mac classic lcd screen pricelist

The Apple Limited Warranty covers your Mac and the Apple-branded accessories that come in the box with your product against manufacturing issues for one year from the date you bought them. Apple-branded accessories purchased separately are covered by the Apple Limited Warranty for Accessories. This includes adapters, spare cables, or cases.

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).

Since the passing of Apple"s founder, Steve Jobs, in 2011, vintage Macintosh computers are finally seeing a resurgence in popularity. For those of you who decided to keep your old Macs, this is good news for you! Now these charming old machines are fetching a decent penny on eBay and Craigslist.

These often surface on eBay. These are either the "Replica 1" from Briel Computer or the Newton NTI clone. The value for an unassembled replica hovers around $1,000 for the kit.Regarding Apple/Macintosh "Clones"

During the brief and unsuccessful Apple cloning years, a number of machines emerged using licensed hardware and software. Most were inferior in both performance and quality. Today, their value is difficult to ascertain, as no two clones were truly identical. Many are considered undesirable and sell for just a few hundred dollars, if that.

Named after Steve Jobs" daughter, Lisa, this was one of the final models released before the introduction of Macintosh in 1984. Aimed at corporations, the computer"s hefty price tag of $10,000 in 1984 was considered too great a risk to take, and sales were poor. In 1986, the Lisa was renamed the Macintosh XL and fitted with an emulator to run Mac OS.

Released in January 1984 as the very first Macintosh, the 128k was the first personal computer to feature a Graphic User Interface, a basic feature that would define home computing for decades to come. The 128k was also the first to feature a 3.5" floppy disk drive.

Apple"s first expandable Macintosh, the Plus, introduced the SCSI port to allow for a multitude of external additions. It was sold to academia as the Mac ED.

Released alongside the Mac II, expansion was the primary capability of the SE series. Its new, updated case came with an expansion slot for either a second internal floppy or hard drive.

Built to replace the SE/30, the Classic II was the last of the Black & White Compact Macs. Whopping fast at 16 MHz with an 80 Mb hard drive and 10 Mb of RAM. It was also the last model to include an external drive port.

Apple"s bottom-rung inaugural Powerbook, released in 1991, would become the foundation of all Macbooks over the next 20 years. This particular model lacked CPU, RAM, and expansions that its two running mates had including a floppy drive. It has since been named the 10th greatest personal computer of all time.

A multi-colored edition Powerbook 170, the JLPGA was built as a commemorative for the 1992 JLPGA Golf Tournament in Japan. Underneath the flashy facade were the workings of a basic Powerbook 170. It was never intended to be a powerful machine but what makes it valuable is that only 500 were ever produced.

Apple"s first color compact Macintosh, the Color Classic ultimately set the stage for the iMac. Essentially a Performa platform computer inside a retro Mac body, even today the Classic has a cult following not seen since the original Macintosh. Some Color Classics have been modified to include an ethernet card that can still connect to broadband networks.

Released as a limited edition in 1993, the Macintosh TV was one of the few desktops ever released in black and Apple"s first attempt at computer-television integration. Equipped with a cable TV ready tuner card and a television monitor, the TV could switch from a computer to a television set in a matter of seconds and even came with a remote control. Yet it was incapable of recording live video, only still frames. Its poor processor speed and other limitations made the unit a failure and ultimately only 10,000 were sold.

Before the Mac Mini, there was the G4 Cube, Apple"s first attempt to build a small profile desktop computer. Unfortunately, it was a flop. Its limited capabilities and uncomfortably high price tag forced the Cube into the grave after just one year. The model was unofficially replaced by the Mac Mini. Despite its failure, the Cube did gain a cult following similar to that of "80s Macs.

Nearly bankrupt, Apple"s official turnaround with the return of co-founder Steve Jobs in 1997. One of the first things he did was kill off nearly all of Apple"s unremarkable product lines. The next thing he did was begin a full rebranding of the company from a boring industrial computer developer into a pop culture staple. The first product under this new rebrand was The iMac.

The iMac was unlike any computer of the time. First, it returned to the original Macintosh design of being All-In-One. This allowed it to be priced considerably cheaper than the competition. Furthermore, the iMac was colorful and eye catching. The inaugural color was called Bondi Blue and soon 13 color combinations were available making it marketable to just about anyone. The computer was the first to feature USB slots, a connector that is still used today. The computer was a smashing success and officially turned Apple around financially.

Despite it"s pop culture status, the 1st generation iMac"s value dropped like a stone as Apple began its business strategy of releasing a new generation of the iMac every year. In fact, by the time the mid 2000s rolled around, and the release of Apple"s revolutionary OS X, you couldn"t even give the 1st iMacs away.

Nicknamed the Lamp, the Sunflower, or the Dome & Swivel, the iMac G4 was the first major redesign of the iMac. Produced from 2002 to 2004, the Lamp was the first Macintosh to ditch the CRD monitor in favor of the flatscreen. This allowed the computer to fit just about anywhere. The computer was also Apple"s OS 9 - OS X transitional model, featuring both operating systems initially. The computer was Apple"s first to pass the 1Ghz CPU speed mark.

2010, yet another milestone year for Apple with the release of the iPad. Against all predictions of certain failure, the iPad"s success ushered in the beginning of the tablet era of computing. The 1st generation iPad established screen sizing and control placement that would make up every generation since. Factory sealed units with early serials numbers can fetch a decent amount if the timing is right.

Not every vintage computer is a jackpot. Some models happen to sell better than others. A Mac 128k, for example, can fetch well over $2,000 on eBay, while its newer cousin, the 512k, will fetch only $500. Sentimental value is not the same as resale value. Dozens of listings go unsold because of a ridiculous price of, say, $10,000 for an old, unremarkable machine that has no accessories or desirables.

There are several factors to take into account when listing your vintage Mac:First is condition: Does it work? Naturally, a working computer will sell for more than a broken one.

Some computer models are actually worth more in parts. A Mac SE/30 may only fetch $100 as a complete unit but could fetch nearly $400 in parts. Certain parts are highly prized (like the internal floppy drive, the ram, etc.).

Upgrade kits are very valuable today. Different economics applied to computers in those days. The thought of buying a new computer every two years was unheard of, so the idea was that you bought it, made repairs as needed, and kept it until it completely wore out. Macs were originally designed to be upgraded rather than replaced. By the late "80s, it became apparent that hardware limitations impeded upgrades and by the early "90s, Apple abolished upgrading altogether.

Research what your computer has, and it will help determine whether it is worth more as a complete unit or as a parts box. The prices contained on this page are based on successful eBay listings, not unsold listings. In other words, anyone can ask for $10,000 for a Mac Plus, but nobody"s going to pay that much for it.

Bullet Lists keep it short, sweet, and simple. Vintage computers sell really well on eBay Mobile. Write your listing, keeping that tiny cell phone screen in mind. Avoid writing paragraphs of information, as a long listing will actually deter an impulse buyer.

Remember, not every Macintosh is a jackpot. Many unremarkable models exist today worth just a few hundred dollars or less, for a multitude of reasons:The model was neither revolutionary in concept or function or just simply a filler model to build out the Apple product line. These were particularly common in the years leading up to Steve Jobs" return in 1997.

Not enough time has passed for it to be considered a worthwhile collector"s item. With the exception of the iPhone 1 and a few others, most collectible machines are at least 20 years or older.

I have an Apple laptop Macintosh PowerBook 160 in great condition with the owners manual, dial up modem, system discs carrying shoulder bag everything.

Have an Apple Macintosh Power PC 8100/80AV with serial # dated 9/20/94. I am willing to donate it if someone would want it. What do you think ? ? ? In very good condition and in working order.

I have an Apple Macintosh 512K M0001W Serial Number: F5415AUM0001W with external floppy drive, all original software and manuals, and working Apple ImageWriter II printer.

Condition: Overall excellent, like-new condition. Computer, mouse, external floppy drive, and printer all work well. Has none of the characteristic yellowing of the cases for the computer, mouse, keyboard, or printer seen with most Macs that are 35+ years old. Also have original boxes, though the one for the Mac is a little ragged, the one for ImageWriter II is in excellent shape.

I have an eMac computer and an Apple Macintosh computer bag which is in good condition. I am wondering what they are worth and how to sell them. The computer is too big to fit in this computer bag. I am not sure if the computer is working at this stage. They belonged to my partner who died recently. He loved all things Apple.

I have an eMac (all white) in essentially mint condition. It still works but does not have original packaging, keyboard or mouse. Any ideas on the value? I have seen them on eBay for $100-$300 but due to weight I wonder if shipping from Vancouver Island in Canada would be prohibitive. Any comments?

Have an IMac DV 400 MHZ SPECIAL ADDITION STILL in original box. Good condition on box. Not perfect on box. Looking for help on value and selling this. Thx. kvandright@yahoo.com

This is a great article. What do you envisage for computers built during and after the 90’s? Do you see a resurgence of people collecting working Apple computers as long term investments, for instance an eMac 2004 model A1002? I imagine the lower the number of units produced the higher the value appreciation. Would these be equally as valuable for parts?

I have a PowerBook g4 laptop but it has a problem with the screen. At times everything will be covered in purplish blueish pixelated boxes that covers the screen. When I tried hooking up an external monitor, the same problem happened. Do you know a way to fix this?

I have a Macintosh SE double disk but I don"t have keyboard or cords and not sure if it works as I found it in my uncles garage when he passed away so I wanted to know how much or if it"s worth anything it"s dated at 1986 model number M5010 with 1Mbyte Ram,Two 800k Drives

Hi, I"m trying to find out how much a black Macintosh power PC 275 is worth. Can any one help or point me in the right direction for advice. All in working order with box

Did you know that if you open the 1st edition Macintosh (1984), All of the original designers have their signatures on the inside of the cover including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

hi, i am cleaning house and shipping somethings back to the US from France where I was living. I have an old iBook, still works, date on back is 1999. Mac OS 9.0.4

Hi! I have a 17" MacBook Pro (Mosel No: A1297). Great condition. Works great! Still have the box. Just read that it will be discontinued and going into the Apple Vintage files this year. If it goes into the vintage category, how much do you think it would be worth?

I have a working 1986 Apple Macintosh Plus Computer with Apple Image Writer ll Printer, Keyboard, Mouse & External Drive.  I am the original Owner. Excellent condition. Exact production date: October 11, 1986.

In 1982, I purchased a 128K Mac with 20Mb Internal Drive with extra 3.5 inch drive and an Imagewriter printer. I could have downloaded a 12Mb? song, only. My current iMac with 1 Terabyte internal drive can download 129,720 songs, some Classical ones @ 44Mb. I sold it to a friend for $2,000 Aussie dollars because I had paid $5,200 for it in mid-1982. What"s it"s value, working.

I have a Color Classic that has a motherboard with a power PC 603 in it, maybe from a power Mac 5200. I was wondering if that would increase the value and what you think I should ask for it. Also I don"t have a working mouse for it, is there anyway to open system information with the keyboard?

I really don"t know what kind of imac it is but I am pretty sure its a imac G3. How much do you think it"s worth? It works and it has the og keyboard.

I am looking to sell Perfect Condition Macintosh IIVX 8/230 w/512k, Extended Keyboard, Personal Laserwriter NTR and 21" Precision Color Display. All purchased 8/93. Used 10 times. Stored since.

Hi Jason, I have a working, near mint condition Mac SE20 (I believe it is SE20, purchased in a college book store in 1988ish) in the original box (very clean and great condition but some clear packing tapes on and address written on 1 or 2 sides) with an unopened and an opened sets of manuals (happen to have 2 sets of same manuals) in mint conditions, plus a mouse cover shaped like a mouse which was sold in Apple "Company Store" in 1988 (no tag). Could you give me quotes for these?

I have a working Performa and a G4 (quicksilver) plus 80"s mac software...what do you think they"re worth? And does anyone know who buys old software like this? Thnaks

My father has a complete system, Macintosh 1mb with external floppy (I believe, but will check) and a LaserWriter printer. I haven"t seen any posts that mention the LaserWriter. Is the LaserWriter of any value? Is the system worth anything?

The Macintosh Classic is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1990 to September 1992. It was the first Macintosh to sell for less than US$1,000.

Production of the Classic was prompted by the success of the original Macintosh 128K, then the Macintosh Plus, and finally the Macintosh SE. The system specifications of the Classic are very similar to those of its predecessors, with the same 9-inch (23 cm) monochrome CRT display, 512 × 342pixel resolution, and 4megabyte (MB) memory limit of the older Macintosh computers.percent faster than the PlusApple SuperDrive 3.5-inch (9 cm) floppy disk drive as standard. Unlike the Macintosh SE/30 and other compact Macs before it, the Classic did not have an internal Processor Direct Slot, making it the first non-expandable desktop Macintosh since the Macintosh Plus. Instead, it had a memory expansion/FPU slot.

The Classic is an adaptation of Jerry Manock"s and Terry Oyama"s 1984 Macintosh 128K industrial design, as had been the earlier Macintosh SE. Apple released two versions. The price and the availability of education software led to the Classic"s popularity in education. It was sold alongside the more powerful Macintosh Classic II in 1991 until its discontinuation the next year.

After Apple co-founder Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985, product development was handed to Jean-Louis Gassée, formerly the manager of Apple France. Gassée consistently pushed the Apple product line in two directions, towards more "openness" in terms of expandability and interoperability, and towards higher price. Gassée long argued that Apple should not aim for the low end of the computer market, where profits were thin, but instead concentrate on the high end and higher profit margins. He illustrated the concept using a graph showing the price/performance ratio of computers with low-power, low-cost machines in the lower left and high-power high-cost machines in the upper right. The "high-right" goal became a mantra among the upper management, who said "fifty-five or die", referring to Gassée"s goal of a 55 percent profit margin.

The high-right policy led to a series of machines with ever-increasing prices. The original Macintosh plans called for a system around $1,000, but by the time it had morphed from Jef Raskin"s original vision of an easy-to-use machine for composing text documents to Jobs" concept incorporating ideas gleaned during a trip to Xerox PARC, the Mac"s list price had ballooned to $2,495.

$1 million to Modular Computer Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Daimler-Benz AG, for the right to use the "Classic" name as part of a five-year contract.MacWEEK speculated the Macintosh Classic would use the same Motorola 68000 microprocessor and 9-inch (23 cm) display as its predecessors and that the Classic would be priced from $1,500 to 2,150.

On October 15, 1990, John Sculley (then Apple CEO) introduced the Classic at a press conference, announcing that pricing would start at $1,000profit margins.[...] The plan is to get as aggressive on price as we need to be."share price closed at $27.75 per share, down $0.50 from October 12, 1990, and far below its previous 12-month high of $50.37.

The Classic was released in Europe and Japan concurrently with the United States release. In Japan, the Classic retailed for ¥198,000 ($1,523),Toshiba Dynabook laptop computer.

The low-end model was sold with 1 MB of memory, a 1.44 MB floppy drive, no hard disk, and included a keyboard for $999.Macintosh Plus, which it replaced as Apple"s low-end Mac computer: it is up to 25 percent faster than the Plus,Apple SuperDrive 3.5" floppy disk drive as standard.MS-DOS, OS/2, and ProDOS disks.

The Classic uses the System 6.0.7 operating system with support for all versions up to System 7.5.5. A hidden Hierarchical File System (HFS) disk volume contained in the read-only memory (ROM) includes System 6.0.3.⌘ Command+⌥ Option+X+O keys during boot.

Some dealers included a software bundle called Smartbundle with the Classic.T/Maker"s WriteNow word processor, Ashton-Tate"s Full Impact spreadsheet program, RecordHolderPlus database, and Silicon Beach Software"s SuperPaint 2.0 paint and draw program.

The Macintosh Classic is the final adaptation of Jerry Manock"s and Terry Oyama"s Macintosh 128K industrial design, bringing back some elements of the original while retaining little of the Snow White design language used in the Macintosh SE"s design.Macintosh LC and Macintosh IIsi.

The logic board, the central circuit board of the computer, is based on the Macintosh SE design.surface mount technologydesktop publishing, led to such oddities as video displays that connected through the SCSI port by users seeking to connect a larger full- or dual-page display to their Mac. The Classic design was used once more in 1991 for the Classic II, which succeeded the Classic.

Some reviewers of the Macintosh Classic focused on the processor performance and lack of expansion slots. Liza Schafer of Home Office Computing praised the Classic"s ease of use and price, but criticized the 9-inch (230 mm) display because a full US letter page (8.5 by 11 inches (220 mm × 280 mm)) would not fit at full size, and warned those who required high-end graphics and desktop publishing capabilities against buying the Classic.MHz speed is adequate for text applications and limited graphics work, but it is not suitable for power users. As such, the Classic is appropriate as a home computer or for limited computing on the road."MacWEEK described it as a "fine, inexpensive replacement for the Macintosh Plus that best embodies the original Macintosh vision six and a half years later".

In the February 1991 edition of Electronic Learning, Robert McCarthy wrote: "Teachers, educational administrators, and software developers are enthusiastic about the new, lower-cost Apple Macintosh computers". Steve Taffe, manager of instructional strategy at MECC, a developer and publisher of educational software, explained his excitement about the Classic: "[it] is terrific – both because it"s a Mac and because of that low price. Everyone can now afford a Macintosh." Scholastic, an educational software developer, was also confident of Apple"s ability to compete with MS-DOS machines, stating: "They are just as cost-effective and as powerful as MS-DOS computers, but the Apples will have a superior comfort level." Sue Talley, Apple"s manager of strategic planning in education, said of the Classic: "we see it going into applications where you need a fair number of powerful stations, but where color is not a big issue." Talley mentioned that it was most suited for writing labs and other basic productivity uses. Many schools decided not to buy the Macintosh Classic because of the lack of a color monitor, an option that the higher-priced Macintosh LC had.Apple IIe Card also increased the LC"s appeal to schools. Although the Classic was more popular at first, by May 1992 the LC (560,000 sold) was outselling the Classic (1.2 million sold).

"Macintosh Classic: Technical Specifications". support.apple.com. July 26, 2017. Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2022.

Levy, Steven (1994). Insanely Great: The life and times of Macintosh, the computer that changed everything. New York: Viking. p. 111. ISBN 0-670-85244-9.

"Apple Computer: lower cost Mac PCs target new customers. 50 percent less for entry-level system". EDGE: Work-Group Computing Report. October 22, 1990. p. 3.

"Macintosh Classic Computer Developer Note" (PDF). Developer Technical Publications. Apple Computer. 1990. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 24, 2008. Retrieved May 6, 2008.

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.

What makes people start collecting vintage Macs? There are many reasons. Some folks want to play abandoned games or use old software on original hardware. Some simply don’t know how to transfer files, and thus keep their old machines as a giant backup, just in case.

I collect old Macs because I care deeply about history. I want to have an informed perspective on the past so I can better understand trends of user-interface design and the evolution of technology.

My first vintage computer was a Macintosh Classic I bought on eBay for about $80. After lifting it out of its shipping box, I reached around the back to flip on the power switch and watch it boot. I loved hearing the whir of the hard drive, the fans humming and the delightful blip!-blip!-blip! noise the disk drive made when reading a floppy.

So, you want to collect old Apple computers, too? Where do you start, and what do you want? Here’s a quick guide to buying classic Macs. These tips should get you started and help you avoid common pitfalls. (If you want to go even deeper, we also provide some links to further reading on the subject.)

As you prepare to kick off your journey down the road of collecting vintage Macs, where do you start? Is there an old Mac that tickles your fancy? It’s good to do a little digging first to see if it’ll be a good fit. Here are some things to consider.

It can be hard to predict, but some Macs are an order of magnitude more valuable than others. A rule of thumb is that firsts and lasts of their kind are more expensive, sometimes double the standard price of similar but less-desirable models. The first iMac, the first PowerBook, the last Macintosh II and the Macintosh SE/30 fetch upward of $250 in working order without accessories.

There are also Macs that are famous movie stars: the Macintosh Quadra 700 from Jurassic Park, the Powerbook 5300 from Macintosh Plus from Star Trek IV can fetch similar prices.

One-off oddities and rarities are more expensive still: the Macintosh Portable, the Macintosh TV, the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh and anything made by NeXT (if you count it) typically go for around $750 in working condition. Prices can surpass $1,000 in pristine shape. (Even nonfunctional models can sell for $250 or more.)

Macs from any era may have some model-specific design and/or quality problems you need to look out for. The first three Macintosh models (128k, 512k and Plus) didn’t come with built-in fans, which means that over time, the display board will overheat and the solders will crack — if it hasn’t happened already. The aforementioned PowerBook 5300 was riddled with problems, from faulty batteries to a messy rollout of the promised PowerPC upgrade card.

Certain models of the dual- and quad-core Power Mac G5 come with a one-of-a-kind liquid cooling system to manage the very high temperature of the PowerPC 970 (G5) processor. The coolant is more corrosive than the kind used in car engines. If it leaks, it can “destroy the processors, logic board, and even corrode the [Mac’s] aluminium casing itself,” according to Wikipedia.

Some Macs may not suffer from specific hardware faults but were simply ill-equipped for the software of their time. Apple sold the base-level Intel Mac mini with a single-core 32-bit CPU, which severely limited its ability to run new Intel software. The Macintosh LC shipped with a years-old processor to bring the price down — and while it supported color, most software and games from the era were still black and white.

If you’re buying a Mac and it doesn’t come with a power cable, keyboard, monitor and mouse, don’t assume any peripherals you have will work. The first three Macintoshes, for example, used a keyboard and mouse specific to those three models.

While it’s safe to assume every PC before 2010 will have a VGA port, early Macs do not. There was a proprietary connector introduced with the Macintosh II used through the 1990s; some PowerPC Macs of the early 2000s used an Apple-specific port called ADC. (Likewise, if you’re buying an Apple monitor, double-check what connector it uses.)

While most desktop Macs use standard C13 power cables, the Power Mac G4 Cube and the pre-unibody Mac mini, for example, use their own specific power supplies.

The Mac has gone through many hardware and software transitions throughout history. If you’re considering buying a certain vintage Mac, look into what software you can get for that era. There’s 68k-compatible software, Classic/PowerPC software, OS X/PowerPC software, OS X/Intel software and now macOS/Apple silicon software.

Many computers along the cusp of those transitions can run apps from both eras. G4 Macs with the ability to dual-boot Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X have perhaps the widest spread of forward- and backward-compatibility — but it’s good practice to double-check.

The cheapest vintage Macs are perpetually about 15 years old — too old for modern needs but too young for nostalgia. If you want to build a lifetime collection of Macs, the best way to do that is to buy whatever is cheapest and wait.

Right now, the cheapest Macs you can buy in working condition are early Intel models: the iMac, Mac mini and MacBook. Here are two search queries on eBay for cheap desktop and laptop Macs going for less than $75. Later PowerPC Macs from the early 2000s are starting to climb in price.

Macs on eBay are the most expensive. A tested and functioning vintage Mac with all the software and accessories will rarely be cheaper than $150 before shipping. Expect to pay around $250 for a tested, working complete system in great condition.

Shipping a computer with a CRT display is costly and risky. The size and weight means shipping alone can run $50 to $100. Old Mac monitors need to be heavily insulated with air bags and styrofoam to avoid any kind of damage. The older and yellower the plastic, the more brittle it is. (Note: Experts can use chemicals to restore the original plastic luster to vintage Macs.)

There are many disadvantages to this approach, though. First and foremost, your selection is limited if you live in a rural area. Make a saved search so you’re notified when something is listed matching a few keywords: “old mac,” “vintage mac” and “macintosh” are good terms.

Thrift stores and yard sales often yield the lowest chances of success when shopping for vintage Macs. The computers normal people want to buy are usually what was made in the last five years, yet old computers get older and rarer every year.

Thrift stores are more likely to recycle anything with a CRT display than put it on the shelves. They often don’t know what’s valuable and what isn’t. You can get old Macs the cheapest here — a working system for as little as $50 — if you can find them.

The very best way to collect old computers is to be gifted them from friends, family members and co-workers. When everyone knows you are a vintage computer collector, you might get offers every once in a while from someone who has an old machine they don’t know what to do with or don’t want anymore. You’ll often be given complete working systems with peripherals and preinstalled software. Some of my best machines have come from unexpected or loose personal connections.

Mactracker, a free app with specifications and information on every Apple product. I install this on every Mac I have — you can find old versions of the app that even run on Classic Mac OS.

Second Class Macs, a list of Macs with poor reliability or bad specs for their time. As a proud owner of a Macintosh Classic, note that some of these are subjective.

Some of the all time classic Macintosh computers are the all-in-one compact Macs from the late 80’s and early 90’s. Praised for their beautiful industrial design and portability they are iconic, they are also in my eyes, kind of useless. Keep in mind this is coming from a gamer and someone who has not been enthralled to apple. There’s plenty of good things I can say about the old macs and in particular the Macintosh Classic (not to be confused with classic Macintosh’s in general). They are portable, have a sleek design, are user friendly and helped launch desktop publishing among other things, they have there place but as a game machine or even just everyday computing or web browsing well, not so much. I can just say if I had a compact mac and my friends had a 386 PC with even a crappy sound card and VGA card I would be terribly jealous. The Macintosh classic is a later iteration of the early compact macs which include the Macintosh Plus, Macintosh SE and others. It is in almost all ways a step backwards from the Macintosh SE/30 which preceded it but it still brings some nice improvements over some of the earlier Macs. It should be noted though that this model was intended as a low-end Macintosh and for first time users so efforts were made to keep costs low. Like most classic Macs you’ll see these going for stupid high prices on Craigslist or eBay a lot of the time. Be patient, I picked this one off of Craigslist with mouse and keyboard for $25. the gentleman I bought it off of recovered it from a school years ago and didn’t want to see it go to waste.

The Mac Classic uses a fairly simple design. As can be seen the monitor came with the unit and was built in. The monitor is a 9 inch monochrome black and white CRT display. The image from these monitors is actually pretty good. The one here is bright and sharp. In one way the monitor being built in makes setup very simple as well as helps portability but being stuck with black and white can be a major drawback. This comes from someone who loves black and white movies and I’m certainly not a graphics centric person but for games its just limiting. It does lend a certain style though to games meant to be played on this system. Under the monitor you can also see the standard Mac SuperDrive a 1.44MB floppy drive able to read mac and ms-dos floppies. Screen brightness is now software controlled so no brightness dials are on the case.

Here is the back of the unit. I always liked the little handle on the top of the older compact Mac cases, its a nice touch. From left to right we have a ADB port for your apple mouse or keyboard (or both since they were made to be daisy chained), a DB 19 port for an external floppy, a DB 25 SCSI port for SCSI stuff, and two mini din ports for printer and modem. Lastly is a convenient little headphone jack for the Monaural four-voice sound with 8-bit digital/analog conversion using 22-kHz sampling rate. (thank you Vwestlife at the vintage computer forums for that info).

this is the left side of the Mac. these are the interrupt and restart buttons. I know in the older compact macs you had to get a little plastic switch thing that you would install onto the case to access these buttons. It looks like these buttons finally became official on the Mac classic.

Now on to getting inside these. Like all the early all in one Macs these were not meant to be tinkered with by the average Joe and to help ensure that the case was screwed closed by 4 TORX screws, 2 of which at the top are extremely recessed and hard to get to without a special rare “mac cracker” tool or a long handled T15 TORX screwdriver. Originally I could not find a T15 screwdriver that was long enough so I had to make my own. I stripped a hard plastic pen and jammed a T15 screwdriver head into it from one of those interchangeable screwdrivers and that worked pretty well. eventually i did find a long enough T15 screwdriver at an ACE hardware store for a few bucks. here’s a picture of it.

Here we have the very crowded inside of the Mac Classic. As an added bonus we have an exposed monitor and capacitors so you get the thrilling opportunity to severely shock and or kill yourself if you touch the wrong part. really just completely stay away from the monitor and the stuff on the right of the case.

The max RAM that the Mac Classic can detect is 4MB. 1MB of RAM is on the motherboard and 3MB more are accessible via the special RAM daughter board pictured above. The RAM daughter board has 1MB of RAM soldered on and 2 30 pin slots for an additional 2MB of 30 pin RAM. Avoid buying a Mac Classic with only 1MB of RAM since it is missing the proprietary RAM expansion card. This easily accessible board is a great improvement over earlier compact Macs where in order to expand RAM you needed to remove the entire motherboard and on certain models and motherboard revisions actually cut capacitors in order to get the max RAM amount.

3) this is the tray for the hard drive. the Classic uses SCSI drives and mine is a 40MB drive which came shipped with this Mac. Remember to use Apple brand SCSI hard drives for the least amount of trouble. Under the hard drive tray is the floppy drive. the hard drive tray slides off with the removal of a screw.

Once the power cord, floppy drive and hard drive cables are disconnected the board should slid out with very little trouble. The motherboard is very small compared to the earlier compact Macs and is roughly half their size.

1) special connector for the Mac Classic RAM expansion card. this is used for nothing but the RAM card. I believe that the line of 8 chips to the right of the connector is the 1MB of on board RAM.

Here is an underside shot of the Mac. As you can see the Motherboard leaves lots of space so there is room now for the fan to blow downward under the mac. make sure your Mac has its little legs lifting it above the surface else I can imagine overheating issues may arise.

The Mac classic came with the Apple keyboard II as standard as well as the one button apple mouse. The power button on the keyboard is not necessary to turn the Mac on as the rear power switch will work fine and will boot the Mac on power up. System 6.0.3 is in ROM and can be accessed by holding command + option + X + O keys during boot. I have system 6.0.7 installed on hard drive. Its very suited for this computer and boots up very quickly. You can put system 7.5.5 on this Mac but it kinda bogs things down a bit as the 68k CPU on this Mac isn’t very fast.

bottom line on this Mac is that I do like the improvements to the design such as the easy RAM expansion compared to earlier models but there really isn’t much room for any other type of expansion and there are no expansion slots on the motherboard. The CPU is a bit underpowered for the time and I really struggle to find any use for this Mac except as a system 6 novelty platform. If you want a classic compact Mac find an SE/30. The cases make good aquarium mods though.

the front or back which you press to start and shut down the Mac. Tell us the model of your Mac and we"ll probably know what to offer. Note: if your Mac does not power up, make sure your AC cord is OK and that you have AC power

Classic power supply, 10 lbs ship. wt, not available pending repair results. - note: describe or photograph the connector from the CRT"s "yoke", there are two kinds of connector, see this note in progress for details.

PowerMac 7100, Centris 650, IIvx, IIiv power supplies: 614-0009, Astec 16870. Higher current than IIci, IIcx power supply. $69 each. shipping weight 5 pounds

This is what the 1/2 AA sized battery often looks like in your Mac. Most but the very oldest Macs use what is called a "1/2 AA" battery (see below for other Mac batteries). It"s shorter than an AA battery, but with a voltage of 3.6 volts. If the voltage drops below about 3.2 volts, it"s getting old: often they will read ZERO volts when they stop working. You can use a voltmeter to measure the voltage; if you remove it from your Mac you may have to "reset your PRAM" afterward, and the date and time. Mac "PRAM" memory also stores a few user settings. For a few vintage Macs, they apparently won"t start up without a working battery (but most models do).

For most Macs, there is also a battery cover which holds the battery in place. it"s a plastic frame surrounding the battery which snaps out. Apple number 520-0344. It might break from age when you remove the battery. It"s not essential but if you want one, it"s $3 plus shipping.

Mac PRAM battery, 3.6V 1/2AA, most Macs. Part numbers TL-5101S TL-5101/S 742-0011 922-1262. Battery manufacturers have their own brand and part numbers. Due to postal regulations and the fact you can buy these "on the Web", we no longer stock these batteries. We have a few old-stock batteries we can ship as installed in equipment only. Ask for for availability and price. Do NOT store your Mac with battery in place, it will CORRODE and LEAK!

Mac PRAM battery for Mac Plus, 128K, 512K - 4.5 V AA 4.5 Volt, AA sized. Brands include Panasonic PX 21, Eveready 523, ANSI 1306AP, IEC 5LR50, NEDA 1306AP, Varta V21PX. Look for suppliers of these on the Web, and compare prices. For instance, here"s one brand/model: Dantona� 4.5V/600mAh Alkaline Photo Battery, Model: TR133A. Any model that provides the correct voltage and is the correct size is adequate. Do NOT store your Mac with battery in place, it will CORRODE and LEAK! We may have old-stock, for sale in equipment only, ask.

An alternative to the 4.5V AA battery may be a 3.6V AA-size Lithium battery which is a little easier to find. We may have old-stock, for sale in equipment only, ask. Do NOT store your Mac with this battery in place, it will CORRODE and LEAK!

Mac PRAM battery, square Some Mac systems use a square or rectangular 4.5V battery, with a short black and red cable which connects it to the motherboard. We don"t stock this at this time; check with local computer stores, office supply stores, or electronic parts stores, and take it along so they can determine if they have a compatible battery.Do NOT store your Mac with battery in place, it will CORRODE and LEAK!

CRT (picture tube) for Compact Macs, including yoke (the coils around the neck of the CRT). YOur analog card may need some slight adjustment to orient or size the screen display: we don"t provide "how-to install" descriptions. Prices listed below are for working used CRT"s with yokes, with no to very slight screen burn. Shipping weight per CRT will be near 6 pounds, double boxed to protect them; and boxed under 12 X 12 X 12 inches *if possible* to reduce shipping cost. Typical weight under 6 pounds packed.

revision B yoke connector. Click on the links to see the connector. Look at YOUR Classic or Classic II. I believe these are mostly Samsung. Price $55.

Clinton vs Samsung CRTs: I came across this comment about old compact Mac CRT"s: "The Clinton [brand] CRTs have nothing wrong with them but they have no anti-glare coating, which makes staring at them in a bright area an eye-straining experience. The Samsung [brand] units, on the other hand, are anti-glare.". I will charge more if you request a Samsung CRT for older compact Macs which may not have come with them.

We don"t offer CRT"s or picture tubes for the large "all in one" Macs, or for any Apple monitors. Too much work and risk and cost of shipping. Get one local to you and pick it up.

On the compact Macs (128K 512K Plus SE SE/30 Classic), there"s a small video card or cable at the end of the CRT. That carries the "video" into the CRT. We have these, as used pulls, for all those Macs. For instance, the Mac SE and SE/30 uses board with part-numbers 630-0169 and 820-0207; 630-0146 and 820-0205; Apple replacement part numbers are 982-0024. ON the 128K 512K Plus, it"s just a socket on a cable. If you want one of these, please describe your Mac model and describe the part by part-number. I"ll see what I can provide. I don"t get many requests for these.

Shields or shrouds are cardboard, plastic and metal sheets under or around logic boards motherboards or power supplies / analog cards. They look like these or look like these, from some classic Macs. I have a number of these as used, in various conditions and quantities. Ask for one for a specific Mac model, they may vary.

As of 2022, I"m rarely selling Mac cases for the 128K, 512K, Plus, SE, SE/30, Classic, Classic II. Simply put: too expensive to ship, too hard to pack against damage, too much work to photograph and grade, too cheep to buy elsewhere. "Why pay you $X for a case, when I can spend $X plus something and

I"ve generally found, I can"t provide a "compact Mac" case or other small Mac cases, at a price many customers hope for. Some seem to think, I have these "laying around" and I can toss them in a box and mail "em with some air-bag packing. No. Doesn"t work that way. Here"s some guidance about what it really takes to provide a compact Mac case - if you don"t want it busted up.

About shipping: A Mac SE case, with metal frame, nothing else - weighs just over 7 pounds. That case, will need a box 17 X 14 X 14 inches, to ship with enough padding around it to protect the case. A box and padding - let"s say it adds 4 pounds to the package. I should double-box the SE because of safety and because of the large hole where the CRT was removed. Other classic Mac cases may weigh a little less. A CRT adds pounds and is more fragile. Go to usps.com with weight and box size, your ZIP code and

Another complication: Many Mac models have very very fragile plastics. After 30, 40 years, the plastics lose flexibility and will shatter or snap off pieces with any stress. Some models

Though these days you can pick one up on eBay for less than £100, at the time it would have cost you about $1,000. It was not notable for reinventing the wheel technologically – indeed if anything it did something like the opposite. Following several years of more and more expensive and powerful Macintosh computers (as we shall see), the Classic was one of a few models that represented something streamlined and – crucially – affordable. Christoph Dernbach of mac-history.net stresses that this represented a turning point for Apple.

‘I think you have to see the Apple Macintosh Classic in context with the LC and the IIsi,’ he says, referencing two other products released at around the same time. ‘These three Macs were designed to shore up Apple’s low end. They were something like the first Macs for the masses. The Classic was comparable to the Mac SE – just without the expansion slots.’

The man credited with starting the Macintosh project is Jef Raskin (he can certainly take credit for the name). First joining Apple in 1978, not long after it was founded, Raskin was convinced that there could be a great future for personal computers if they could sort their human interface problems out. He envisioned a computer built on simplicity that could be bought at relatively low cost – the metaphor he used was a Swiss army knife.

His vision was to change considerably once it drew the attention of one Steve Jobs, but you can see the Raskin line of simplicity running through many Apple Macintosh computers of the early 1980s, even after Raskin left the company following disagreements with Steve Jobs (incidentally, do any reading into Apple history and you will see the words “disagreements” and “Steve Jobs” in close proximity before too long).

In technological terms however, Gassée differed from Jobs in a number of key areas. Whereas Jobs felt strongly that third-party developers should be kept out of Macintosh products, Gassée wanted to encourage them. He wanted Macintosh computers to be bigger, to be better, to have expansion slots for software development, and to display things in beautiful colour.

Consequently, under Gassée’s tenure Macintosh computers consistently got bigger, more powerful and more expensive. When journalists questioned his drive towards technological excess, Gassée was icy, if not outright hostile – “We don’t want to castrate our computers to make them inexpensive,” was his blunt response to one question about the SE/30, on which one could spend $6,569 if so inclined.

Throughout the late 1980s Gassée oversaw the Mac Plus ($2,600), the simultaneously released Mac II ($5,498 with 40 MB hard drive) and Mac SE ($3,700 with 20 MB hard drive), and the Mac Portable ($7,300 with hard drive).

Though Gassée enjoyed his share of successes, the $7,300 Macintosh Portable proved an almighty flop on its release in 1989, and Apple’s share prices for the year’s end made for grim reading.

Gassée resigned in early 1990, and a team that included future Apple CEO Michael Spindler was given his responsibilities, with instructions to please, please make something people could afford. One of the machines that resulted was essentially a repackage of the Macintosh SE, only in a body with a price tag of $1,000 (which, following the Gassée era, must have felt positively philanthropic). This was the Macintosh Classic.

The standard model of the Macintosh Classic had 1MB of memory and no hard disk (if so inclined you could shell out $500 extra for one with a 1MB memory expansion card and 40MB hard disk). Its 68000 processor boasted a processing speed of 8Mhz, and it also came with a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. It used Apple’s System 6 OS.

The critical reception of the Macintosh Classic was cautiously enthusiastic. As Christoph Dernbach points out, some reviewers criticised ‘the low processor performance and the lack of the slot’, however the simplicity and the friendly price point were repeatedly praised. It was described by MacWeek as a ‘fine, inexpensive replacement for the Macintosh Plus that best embodies the original Macintosh vision six and a half years later’.

Commercially, it was a roaring success. The $1,000 price point of the Classic – which, incidentally, was the original price envisioned by Jef Raskin for his ‘Swiss army knife’ computer – propelled it towards a new userbase, so much so that Apple initially had trouble meeting demand, and had to scramble to find more manufacturing space.

The low price also put the Classic within the reach of the education sector, and many teachers and software developers were queuing up to sing its praises, relieved to have found something that was as capable as MS-DOS but more user-friendly.

You may not be all that surprised to learn that it wasn’t long before the Classic was usurped by a successor, the Apple Macintosh Classic II. It was discontinued on September 14 1992, missing out on having a second birthday party by just a month.

Anyone versed in Apple history of course knows that the success brought about by the Classic and its stablemates didn’t last, and by the end of the 1990s the firm would be in the dire straits that heralded Steve Jobs’ return.

However the ethos that the Classic exemplified, the Raskin Macintosh vision of simplicity, is still in place in Apple products today. Though