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Hardware

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

By Mark W. Kaelin June 17, 2008, 5:32 AM PDT

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Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

The Mac Classic awaits its fate

The Mac Classic awaits its fate

The Apple Mac is one of the most famous and easily recognizable personal computers ever manufactured. In this Cracking Open Photo Gallery, TechRepublic examines just what went into a Mac Classic — and what technology was like in 1991.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Deception

Deception

Cracking Open the Mac Classic is deceptively simple. Just loosen the four screws circled.

However, the screws have Torx heads.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Deep dark recesses

Deep dark recesses

And to make matters worse, the two Torx screws on top, under the handle, are down deep, tapered holes. It to took two days and four trips to various stores to find the right screwdriver.

Apple really didn’t want you to open the Mac Classic up yourself.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

The correct tool

The correct tool

After much searching and a small fortune in gasoline, I was able to find the right Torx head screwdriver with the proper length at Sears. In retrospect I should have gone to Sears first — it is the tool place.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

First look at the inside

First look at the inside

The Apple Mac Classic is laid out efficiently. Of course, three are limitations when much of your computer is really a black and white television.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Cardboard protection

Cardboard protection

I found it odd that the power systems for the CRT were for the most part unshielded. That is, unless you want to count the cardboard warning system.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Jumpers

Jumpers

The warning is to the point. Jumpers are used to indicate voltage input — interesting.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Goop!

Goop!

In the Dinosaur Sighting Gallery, I wondered about the yellow sticky stuff leaking out the back. You can see a pool of it on the case. The unit must have been sitting on its backside for a long time.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

The CRT

The CRT

Approaching from the back we can get a good look at the Cathode Ray Tube.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Guns a blazing

Guns a blazing

Even though the Apple Macintosh Classic display was black and white, it is still basically a television attached to a computer.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Careful

Careful

The power management systems for any CRT are not to be taken lightly.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Upside down

Upside down

The hard drive sits in the Mac Classic upside down. Notice the standard ribbon cable and Molex power connector.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

On board plus two

On board plus two

Looks like we have one row of RAM and two expansion slots.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Do the math

Do the math

The math says that each set of RAM chips is one megabyte — so we are looking at 3MB of RAM. There should be another 1MB of RAM on the motherboard.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Yuck

Yuck

Our mystery goop looks to have flowed down the SCSI cable toward our hard drive.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Nasty

Nasty

The substance is sticky, and felt slightly acidic when I accidentally touched it.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

What makes it an Apple

What makes it an Apple

The highlighted chip was Apple’s proprietary ROM chip. The chip that makes an Apple Computer an Apple Computer.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

VLSI

VLSI

The highlighted chips are from VLSI and we have seen them in previous cracking opens. This are basic logic chips, handling Input/Output, video, etc.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

A tour of the motherboard

A tour of the motherboard

Here is a close up shot of the bottom half of the motherboard. Notice the battery — no watch battery here.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

More motherboard

More motherboard

The upper half of the motherboard.

Perhaps someone could help us out — what function did each of the VLSI chips perform in our Mac?

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Motorola 68000

Motorola 68000

Where the brains are.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

More RAM

More RAM

Looks like we found our other 1MB of RAM. That makes 4MB.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Unexpected

Unexpected

Something unexpected can be seen in this image. I can understand VSLI, Motorola, and NCR, but AMD? I didn’t realize they’d been around that long.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Adaptec

Adaptec

Adaptec — now that is a familiar name.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Cirrus Logic

Cirrus Logic

Cirrus Logic is another name you don’t see much anymore.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Amazingly complicated

Amazingly complicated

This Conner hard drive looks to be very complex with dozens of chips and lots of connections.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Move in

Move in

A closer look at the numerous chips found on our hard drive.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Even more

Even more

Recognize these chips? It took a lot of work to be on the cutting edge.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

40MB

40MB

Here is the other side of the the Conner 40MB SCSI hard drive.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Conner

Conner

A close up of the Conner sticker reveals the drive model is CP 3040A.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Dissipate heat

Dissipate heat

The Apple Macintosh Classic does have a fan and ventilation system to dissipate heat. This makes since because CRTs do get rather warm during operation.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

High voltage

High voltage

A CRT display requires more power than you might think. We are looking at capacitors with ratings of 250 and 220 Volts. Discharging either one of those would hurt.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

More capacitors

More capacitors

Underneath the previous capacitors we find a few more.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Heatsink

Heatsink

The Mac Classic uses a heat sink to dissipate some of the heat generated but the CRT power system.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

Power management

Power management

Even flow of power is also a major part of the system.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

All cracked open

All cracked open

Here is a shot of the Apple Macintosh Classic all disassembled.

Cracking Open the Apple Macintosh Classic

A fine machine

A fine machine

You can see how the Mac Classic benefited from previous versions of the Mac. The Classic is built to last. However, it is not built to be opened by the user. In the early 1990s, if your Mac had a problem you were supposed to seek professional help.

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By Mark W. Kaelin
Mark W. Kaelin has been writing and editing stories about the information technology industry, software, hardware, gaming, finance, accounting, and technology geekdom for more than 30 years.
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