Macintosh Color Classic

The Macintosh Color Classic was the first color compact Apple Macintosh computer. It had an integrated 10″ Sony Trinitron color display with the same 512×384 pixel resolution as the Macintosh 12″ RGB monitor. This integrated unit resembled the original Mac series, albeit redesigned to Apple's "neoclassical" design language of the era.

Contents

Features

Like the Macintosh SE and SE/30 before it, the Color Classic did come with a single expansion slot: an LC-type Processor Direct Slot (PDS), otherwise incompatible with the SE slots. This was primarily intended for the Apple IIe Card (the primary reason for the Color Classic's switchable 560x384 display, essentially quadruple the IIe's 280x192 High-Resolution graphics), which was offered with education models of the LCs. The card allowed the LCs to emulate an Apple IIe. The combination of the low-cost color Macintosh and Apple IIe compatibility was intended to encourage the education market's transition from Apple II models to Macintoshes. Other cards, such as CPU accelerators, ethernet and video cards were also made available for the Color Classic's PDS slot.

The Color Classic shipped with the Apple Keyboard known as a Apple Keyboard II (M0487) which featured a soft power switch on the keyboard itself. The mouse supplied was the Apple Mouse known as the Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II (M2706).

Color Classic

Color Classic
Release date February 10, 1993
Introductory price $1,400
Discontinued May 16, 1994
Operating system System 7.1–Mac OS 7.6.1
CPU Motorola 68030 @ 16 MHz
Memory 4 MB, expandable to 10 MB (100 ns (max) 30-pin SIMM)

The Color Classic was essentially a Macintosh LC II, using a Motorola 68030 running at 16 MHz. The Color Classic was also sold to consumers in the United States as the Performa 250.

Models

Color Classic II

Color Classic II
Release date October 01, 1993
Introductory price $1,400
Discontinued May 16, 1995[1] (CC II)
Operating system System 7.1–Mac OS 7.6.1
CPU Motorola 68030 @ 33 MHz
Memory 4 MB, expandable to 36 MB (CC II) (80 ns 72-pin SIMM)

In Japan, Canada[2] and some other markets — but not the US — Apple later released the Color Classic II which was essentially the same case but with the LC 550 logic board that doubled both RAM and speed. The Color Classic II was also sold as the Performa 275. The Color Classic II was the final model of the original "compact" Macintosh family of computers.

Models

Legacy

The Color Classic has a certain cult following, and some enthusiasts have upgraded them with motherboards from Performa/LC 575 units ("Mystic" upgrade), while others have put entire Performa/LC/Quadra 630 or successor innards into them ("Takky" upgrade). A common modification to this unit was to change the display to allow 640 × 480 resolution, which was a common requirement for many programs (especially games) to run.

The Color Classic series was eventually replaced by the larger-display LC 5x0 & 5xx0 series and ultimately paved the way for the iMac, which popularized much of the same passion and enthusiasm the original Macintosh and Color Classic generate among their fans.

Timeline of compact Macintosh models

See also: Timeline of Apple Macintosh models


See also

References

  1. ^ Paul Kunkel (August 24, 2000). "A Long-Discontinued Macintosh Still Thrills Collectors to the Core - New York Times". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E0D61631F937A1575BC0A9669C8B63. 
  2. ^ http://lowendmac.com/compact/macintosh-color-classic-ii.html

External links

Apple Model Navigation
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Macintosh Color Classic
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