But I think and search a lot for make a solution. You can config the Overscan for your PI, to displace the screen image. I will explain this step in the furure.

- The Hole is curve: The original Macintosh have a CRT curve monitor, and the LCD is flat, I want to resolve this for make a beatifull finish. Some people put the monitor behind, and ignore de the curve (badly finish for me), but I found a person that make a 3D frame for this project, to hide this curve between the LCD and the Case. Here I bring yoy the URL for this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3551263 (I printed it with a good quality material). I reuse the original up screw for the Macintosh, to hold the screen well. Here the detail of the finish:

- Protection the LCD Panel: I bought a transparent acrylic panel (1mm thickness), and with that, make the LCD protection, and a structure to put the mainboard for the screen (some similar like a view for the PICADE projoect, that mount this screen). In summary and iin order: Front Case, 3DBezel, Acrylic, Screen, Acryclic. Here the structure with acrylic panel:

Finally, the results for me is very very good. But I"m still giving it a spin, for aproach all the hole size (now I have a besel of 2-3 mm that not have image). To do this, I want to rotate the Screen image, because the original orientation of the screen, dificult me the project. Even so, i like so much. The detail for the actual overscan (that i want to fix later):

I said every times, that I want to conservate the original structure for the Macintosh, and for that, I thought to make a steal real panel, similar of the original motherboard of the Macintosh. WIth this, I can use the can use the same mechanism to anchor the steal rear panel. 1mm thickness steal panelspecifically. Hera some photos:

I want to put the power on/off button outsite de case of the Macinstosh. First I thought to use the left side button for the Macintosh, to push the Pi button power, but its very delicate, and discarded this option.

Then, the longitude for the original button power cable for the PI was so short, and its dificult to distribute the PI inside the Macintosh. I tried to use and extension cable(Male USB-C - Female USB-C) for make a solution for it, but these option lose some power for the PI, and the system became unstable.

When I connect the PI to the Screen, and all the other connect for all connector, I saw that the PI Screen start to blink, I analize the power of the PI, and read that all USB connector can give a power of 1200 mA (total). And that is insuficient for all my connected device:

The solution, I use a whole for the rear panel to put and extra USB (Female), who are connect directly to the power of the Screen (with an mobile power adapter). Then I have the enought energy for all the connector.

Distribution (Left to Right on the image): Power On/Off Button - USB 2.0 for Screen Power - Pi Power Connector - HDMI Second Screen Connector - One free hole - ADB Connector - Jack Audio Connector.

Bonus: I put an USB 3.0 Connector on the front of the Macintosh, in the hold of the Disket. The truth is that it is very concealed, and it is very useful.

Its the moment to tell us how I connect a vintage Macintosh Keyboard&Mouse, to a moder PC, Raspberry or similar. First, I thougth to buy a new keyboard for this project, but when I searches about similar project, I read something about some people that came to live his old Mac Keyboards. There is an ADB-USB Adapter that can help you to do it. I found various alternative on google, but for me its important 2 things:

I have never worked with Raspberry PI until this project. So, I read a lot about which OS to install. In this proccess, I found a posibility to install a OS, that emulated the appearance of MacOS... a Macintosh Classic from 30 years ago, with an actuallyOS...this sound good.

I decided to install Twistter OS, this is a very good OS for Raspberry (only for PI 4), that you can emulated the OS for Macos, Linux, or Windows... . Here you can download it, and read more about (https://twisteros.com/). The WEB have a DISCORD support too, that work very good (I solve some problems with it).

Here you can see the MacOS Desktop config, with the Apple Toolbar and Icon, it looks great. Switch Desktop theme is very simple, you only will to select the one you want, and Twister confir all for you (in next reboot).

You know that I put a big Screen on my Macintosh Classic (10 inch), and I make a solution for center the image, this function calls overscan on PI World.

2. Config your overscan parameter: You can edit the file /boot/config.conf (pi is my user, you must replace it in the url). Here is mine configuration, but remember that I put my Screen reverse (phisicaly):

I also configure a new personalize Splash Image for the boot sequence os the PI, something like new and old Macintosh computer, with the two logos, that I make with Procreate (Ipad Pro). If you see with detail, you can see some Easter Egg for Raspberry PI too

Screen arrived well-packaged in a small box. No instructions but you can find plenty of videos on YouTube. It"s not an original Apple part, but it did the job. Screen is bright, no jitters or lines/etc.

I was NOT pleased to see my "new" screen had a scuffed and dirty surface. Cleaning it helped a little but it was definitely scuffed. The iPod has a clear plastic window in front of the screen, so even my used/malfunctioning screen had a flawless surface. I don"t really understand this, but after it turns on you can"t see the scuffs due to the white backlight, so it"s really not an issue. With that said - IF my ipod had a flawless outer screen and I used it for photos/videos, then I would not have been okay with this.

** important ** the screen did not have a protective mylar strip covering the capacitors/diodes on the ribbon cable. You have to transfer the one from your original screen to this. If you don"t, the screen will short out against the metal frame when installed. Thanks to the instructional video I watched for pointing this out.

I had no trouble swapping out the screen, partly because of the VERY thorugh video I happened to choose (by AppleIpodParts.com) http://youtu.be/8RKQAZ16Lks.

The Macintosh SE is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, from March 1987Macintosh Plus design and was introduced by Apple at the same time as the Macintosh II.

The SE retains the same Compact Macintosh form factor as the original Macintosh computer introduced three years earlier and uses the same design language used by the Macintosh II. An enhanced model, the SE/30, was introduced in January 1989; sales of the original SE continued. The Macintosh SE was updated in August 1989 to include a SuperDrive, with this updated version being called the "Macintosh SE FDHD" and later the "Macintosh SE SuperDrive". The Macintosh SE was replaced with the Macintosh Classic, a very similar model which retained the same central processing unit and form factor, but at a lower price point.

The Macintosh SE was introduced at the AppleWorld conference in Los Angeles on March 2, 1987. The "SE" is an initialism for "System Expansion".Macintosh Plus, were:

25 percent greater speed when accessing RAM, resulting in a lower percentage of CPU time being spent drawing the screen. In practice this results in a 10-20 percent performance improvement.

The SE and Macintosh II were the first Apple computers since the Apple I to be sold without a keyboard. Instead the customer was offered the choice of the new ADB Apple Keyboard or the Apple Extended Keyboard.

The Macintosh SE shipped with System 4.0 and Finder 5.4; this version is specific to this computer.README file included with the installation disks for the SE and II is the first place Apple ever used the term "Macintosh System Software", and after 1998 these two versions were retroactively given the name "Macintosh System Software 2.0.1".

Storage: The SE can accommodate either one or two floppy drives, or a floppy drive and a hard drive. After-market brackets were designed to allow the SE to accommodate two floppy drives as well as a hard drive, however it was not a configuration supported by Apple. In addition an external floppy disk drive may also be connected, making the SE the only Macintosh besides the Macintosh Portable which could support three floppy drives, though its increased storage, RAM capacity and optional internal hard drive rendered the external drives less of a necessity than for its predecessors. Single-floppy SE models also featured a drive-access light in the spot where the second floppy drive would be. Hard-drive equipped models came with a 20 MB SCSI hard disk.

Battery: Soldered into the logic board is a 3.6 V 1/2AA lithium battery, which must be present in order for basic settings to persist between power cycles. Macintosh SE machines which have sat for a long time have experienced battery corrosion and leakage, resulting in a damaged case and logic board.

Expansion: A Processor Direct Slot on the logic board allows for expansion cards, such as accelerators, to be installed. The SE can be upgraded to 50 MHz and more than 5 MB with the MicroMac accelerators. In the past other accelerators were also available such as the Sonnet Allegro. Since installing a card required opening the computer"s case and exposing the user to high voltages from the internal CRT, Apple recommended that only authorized Apple dealers install the cards; the case was sealed with then-uncommon Torx screws.

Upgrades: After Apple introduced the Macintosh SE/30 in January, 1989, a logic board upgrade was sold by Apple dealers for US$1,699 as a high-cost upgrade for the SE, consisting of a new SE/30 motherboard, case front and internal chassis to accommodate the upgrade components.

ROM/Easter egg: The SE ROM size increased from 64 KB in the original Mac (and 128 KB in the Mac Plus) to 256 KB, which allowed the development team to include an Easter Egg hidden in the ROMs. By jumping to address 0x41D89A (or reading from the ROM chips), it is possible to display four images of the engineering team.

Macintosh SE FDHD: Includes the new SuperDrive, a floppy disk drive that can handle 1.4 MB High Density (HD) floppy disks. FDHD is an acronym for "Floppy Disk High Density"; later some Macintosh SE FDHDs were labeled Macintosh SE SuperDrive, to conform to Apple"s marketing change with respect to their new drive. High-density floppies would become the de facto standard on both the Macintosh and PC computers from then on. An upgrade kit was sold for the original Macintosh SE which included new ROM chips and a new disk controller chip, to replace the originals.

"Macintosh Plus Easter Egg - Image of Designers in ROM". September 12, 1999. Archived from the original on March 28, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2014.; Trammell Hudson (August 21, 2012). "Ghosts in the ROM". NYC Resistor. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2014.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each; and shipping 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as shipping 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Logic Pro X 10.4.7 tested with project consisting of 253 tracks, each with an Amp Designer plug-in instance applied. Individual tracks were enabled during playback until CPU became overloaded. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each; and shipping 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as shipping 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Tested with MATLAB and Simulink R2019b Update 1 and Parallel Computing Toolbox using a vehicle dynamics model. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each; and shipping 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as shipping 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Prerelease Adobe Photoshop 2020 21.0.04 tested using the crystallize, pointillize, radial blur, dust & scratches, and median filters. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each; and shipping 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as shipping 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Autodesk Maya 2019.2 tested using a 399.6MB scene. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each; and shipping 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as shipping 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Tested using Mathematica v12 with built-in benchmark, WolframMark. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each; and shipping 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as shipping 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Build time tested using Xcode 11.1 (11A1027), ninja (v.1.7.2 tag), swift (swift-5.0.1-RELEASE tag), swift-clang (swift-5.0.1-RELEASE tag), swift-llvm (swift-5.0.1-RELEASE tag), swift-cmark (swift-5.0.1-RELEASE tag), swift-compiler-rt (swift-5.0.1-RELEASE tag), and CMake 3.9.4. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each, configured with Afterburner; and shipping 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as shipping 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Final Cut Pro 10.4.7 tested using a 60-second project with 8K Apple ProRes RAW media, at 8192x4320 resolution and 29.97 frames per second, transcoded to Apple ProRes 422. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in July 2021 using shipping 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and preproduction dual AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 64GB of GDDR6 each; and production 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as production 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. OTOY Octane X Version 10.0.3.5 tested using a 1.19GB scene. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in July 2021 using shipping 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and preproduction dual AMD Radeon Pro W6800X Duo graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 64GB of GDDR6 each; and production 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as production 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Tested with DaVinci Resolve Studio 17 using 8 common effects and a 10-second UHD project at 3840x2160 resolution and 24 frames per second. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in July 2021 using shipping 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and preproduction dual AMD Radeon Pro W6900X graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of GDDR6 each; and production 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as production 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Cinema 4D S24 real-time 3D performance tested using a 1.98GB scene. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in July 2021 using shipping 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and preproduction dual AMD Radeon Pro W6900X graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of GDDR6 each, configured with Afterburner; and production 2.3GHz 18-core Intel Xeon W-based 27-inch iMac Pro systems with 256GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 64X graphics with 16GB of HBM2, as well as production 2.7GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5-based Mac Pro systems with 64GB of RAM and dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics with 6GB of VRAM each. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Final Cut Pro 10.5.4 tested using a complex 90-second project with a variety of media up to 8K resolution. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro and iMac Pro.

Testing conducted by Apple in November 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each, configured with Afterburner and a 4TB SSD. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. Tested with Final Cut Pro 10.4.7 using a 50-second picture-in-picture project with 6 streams of Apple ProRes RAW video at 8192x4320 resolution and 29.97 frames per second, a 50-second picture-in-picture project with 23 streams of Apple ProRes RAW video at 4096x2160 resolution and 29.97 frames per second, and a 5-minute picture-in-picture project with 16 streams of Apple ProRes 422 video at 4096x2160 resolution and 30 frames per second. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.

Introduced as the first sub-$1,000 Macintosh in October 1990, the basic Classic came with 1 MB of RAM, a SuperDrive, and space to mount an internal SCSI hard drive. The hard drive version came with 2 MB of memory and a 40 MB hard drive. RAM expansion was via a 1 MB daughter card with two open slots, which could accept a pair of 256 KB or 1 MB SIMMs. This made memory upgrades far easier than on the Plus or SE, since the motherboard didn’t have to be removed. At the same time, it means you should avoid any used Classic without 2 MB or more memory unless you have a source for the memory card.

What Apple was thinking releasing an 8 MHz computer so late in the game is beyond me. By 1990, 8 MHz was just too slow for practical use, although that didn’t keep Apple from selling it or people from buying it. At this point, a 16 MHz Classic would have been sweet (see our review of the 16 MHz Brainstorm upgrade in a Mac Plus for details on that).

A feature unique to the Classic is the ability to boot from ROM by holding down command-option-x-o at startup. The ROM Disk is called “Boot Disk” and is 357 KB in size. The ROM Disk uses Finder 6.1.x and System 6.0.3 – this combination is specifically designed for the Classic. The only control panels are General, Brightness, and Startup Disk. MacsBug and AppleShare Prep are also part of the System, which loads into 294 KB of the Classic’s RAM. Because this is in ROM, there is no way to add anything to the ROM Disk.

Color display? Aura Systems made ScuzzyGraph II, a SCSI peripheral that provided 8-color video for people who didn’t want to buy (or couldn’t afford) a Mac II. 1989 cost was $995 to $2,495, depending on resolution.

You can convert a non-working compact Mac into a Macquarium. (Please, don’t even think of converting a working one – you can always find someone interested on the Classic Macs or Vintage Macs lists.)

A Vintage Mac Network Can Be as Useful as a Modern One, Carl Nygren, My Turn, 2008.04.08. Old Macs can exchange data and share an Internet connection very nicely using Apple’s old LocalTalk networking.

Creating Classic Mac Boot Floppies in OS X, Paul Brierley, The ‘Book Beat, 2008.08.07. Yes, it is possible to create a boot floppy for the Classic Mac OS using an OS X Mac that doesn’t have Classic. Here’s how.

Know Your Mac’s Upgrade Options, Phil Herlihy, The Usefulness Equation, 2008.08.26. Any Mac can be upgraded, but it’s a question of what can be upgraded – RAM, hard drive, video, CPU – and how far it can be upgraded.

Why You Should Partition Your Mac’s Hard Drive, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2008.12.11. “At the very least, it makes sense to have a second partition with a bootable version of the Mac OS, so if you have problems with your work partition, you can boot from the ’emergency’ partition to run Disk Utility and other diagnostics.”

Antique Macs are still useful computers, Charles W Moore, From the MacCave, 2008.09.09. Charles W Moore’s first online article looks at the utility of compact Macs – and foreshadows his longterm affection for PowerBooks.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic, Mark Kaelin, Tech Republic, 06.17. “In this Cracking Open Photo Gallery, TechRepublic examines just what went into a Mac Classic – and what technology was like in 1991.”

Supporting a classic Mac ‘habit’ on the cheap, Rick Lawson, Pioneers in Mac Development, 2008.06.09. Mac nostalgia leads to a year-long rediscovery of the pleasures of old Macs and the classic Mac OS.

Digital vs. film photography, megapixel myths, G3/G4 SuperDrive upgrade, and a newly acquired Mac Classic, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 2008.01.11. The differences between film and digital photography, the value of old 35mm SLRs, the importance of good lenses, a $50 18x dual-layer SuperDrive, and writing on a Mac Classic.

Vintage Mac Networking and File Exchange, Adam Rosen, Adam’s Apple, 2007.12.19. How to network vintage Macs with modern Macs and tips on exchanging files using floppies, Zip disks, and other media.

Getting Inside Vintage Macs and Swapping Out Bad Parts, Adam Rosen, Adam’s Apple, 2007.12.14. When an old Mac dies, the best source of parts is usually another dead Mac with different failed parts.

Solving Mac Startup Problems, Adam Rosen, Adam’s Apple, 2007.12.12. When your old Mac won’t boot, the most likely culprits are a dead PRAM battery or a failed (or failing) hard drive.

Mac approaching 25th birthday, OS 8 on Performa 630, Mac Classics in use 24/7, and more, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 2007.12.04. Also more thoughts on vampire video, realigning the Road Apple label, the fate of DropStuff, and an unidentified cable in a Power Mac 8600.

Better and Safer Surfing with Internet Explorer and the Classic Mac OS, Max Wallgren, Mac Daniel, 2007.11.06. Tips on which browsers work best with different Mac OS versions plus extra software to clean cookies and caches, detect viruses, handle downloads, etc.

A (Mac) classic spookfest, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 2007.10.31. How to set up those old compact Macs with screen savers to enhance your Halloween experience.

Simple Macs for Simple Tasks, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 2007.10.19. Long live 680×0 Macs and the classic Mac OS. For simple tasks such as writing, they can provide a great, low distraction environment.

8 MHz forever? Apple’s Macintosh Classic was no faster than the first Mac, Leo Titus LeBron V, Collection Spotlight, 2007.09.26. A successor to the 1986 Mac Plus and 1987 Mac SE, the 1990 Mac Classic was slow, limited, and barely enough for basic tasks like writing.

Interchangeabilty and Compatibility of Apple 1.4 MB Floppy SuperDrives, Sonic Purity, Mac Daniel, 2007.09.26. Apple used two kinds of high-density floppy drives on Macs, auto-inject and manual inject. Can they be swapped?

My first mobile Mac: A Classic II, Jacek A. Rochacki, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2007.06.25. When a PowerBook 100 was beyond the author’s means, he bought a second-hand Mac Classic II and fabricated his own carrying case to make it mobile.

Mac System 7.5.5 Can Do Anything Mac OS 7.6.1 Can, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2007.06.04. Yes, it is possible to run Internet Explorer 5.1.7 and SoundJam with System 7.5.5. You just need to have all the updates – and make one modification for SoundJam.

Importance of G3 support in 10.5, clever USB/FireWire solution, upgrade options, and more, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 2007.05.01. Also the loss of the PowerBook brand, upgrading to an Intel iMac, Korg and the Mac, Quadra boot problems, and the value of a Mac Classic.

Format Any Drive for Older Macs with Patched Apple Tools, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2007.04.25. Apple HD SC Setup and Drive Setup only work with Apple branded hard drives – until you apply the patches linked to this article.

Making floppies and CDs for older Macs using modern Macs, Windows, and Linux PCs, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2007.03.15. Older Macs use HFS floppies and CDs. Here are the free resources you’ll need to write floppies or CDs for vintage Macs using your modern computer.

Jag’s House, where older Macs still rock, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 2006.09.25. Over a decade old, Jag’s House is the oldest Mac website supporting classic Macs and remains a great resource for vintage Mac users.

30 days of old school computing: Setting up a Mac Classic II, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2006.09.07. Fond memories of using a Classic II in elementary school lead to it being the first Mac set up for a month of vintage, very low-end computing.

Vintage Macs with System 6 run circles around 3 GHz Windows 2000 PC, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2006.07.06. Which grows faster, hardware speed or software bloat? These benchmarks show vintage Macs let you be productive much more quickly than modern Windows PCs.

Floppy drive observations: A compleat guide to Mac floppy drives and disk formats, Scott Baret, Online Tech Journal, 2006.06.29. A history of the Mac floppy from the 400K drive in the Mac 128K through the manual-inject 1.4M SuperDrives used in the late 1990s.

Compact Flash with SCSI Macs, PB 1400 CD-RW upgrade problems, and Web incompatibilities, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 2006.06.16. Suggested ways to use Compact Flash with vintage Macs and PowerBooks, problems getting CD-RW to work with a PowerBook 1400, and more thoughts on website incompatibilities.

Moving files from your new Mac to your vintage Mac, Paul Brierley, The ‘Book Beat, 2006.06.13. Old Macs use floppies; new ones don’t. Old Macs use AppleTalk; Tiger doesn’t support it. New Macs can burn CDs, but old CD drives can’t always read CD-R. So how do you move the files?

System 7.5 and Mac OS 7.6: The beginning and end of an era, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2006.02.15. System 7.5 and Mac OS 7.6 introduced many new features and greater modernity while staying within reach of most early Macintosh models.

System 7: Bigger, better, more expandable, and a bit slower than System 6, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2006.01.04. The early versions of System 7 provide broader capability for modern tasks than System 6 while still being practical for even the lowliest Macs.

Web browser tips for the classic Mac OS, Nathan Thompson, Embracing Obsolescence, 2006.01.03. Tips on getting the most out of WaMCom, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, iCab, Opera, and WannaBe using the classic Mac OS.

The Joy of Six: Apple’s fast, svelte, reliable, and still usable System 6, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2005.12.06. System 6 was small enough to run quickly from an 800K floppy yet powerful enough to support 2 GB partitions, 24-bit video, and the Internet.

10 things new classic Mac owners should know, Paul Brierley, The ‘Book Beat, 2005.12.06. New to compact Macs? Ten things you really should know before you get too confused.

How to set up your own Mac Plus (or later) web server, Joe Rivera, Mac Fallout Shelter, 2005.11.29. All you need is an old Mac Plus with 4 MB of RAM, a hard drive, System 7 or later, some free software, and an Internet connection.

Which system software is best for my vintage Mac?, Tyler Sable, Classic Restorations, 2005.11.22. Which system software works best depends to a great extent on just which Mac you have and how much RAM is installed.

Mac SE alive and kicking on Web, Leander Kahney, Wired, 2004.05.19. “…a pair of German Web designers has created a working simulation of Apple Computer’s classic Mac SE on the Web.” Very cool.

The compact Mac trio: Hardware overview, Dan Knight, The Old Gray Mac, 2001.07.30. Introduction to and hardware overview of the Mac Plus, SE, and Classic.

Never connect an Apple II 5.25″ floppy drive to the Mac’s floppy port. Doing so can ruin the floppy controller, meaning you can’t even use the internal drive any longer.

Macs with black-and-white only displays (1-bit, no grays) may find Netscape Navigator 3 makes it impossible to view some pages and sites. The workaround is to use Navigator 2.

Reliably supports serial speeds to 19.2 kbps, although default is 9600 bps. May have better throughput at 28.8 kbps despite some dropped and retransmitted packets. Throughput with a 56k modem may be limited. See 56k modem page. For more information on Mac serial ports, read Macintosh Serial Throughput.