Dinosaur Sighting: The original Apple Macintosh Classic

Portable

Our Mac Classic arrived inside its very own carrying case. This case must have been designed specifically for the Mac - it fits perfectly.

Bagged and ready

The bag has compartments for the keyboard, mouse, software, and books. I think I like this solution better than the portables we cracked open earlier:

1. Cracking open the Osborne 1: The original portable computer
2. Cracking Open the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 4P

I know that look

The shape of the Apple Mac is an icon of personal computing. You can't mistake it.

In the back

The back of the Apple Mac Classic is where you find your peripheral ports - standard practice even today.

Goop

Moving in on the ports, you can see our Mac has some sticky substance leaking from the vents. We will have to investigate that when we Crack It Open.

Left ports

Working left to right we have the keyboard/mouse port, a port for an external floppy drive, and a SCSI port for a scanner (or other device).

Right ports

Again working left to right, we have the SCSI port, ports for a printer and modem, and an audio jack.

July 1990

Our Apple Mac Classic was manufactured in July 1990.

Keyboard

The keyboard is really solid and has that strong click sound and feel. I miss those keyboards.

Logo

Another feature of the keyboard is that it has a connection for the mouse. I am not sure why such a connection was not widely adopted, but it seems like a great idea to me.

But there is only one button

The famous one button mouse. My Logitech MX810 Gaming mouse I have at home has eight buttons.

It works!

It works. The Mac boots up no problem and welcomes me to cult.

Monochrome screen

The Macintosh has a monochrome display, but my XT clone ran 16 colors at that time I believe. (Maybe it was only eight.) I would guess color would raise the price too much for the market the Classic was trying to reach.

Software

Our Apple Mac Classic game with good bit of software including Claris Works, Norton Utilities, and several games.

Chessmaster

So we meet again my old nemesis.

I had Chessmaster 3000 at one time and it used to kick my butt regularly.

Display

The camera couldn't capture it very well, but the display is actually sharp and clear. There is just a lack of color. But that doesn't matter in games like Chessmaster or Zork.

It is a classic

The Apple Macintosh Classic is just that -- classic. With its small desktop footprint I can understand why it would appeal to many. The IBM XT I had at this same 1990s time period was huge, made out of steel, and weighed a ton.