Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Plug & Play Hardware RAID up to 8.0TB. High Performance, Data Redundant Solutions. FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB2, or eSATA. Hot Swappable Bays, Data Rates over 200MB/s. Click here

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Apple Archive

10 of the Most Important Macs Ever

- 2006.06.16

Over the past few years, I've been cutting back on some of the old Macs lying around the house. At one point I had an example of just about every Mac made until the late 90s. As software is updated and time goes on, most of these computers become less and less useful as everyday productivity machines.

However, there are certain machines that I will be keeping, and I figure that I will take a look back on these machines, and give my explanation of why I believe they're significant in one way or another.

Mac 512K: The 512K was the second Mac - and not necessarily the most expandable one either. While peripherals could be connected, the machine itself could not be upgraded in any way (you could not add memory even), so it didn't sell nearly as well as the Plus which came after it.
Mac Portable: The first portable Mac was huge and very heavy, but the battery lasted for 6 hours or more, and the screen was extremely sharp. It also boasted performance almost as good as the Mac II and featured a 40 MB hard drive. It also cost over US$7,000 with a hard drive, and many ended up being relegated to desk-use only.
Outbound Laptop: A slightly smaller clone of the Mac Portable, the Outbound sold poorly as in order to buy this machine, you already had to have a Mac Plus or SE in your possession. In essence, you were just buying an upgrade to your existing machine that allowed you to use it in the field. The Outbound did have a number of interesting features that allowed you to use a built-in RAM disk and connect your old compact Mac to the new machine to get a slightly faster system. The model I have is a dealer sample marked "not for resale".
Mac Color Classic: The Color Classic and Colour Classic II (never sold in the States) were the only true compact Macs that featured a color screen. While it was slightly bigger than the older black & white compact Mac screens (10" vs. 9"), the CC was also very underpowered and had a limited RAM upgrade path. It essentially contained an LC II logic board, which was a limited machine to begin with. It was replaced by the larger LC 520 (with a CD-ROM drive) shortly afterward and never became a huge hit in the US. In Japan, though, this model was followed by a Colour Classic II; with its faster 68030 processor and up to 36 MB RAM expansion, it's what the original model should have been.
Mac IIfx: The "Wicked Fast" Mac in 1990, the IIfx was the fastest personal computer available at the time. With support for multiple monitors, a built-in math coprocessor, 6502 processors to control serial and ADB ports, as well as a variable speed fan in the power supply, it was also one of the most advanced. While it's 40 MHz 68030 processor is slow by today's standards, it was certainly adequate enough to last a IIfx purchaser for seven years or more.
PowerBook 140: This was Apple's first true laptop with a built-in floppy drive. It was also my first laptop. While basic, it ended up being an excellent tool for me to take to and from school.

Now of course comes time for the notable machines that I don't currently own. These are worth mentioning because they were significant to the development of Apple's product line.

Power Mac 6100/60: I had this machine in middle school, and it was the first Power Mac. It launched my Low End Mac writing career with two articles regarding the uses of this particular machine back in 2000 (Picking an Older Power Mac and Follow Up on the 6100, 7100, and 8100). While not totally useless today, it no longer fulfills any of my needs in a desktop computer.
PowerBook 5300 - Apple's first PowerPC PowerBook, the PB 5300 wasn't a particularly stellar performer. It was also well known for battery and case quality problems, and, while popular, it was a bit behind what it should have been. Thankfully, the 1400c, released a year later in 1996, made up for the disappointment.
Mac SE/30: The SE/30 was Apple's first 68030-based compact Mac and unarguably the best performing of all compact Macs. Essentially a IIcx in a compact-Mac case, it could accept up to 128 MB of RAM and even had a PDS card slot where an ethernet card, video card, or accelerator card could be added.
iBook G3/300: Apple's first iBook launched Apple's successful foray into taking a chunk of the consumer notebook market, as well as heading back into education. While the first models were a bit underpowered when it came to hard drive and RAM specs, they provided a good, basic tool for many students. The bright colors (tangerine and blueberry) also gave people something to get excited about in a laptop - something, which had never really before been considered "fun". This model also launched WiFi.

There are many Macs out there, and while I have no space for all of them, some are worth keeping. Others are worth mentioning, and still others (such as the 5200/75LC) are better forgotten.

With Apple's success with their new machines, such as the Intel-based iMac and MacBook Pro, it's interesting to look back and see which of their computers really paved the way for their path of growth.

Recent Apple Archive articles

iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
More in the Apple Archive index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 15" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Jan. 2006 - The first Intel-based MacBook launched at 1.83-2.0 GHz, had several teething problems.
Group of the Day: System 6 is the email list for those who choose System 6.
November 21 in LEM history: 00: OS upgrades, downgrades - AltiVec vs. Pentium III - 01: Saved by the clones - Computer of the future - 02: Apple Education: Let's get to it - 03: Panther lets Macs and PCs work together, - Lombard SCSI bug - 05: 3 survivors from the 1970s - Real world battery life inadequate - Windows to Mac file transfer with Zip disks - $99 alternative to Microsoft Office - 06: Parallels 1.0 far more polished than beta
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.17. Used 1.83 GHz, $750; 2.16, $800; 2.33, $900; refurb 2.4, $1,299; 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,899; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.17. Used 400 MHz, $50; 933 MHz, $80; 500 dual, $60; 867 dual, $90; 1 GHz dual, $150; 1.25 GHz dual, $225; 1.42 GHz, $499.
Best Mac OS X 10.5 Deals, 11.17. "Leopard" upgrade, $80; single user license, $135; 5 users, $173; Mac Box Set, 5 users, $230; Server, 10 users, $340; unlimited, $850. Shipping included.
Best Mac mini Deals, 11.16. Used 1.42 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.66 GHz Core Solo, $419; 2.0 Core 2, $450; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $769; Server, $990.
Best iBook G4 Deals, 11.16. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $210; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz, $479; SuperDrive, $498.
Best iPod shuffle Deals, 11.16. Used 1 GB, $35; 4 GB, $65; refurb 1 GB, $39; 2 GB, $59; new 2 GB, $55, 4 GB, $75. New and refurb prices include shipping.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Apple Archive articles copyright ©2000-07 by Adam Robert Guha. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.