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
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.
Tom Hormby's Orchard
Mac TV: 12 Years Before the iMac G5 with Front Row
- 2005.10.18
Follow Low End Mac on Twitter.
Popularity: ![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
With the release of the iMac G5 with Front Row, many analysts have hailed Apple's entry into the living room. Apple actually released its first Mac with a remote control in 1993, the Macintosh TV.
The machine was an oddity, ostensibly designed for the cramped quarters of an American dorm room. The computer was totally black, save for the platinum CD-ROM caddy.
The Macintosh TV was first envisioned as a tenth anniversary Mac, but that project was eventually canceled.
After the unexpected success of the Color Classic, John Sculley requested a machine with a form factor similar to that of the Color Classic, but with a CD-ROM drive and a 14" Trinitron CRT. Mac TV was released on October 23, 1993, shortly after the project was resurrected.
The logic card inside Mac TV was a
slightly modified Mac IIvx
motherboard. (The IIvx was Apple's midrange 68030 machine at the time).
In order to prevent Mac TV from stealing sales from higher-end Macs,
Apple limited its RAM capacity to 8 MB (vs. 68 MB limit present in
the IIvx).
The new machine was designed to be low cost and have a small footprint. Its most notable features were its TV tuner and remote control. The TV tuner had coaxial and RCA inputs, allowing users to watch broadcast television and connect VCRs.
Apple included a remote control to control the CD-ROM drive and TV tuner.
The TV card was also somewhat limited. It didn't allow users to record television and was only capable of displaying video in full screen mode or playing TV audio in the background.
Met with much fanfare at its launch, Apple primarily peddled the machine to college students and early adopters. It only sold the machine at 230 retail locations, mostly electronics stores. Apple built and sold only 10,000 units, making Mac TV far rarer than the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh or even the Lisa.
Apple quietly discontinued the model several months after its introduction.
Mac TV was Apple's first TV-capable machine, but it was far
from the last. Apple created an LC PDS card that included a TV and FM
radio tuner. The tuner card added the ability to record television and
watch TV inside a window.
All of the Power Mac 5xxx series had infrared receivers for the TV tuner's remote controls. Despite the wide availability of such cards, they never took off.
The last computer that supported an Apple TV tuner was the Power Mac 6500.
Bibliography
Some of the sources used in writing this article:
- Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders, Jim Carlton
- Infinite Loop, Michael Malone
- The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Alan Deutschman
- Apple Confidential 2.0, Owen Linzmayer
- Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple . . . a Journey of Adventure, Ideas & the Future, John Sculley
- Wikipedia
Tom Hormby's writing can also be found on Silicon User.
Recent Orchard articles
- The Rise of Google: Beating Yahoo at Its Own Game, 07.16. Google started as a project by Stanford grad student Larry Page, who envisioned a better way of evaluating pages on the Web.
- A History of the iPod: 2005 to Present, 02.10. How Apple changed the iPod with flash memory, tiny screens, video support, touch technology, and OS X.
- The Roots of Apple's Retail Stores, 02.04. A big problem for Apple in the late 90s was indifferent big box retailers. Apple's "store within a store" in CompUSA was just the beginning.
- Origin of the iPod, 02.04. Apple's most profitable division grew from one man's vision for a small, easy to use, hard drive-based MP3 player linked to a content delivery system.
- More in the Orchard index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Mac mini Core Solo, Feb. 2006 - The only Mac to use a Core Solo CPU, this model ran at 1.5 GHz, has integrated graphics, and includes a Combo drive
- Group of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
- November 23 in LEM history: 99: Should I buy a USB card? - 01: Can a low-end Mac be an only Mac? - Palm Desktop without a PDA - CyberDog saves the day - 05: How Consumer Reports could compare Macs fairly - Speakers for your Mac - Living with the hi-res 15" PowerBook - Birth of the PowerBook - Daystar 1.9 GHz iMac G4 upgrade - 1.92 GHz PowerBook upgrade
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Why Spaces is My Favorite Leopard (and Snow Leopard) Feature, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.23. Spaces, a feature introduced with OS X 10.5, is like having several monitors on your Mac without the cost and space of using multiple displays.
- i5 iMac Benchmarked, Mac mini 'Shouldn't Be Overlooked', Twitter Client for Classic Mac OS, and More, Mac News Review, 11.20. Also why Apple leaves the low end to others, 10.6.2 fixes video playback problem in 27" iMac, 3D Leopard and Snow Leopard performance, and more.
- Apple's Tablet an End Run Beyond Netbooks, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. Whatever Apple has planned will leverage existing technologies while going beyond what its competitors can offer.
- Apple #4 in Reliability, Apple Tablet a Gadget for All?, HP's i7 Notebook Outdoes Mac Rivals, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.20. Also Flash 10.1 improves video on Hackintosh netbooks, thin-and-light notebooks impress, Windows XP finally on the way out, and more.
- NASA Chemical Sensor for iPhone, Smartphone Death Match, iPhone Earrings, and More, Ian R Campbell, 11.20. Also mobile phone dangers, new apps, GPS solution for iPod touch, new iPod and iPhone cases, and more.
- Replacing the Hard Drive in a Clamshell iBook, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 11.19. Yes, it is one of the most difficult Apple notebooks to disassemble and reassemble, but a 10 GB hard drive just will not do.
- IBM Model F: A Great Old Keyboard with an Outdated Layout, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 11.19. Although it used a different technology than the revered IBM Model M keyboard, the Model F was a great keyboard in its own right.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
- 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.
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts
Navigation
Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists
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
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial
Memory
batteries.com
Advertise
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
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com
