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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia\'s quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2007) |
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| Macintosh Classic | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Apple Computer |
| Introduced | October 15 1990 |
| Discontinued | September 14, 1992 |
| Price | US$999 to 1500 USD |
| CPU | Motorola 68000, 8 MHz |
| RAM | 1 MB, expandable to 4 MB, 120 ns 30-pin SIMM |
| OS | 6.0.7–6.0.8L, 7.0-7.5.5 |
The Macintosh Classic (code-named XO and Civic) was the first Apple Macintosh personal computer introduced at a price under US$1000. Demand for another "all-in-one"/"compact" Mac, such as the popular Macintosh Plus and the SE, spurred the introduction of the Classic. Limitations of the form factor prohibited major innovations in this model, which had the same 9-inch display, 512×342-pixel one-bit video, and 4 MB memory ceiling as its predecessors. Unlike other Macs, memory expansion was only possible with a special memory expansion card only available on the more expensive model, or as an option installed later.
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While the lower-end model of the Classic with 1MB RAM and no hard disk cost US$1000, the $1500 model had 2MB RAM and a 40MB hard disk.
The Macintosh Classic featured several improvements over the Macintosh Plus that it replaced as Apple\'s low-end Mac computer. The Classic used Apple Desktop Bus connections for its keyboard and mouse, already used on the Macintosh SE, as opposed to the older-style input devices that the Plus had inherited from the original Macintosh models. Other changes included a hard drive bay (also present in the SE), a lighter chassis, no physical screen brightness knob (for cost reasons)[citation needed], though it had been implemented in software like all subsequent Macs and surface-mounted circuits with minor changes (such as a special RAM expansion card). Brightness settings were controlled using a control panel, which is operable only on this model and the newer Macintosh Classic II.[citation needed] The Classic used Apple\'s 1.44MB SuperDrive for floppy disks, compared to the 800K drives used on the older Plus and SE models (the SE switched to this 1.44MB drive in August 1989).
The RAM card was the only card designed for the lone expansion slot on the motherboard. Unlike the Macintosh SE, the Classic offered no expansion slot to accommodate video, Ethernet, or other expansion cards. Classics had 1MB on the motherboard and another 1MB on the card itself. There were two slots on the card which could hold either 2 x 256 KB or 2 x 1MB SIMMs. A jumper needed to be set properly to read the amount of memory installed.
Although the Classic shipped with System 6.0.7, it could run earlier versions as well. A case in point is the hidden ROM disk (see below) which included a copy of System 6.0.3. System 7.5.5 is the latest supported version on this model.
One unique feature of the Classic was the ability to start from a ROM disk by holding down the Command-Option-X-O(Command+Option+X+O) keys during the boot process. This would boot the Mac Classic into System 6.0.3.http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/macclass/http://db.tidbits.com/article/3544http://lowendmac.com/compact/macintosh-classic.html. The Classic was the last compact Mac to use the 68000 processor.
The Classic was popular in schools because of its low price and sturdy unit construction.
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