Classic Macs in the Intel Age

My Compact Macs: Macintosh SE/30 and Classic II

- 2008.06.11 - Tip Jar

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: New 2008 iMac 2GB $42 / iMac Intel Core2 DUO & MacBook Pro 2GB $36 - 1GB $20. MacPro 8 Core Memory 8GB kit $286 / 4GB kit $143 / 2GB kit $93 -- Free shipping available. LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

OWC: Burn DVDs, DVD-DL, CDs, DVD-Ram - FAST! Superdrive upgrades from OWC starting from $31.99 with options for nearly every Mac. Models with Lightscribe, Blu-Ray too!

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

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

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

Last time I promised you an article on my Compact Macs.

Today I'm keeping that promise.

First off, the Compact Macs are great machines because 1) they are small (that's why they are called Compact Macs), 2) they are relatively powerful, 3) most of them handle systems up to Mac OS 7.6.

Before I talk about my Compacts, I'd just like to mention a cool feature of a certain family member, the Classic. Not to be confused with the newer Classic II, the Classic was slower and had less possibilities for expansion than its successor, but it did have one cool feature: It had the ability to boot System 6.03 from a built in ROM disk when you hold down Cmd-Opt-X-O during startup.

I have no idea for what purpose the Cupertino folks built this into the Classic, but it's still cool. Perhaps it was there for service purposes.

Anyway, let's talk about two of my Compacts. (Just like the PowerBook article, I chose my favorites.)

Classic II

The Classic II is the successor of the slower Classic. Also known as the Performa 200, this Compact features a 16 MHz 68030 processor, which is awesome in comparison to the Classic's 8 MHz 68000 - plus it shipped with 2 MB of RAM, which was twice as much as the Classic's base of 1 MB.

Macintosh Classic IIIt supports System 6.08L, which makes this machine faster than a Pentium 4 with Windows 1.0. (Yes, it's possible! I know, 'cause I've tried it. Feel sorry for me, please.) However, I choose to use System 7.1 as my primary operating system due to compatibility issues with System 6. Versions up to 7.6 are supported.

My Classic II is maxed out with 10 MB of RAM and a 500 MB hard drive, (God bless eBay!), which makes it a very fast Mac under 7.1. I always enjoy a round of Shufflepuck Café on the Mac, which of course works flawlessly.

These Compacts go quite cheap on eBay or the LEM swap list these days, and they're a great value. Just don't try Mac OS 7.6; it's like Leopard on a G3 - slow and buggy. For that OS, get a Power Mac!

SE/30

First off, this machine is no longer in my possession, but I do remember it vividly (and fondly!).

The SE/30 was, simply, the greatest Compact Mac ever built! It supports 128 MB of RAM. It has a nice screen. It was fast. In conclusion, it was awesome.

Macintosh SE/30My SE/30 had 32 MB of RAM and ran System 7.5.5. I used an external SCSI CD-ROM drive to install software, and it was great.

Let's go back to the memory part. 128 MB. Imagine having that back in 1990! Your friend who was still on a Mac Plus would pass out. So would any computer guy.

The bad thing is that it only supports systems up to 7.5.5 (although I've heard of people using Mac OS 8). Were the SE/30 still mine, I'd try it.

It also has an expansion slot. Mine had a LAN card installed, and it worked fine for surfing the Web. I believe I used iCab for that purpose, although I'm not sure.

I just read the SE/30 profile here on Low End Mac; it seems it had a 100W power supply! Freakin' amazing! My Packard Bell from 1996 (got it last year for some reason, had it for a month or so) had a 65W power supply - and it's bigger than the SE/30. It used to crash whenever I surfed the Web, so I just threw it in a dumpster!

If you spot an SE/30 on eBay and don't place a bid, you've made the mistake of your life. You are now guaranteed 7 years of misfortune.

Seriously, they are great machines and should not be underestimated. In fact, I'm getting a new one shortly.

Next time: my desktop Macs.

Recent Columns by Carl Nygren

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 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.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.