There were two eras of Macintosh clones: The unauthorized period, when clones were reverse engineered or built around ROMs or used logic boards removed from existing Macs; and the authorized period, when Apple approved vendors and licensed the Mac OS and hardware designs.

Apple started to license the Mac in 1994, the first clones arrived in 1995, and they quickly cut into Apple’s profitable high-end market. For an overview of the authorized clone period, see Apple Squeezes Mac Clones Out of the Market.

The Early Mac Clones

• Unitron Mac 512, circa 1985
• McMobile, 1986-89
• Colby WalkMac, 1987-91
• Dynamac and Dynamac EL, 1988-89
• Outbound Laptop, Outbound Notebook, 1989-91
• Atari ST
• 68000 Dash 30fx, circa 1990
• Colby Classmate Tablet Computer, 1991
• Dynamac IIsf and IIsf/30, 1991
• NuTek One and Duet, 1993-94

The Authorized Mac Clones

• DayStar, 1995-97
  • Genesis MP
  • Genesis MP+
  • Millennium
• Motorola StarMax, 1996-97
  • StarMax 3000
  • StarMax 4000
  • StarMax 5000
• Power Computing, 1996-97
  • Power 80/100/120
  • PowerBase
  • PowerCenter
  • PowerCenter Pro
  • PowerCurve
  • PowerTower
  • PowerTower Pro
  • PowerWave
• Radius
  • System 100
  • System 81/110
• Umax SuperMac, 1996-98
  • C500
  • C600
  • J700
  • J710
  • S900
  • S910

‘Double’ Clones

These companies used OEM motherboards usually supplied by Motorola or StarMax.

• MaxxBoxx, 1997-98
  • MaxxBoxx 730/200
  • MaxxBoxx 860
  • MaxxBoxx 960
  • MaxxBoxx 930
• Pioneer
  • MPC-GX1, apparently uses Power Mac 6100/66 (PDM) motherboard, more info on EveryMac.com
  • MPC-GX1 (Limited), apparently uses accelerated Power Mac 6100 motherboard, more info on EveryMac.com
  • MPC-LX200, based on Alchemy motherboard, more info on EveryMac.com