The Macintosh Portrait Display was Apple’s first full-page monitor for the Macintosh, a field Radius had pioneered with its Radius Full Page Display and matching video card in 1987.
The Apple High-Resolution Monochrome Monitor was Apple’s first 640 x 480 grayscale display for the Macintosh. It was introduced with the Mac IIcx in March 1989 and uses a 12″ grayscale CRT.
Rolled out in January 1989, the SE/30 was the first compact Mac to come standard with the FDHD 1.4 MB floppy drive (a.k.a. SuperDrive) and support more than 4 MB of RAM. It was essentially a IIx in an SE case.
1988 was not a year of breakthroughs for Apple. It was a year of evolution.
Building on the success of the Mac II, the 1988 Mac IIx housed a 68030 CPU and 68882 FPU (floating point unit) in the same case. Breakthrough features included the DOS-compatible 1.4 MB SuperDrive (a.k.a. FDHD for floppy disk, high density) and virtual memory. Although advertised as a 32-bit computer, the Mac IIx ROMs were […]
The LaserWriter IINTX was the top end of Apple’s first generation LaserWriter II family and a more powerful successor to the LaserWriter Plus. It was considered the best laser printer on the market at the time. The LaserWriter II family of printers all used the same 8 page-per-minute 300 dot-per-inch Canon LBP-SX engine, but each […]
The LaserWriter IINT the core of Apple’s LaserWriter II family and a worthy successor to the LaserWriter Plus. The LaserWriter II family of printers all used the same 8 page-per-minute 300 dot-per-inch Canon LBP-SX engine, but each model had a different logic board. The LaserWriter IINT was the middle of the line and the least […]
The LaserWriter IISC was a bit of an oddity. It was the low end of the LaserWriter II family, and to keep costs down Apple left out LocalTalk networking and Postscript. The IISC connects to a single Mac using a SCSI cable. QuickDraw images are rendered in the computer and then sent to the printer.
March 1987 was a milestone month for Apple: Apple built the one-millionth Macintosh, AppleShare file server software was introduced, the Mac SE and Mac II were introduced, ADB came to the Mac, and platinum replaced beige as the color for all new Mac gear.
The Macintosh II Video Card (a.k.a. Toby) is a 12″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to Mac OS 7.6.1. It was introduced at the same time as the Mac II. It is not compatible with the Centris/Quadra 660AV and only partially compatible with the Quadra 840AV.
Rolled out in March 1987 along with the compact Mac SE, the Mac II was the first modular Mac – a revolutionary change in the Macintosh line (so revolutionary that it had to be kept secret from Steve Jobs, who loved the simplicity of all-in-one designs). Options include two 800K floppy drives and a hard […]
Introduced along with the Mac II in March 1987, the SE came with 1 MB of RAM, one or two double-sided 800K floppies, and space to mount an internal SCSI hard drive (the second drive bay held either a hard drive or second floppy – no room for both, although that didn’t stop some people from […]
The 13″ AppleColor High-Resolution Monitor was Apple’s first color display for the Macintosh. It was introduced with the Mac II in March 1987 and uses a 13″ Sony Trinitron CRT, which is curved horizontally but flat vertically.
The Macintosh II Monochrome Video Card is a 1-bit 7″ NuBus card compatible with 680×0-based NuBus Macs running up to Mac OS 7.6.1. It was introduced at the same time as the Mac II. It is unsupported with the Quadra 840AV and is not compatible with the Centris/Quadra 660AV.
After a whole year without a new model (unless you count repackaging the Lisa 2 as the Macintosh XL), Apple announced the Macintosh Plus, the first expandable Macintosh, on January 16, 1986.
Apple replaced the Mac 512K with a model supporting double-sided 3.5″ disks, just like the Mac Plus. Unlike the Plus, the 512Ke used RAM chips rather than SIMMs, just like the 128K and 512K. This precluded upgrading RAM beyond 512 KB by simply plugging in higher capacity chips, although some companies did make memory upgrade […]
The LaserWriter Plus, introduced on January 16, 1986 along with the Mac Plus, built on the success of the networkable, Postscript-based, 300 DPI LaserWriter by adding 22 more fonts to the 13 included with the original LaserWriter.
Introduced in January 1986, two years after the original Macintosh, the Mac Plus shipped with 1 MB of RAM, a new double-sided 800 KB floppy drive, and a built-in SCSI port (the first Mac so equipped). Not only was 1 MB more RAM than PC-class machines could handle, but the Plus could be expanded to 4 MB total […]
In January 1985, Apple announced the Macintosh XL, which was nothing more than a new name for the wildly unsuccessful Lisa 2. In April, Apple discontinued the model.
Although PC compatibility isn’t a big deal since Apple’s transition to Intel CPUs in 2006, there is a long history of PC emulation and DOS cards that let Macs run PC operating systems and software. Dayna’s MacCharlie was the first solution to the “problem” of PC compatibility.
The original Apple LaserWriter was the 77 pound beastie that helped launch the desktop printing revolution in 1985, along with Aldus (later Adobe) PageMaker and the Fat Mac. Three things helped it make inroads: its 300 dot-per-inch resolution, the Postscript page description language (which Apple was the first to license), and the fact that the […]
On January 24, 1984, Apple announced the Macintosh to its Board of Directors – and to the world. The tiny computer was a radical departure from the large Lisa with it’s 12″ screen, just as Lisa itself had been a huge departure from the Apple II series and the growing family of MS-DOS computers on […]
Introduced to replace the Mac 128K in September 1984, the 512K had four times the RAM of the original Mac. This made it possible to work with larger files, more powerful software, and have more files open (running more than one application was still in the future, awaiting MultiFinder).
Introduced in January 1984 (along with a revised Lisa), this Macintosh didn’t have a model number – it was simply the Macintosh. There was no name on the front. Early 128Ks simply said Macintosh on the back, while later ones were marked Macintosh 128K to distinguish them from the later Macintosh 512K.
Introduced on 24 January 1984, the Lisa 2 adopted the same 400 KB 3.5″ floppy drive as the simultaneously introduced Macintosh. It was available with the same 5 MB ProFile hard drive as the original Lisa or an internal 10 MB hard drive.
Introduced in January 1983, Apple’s Lisa shipped that June. The first consumer computer with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) display, a GUI (Graphical User Interface), and a mouse, its $10,000 price tag made it anything but successful. Only 11,000 original Lisas were sold.
Here is a list of links to different pages and articles on Low End Mac about the various different clones and other types of computers Apple made prior to the Mac, such as the Apple I, II, and III. There were two eras of Macintosh clones: The unauthorized period, when clones were reverse engineered or […]
PowerBook was the name for Apple’s first family of notebook computers, perhaps the best name ever given to a line of laptops. Duo 250 Duo 270c Duo 280 Duo 280c See as a List
These links provide a quick way to access hardware profiles for Intel and Apple Silicon based minis on Low End Mac.. The Mac mini was both the smallest Mac ever sold and the least expensive. Introduced in January 2005, the Mac mini has only been through one major design change. The original design was 6.5″ […]
PowerBook, perhaps the best name ever given to a notebook computer. PowerBook Links Guide to G3 PowerBooks . Guide to TiBooks . Rage at Being Left Behind, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2001.12.24. It’s official – Apple doesn’t plan to support graphics acceleration for any Mac with ATI Rage video. That includes the WallStreet and Lombard. […]
PowerBook was the name for Apple’s first family of notebook computers, perhaps the best name ever given to a line of laptops. 68040-based Macs can use the HFS+ file system that comes with Mac OS 8.1, but they cannot boot from an HFS+ disk or use one for virtual memory. Happy Birthday, PowerBook!, PowerBook Zone, […]
Guide to Power Mac G4 Upgrades . Guide to G3 Daughter Cards . Guide to G4 Daughter Cards . Guide to G3 ZIF Upgrades . Guide to G4 ZIF Upgrades . Guide to G3 NuBus Upgrades . Guide to G3 Level 2 Upgrades . Overclocking the Beige G3 . Generic Laptop-to-Desktop IDE adapter for […]
G4 Digital Audio G4 Quicksilver Quicksilver 2002 MDD G4 FireWire 800 1.25 (Mid 2003) Mid-2003 G5 Mid-2004 G5 Late-2004 G5 Early-2005 G5 Late-2005 G5 Late-2005 G5 See as a list Keywords: #powermacindex
Apple introduced the first iBook, its consumer notebook, in July 1999. It was the first laptop ready to accept a WiFi module. The iBook name lived on until the Intel-based MacBook consumer notebooks replaced them in 2006. Guide to iBooks .. Hack: Overclocking the iBook (2001), Tycho, Accelerate Your Mac, 08.21. Warranty-voiding mod boost performance […]
This index covers desktop Macs based on the 68040 CPU. This includes all Centris and Quadra models, plus some LCs and Performas. PowerPC 601 Upgrades for 68040 PDS Macs, Daniel Knight, 2016.08.31 .. Add a Second SIMM Slot to Your Quadra, LC, or Performa 630, Chris Placzek, Memory Upgrade Options, 2016.08.25 . Sonnet QuadDoubler Accelerators, […]
