Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh
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| Introduced | 20 March, 1997 |
| Discontinued | 14 March, 1998 |
| MSRP | US$7,499 |
| CPU | PowerPC 603e |
| CPU speed | 250 MHz |
| L2 Cache | 256 KiB, max 1 MiB |
| Bus | 50 MHz |
| RAM | 2 slots 32 MiB, max 128 MiB |
| Memory Spec | 168-pin, 5 V, 60+ ns EDO or FPM DIMMs7 |
| VRAM | 2 MiB |
| Video | 12.1" Active Matrix 800×600 @ 8- or 16-bits ATI 3D RAGE 2 chip set |
| Ports | 1 ADB 1 Comm Slot 2 2 DIN-8 GeoPorts DB-25 SCSI |
| Optical Drive | 4× CD-ROM |
| Hard Drive | 2 GB IDE |
| Initial OS | System 7.6.1 |
| Final OS | Mac OS 9.1 |
| Weight | 6.8 kg (14.9 lb) |
| Dimensions | Metric - 438 × 419 × 254 mm English - 17.25 × 16.5 × 10 in |
Apple released the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (often called simply TAM) in May of 1997 to mark the 20th anniversary of Apple Computer, not the Macintosh. The system was built to look state of the art, but used common components and technologies readily available at that time, and suffered from being overpriced and under-powered.
While conceived as a production futuristic concept model the TAM was built using the 12" active matrix LCD, ATI 3D Rage II video chipset, and trackpad from the PowerBook 3400, and the motherboard from the Power Macintosh 5500 with a 250 MHz 603e processor. The system could only handle a video resolution of 800×600 with a 16-bit color depth and shipped with System 7.6.1. It later required a special version of Mac OS 8, and is incompatible with any operating release after Mac OS 9.1.
The use of the Power Macintosh 6500's motherboard did give the TAM some capabilities that were unusual for the day. A TV tuner, or TV/FM tuner card were available for the 62xx and later 6x00 series of Performa and Power Mac. Cards were not required on the TAM as the tuners were built in and it featured standard cable TV jacks and a hardware pushbuttons for PIP and picture controls on the front of the Computer. The use of any other 7” PCI card, required the user to swap out the back of the TAM's case with an alternate version that allowed space for the cards.
The power supply was external to the computer. This removed much of the heat and space problems associated with standard computers and has been continued to be used by the Mac Cube and later by the Mac Mini. This, when combined with the flat panel display and the vertically mounted 4× CD-ROM drive, gave the system a much smaller footprint. The power supply was part of the subwoofer manufactured by Bose, which would be kept out of sight.
The small keyboard did not feature a numeric keypad but did have a built-in touchpad and leather palm rests. The touchpad could be removed from the keyboard and placed at a more convenient location on the user workspace.
The system was initially marketed as an elite system, and featured a concierge service for personalized delivery and setup. This service was quickly discontinued as sales failed to materialize. Apple soon started lowering the price of their highline product, While Apple had built 12,000 of the systems, sales were slow throughout the life of the system. The remaining inventory of TAMs was sold at a loss through Apple’s developer price list.
Despite its poor sales, the TAM remains a popular collector's item among dedicated Macintosh collectors. There was even a line of processor upgrades for the systems which helped lengthen its useful lifespan.
The TAM also features a unique startup chime that was exclusive to the machine, and which is strikingly dissimilar to the ordinary Power Mac chord. The MacTracker application contains this unique startup chime (in addition to the startup and failure chimes of every Macintosh ever built).
The design trend towards the smaller footprint and cleaner look was later picked up and executed more successfully in the iMac line, especially in the later generations.
[edit] Popular culture connection
Although the TAM was on a limited run, one managed to end up on the set of NBC Program Seinfeld. It can be seen in some episodes, on the desk in Jerry's apartment.
A TAM was also featured as Alfred Pennyworth's computer in the film Batman & Robin.
A TAM was recently spotted in the movie Children of Men.
A TAM was also can be seen in the animated serial Serial Experiments Lain.
