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Macintosh Color Classic

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Macintosh Color Classic / Color Classic II / Performa 250 / Performa 275
A Macintosh Colour Classic
DeveloperApple Computer, Inc.
Product familyCompact, Performa
Release dateFebruary 10, 1993; 31 years ago (1993-02-10)
Introductory priceUS$1,400 (equivalent to $2,953 in 2023)
DiscontinuedMay 16, 1995 (1995-05-16)[1] (CC II)
November 1, 1995 (1995-11-01) (Performa 275)
Operating systemSystem 7.1–Mac OS 7.6.1 With an upgrade of the original motherboard to a Macintosh LC 575 logicboard – Mac OS 8.0
CPUMotorola 68030 @ 16 or 33 MHz
Memory4 MB onboard, upgradable to 64 MB, unofficially supports 128 MB of RAM (logicboard upgrade) (100 ns (max) 30-pin SIMM)
DimensionsHeight: 37 centimetres (15 in)
Width: 25.2 centimetres (9.9 in)
Depth: 32.15 centimetres (12.66 in)
Mass10.2 kilograms (22 lb)
SuccessorMacintosh LC 500 series
Power Macintosh 5200 LC

The Macintosh Color Classic (sold as the Macintosh Colour Classic in some markets) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from February 1993 to May 1995. It is an all-in-one design, with an integrated 10″ Sony Trinitron display (supporting up to thousands of colors with a video memory upgrade) at 512×384 pixel resolution.

The Color Classic is the final model of the original "compact" family of Macintosh computers, and was replaced by the larger-display Macintosh LC 500 series and Power Macintosh 5200 LC.

Hardware

The Color Classic has a Motorola 68030 CPU running at 16 MHz and has a logic board similar to the Macintosh LC II.[2]

Like the Macintosh SE and SE/30 before it, the Color Classic has a single expansion slot: an LC-type Processor Direct Slot (PDS), 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 an 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).

The Classic II has 256 KB of onboard VRAM, expandable to 512 KB by plugging a 256 KB VRAM SIMM into the onboard 68-pin VRAM slot.[3]

The name "Color Classic" was not printed directly on the front panel, but on a separate plastic insert. This enabled the alternative spelling "Colour Classic" and "Color Classic II" to be used in appropriate markets.

Upgrades

Some Color Classic users upgraded their machines with motherboards from Performa/LC 575 units ("Mystic" upgrade),[4] while others have put entire Performa/LC/Quadra 630 or successor innards into them ("Takky" upgrade).[5] Based on Takky there is a way to upgrade the Color Classic with a G3 CPU[6]. Another common modification to this unit was to change the display to allow 640 × 480 resolution[7], which was a common requirement for many programs (especially games) to run.

Models

Introduced February 1, 1993:

  • Macintosh Performa 250[8]

Introduced February 10, 1993:

  • Macintosh Color Classic[9]

Introduced October 1, 1993:

  • Macintosh Performa 275[10]

Introduced October 21, 1993:

  • Macintosh Color Classic II: Sold in Japan, Canada[11] and some other markets — but not the US.[12]
Timeline of Compact Macintosh models
Power MacintoshMacintosh LC 520PowerBookMacintosh LCMacintosh PortableMacintosh II seriesApple IIeMacintosh Color ClassicMacintosh Classic IIMacintosh SEMacintosh SE/30Macintosh ClassicMacintosh PlusMacintosh SEMacintosh PlusMacintosh XLMacintosh SEMacintosh 512KeMacintosh 128KApple LisaMacintosh 512KMacintosh 128K
See also: List of Mac models and Compact Macintosh

References

  1. ^ Paul Kunkel (August 24, 2000). <res=9E02E0D61631F937A1575BC0A9669C8B63 "A Long-Discontinued Macintosh Still Thrills Collectors to the Core - New York Times". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "Mac Color Classic". Low End Mac.
  3. ^ "Macintosh Color Classic II / Performa 275" (PDF). Apple Service Source.
  4. ^ ""Mystic" Upgrade Questions".
  5. ^ ""Takky" Upgrade Questions".
  6. ^ ""G3" CPU Upgrade".
  7. ^ ""640x480" Screen Resolution Upgrade".
  8. ^ "Macintosh Performa 250:Technical Specifications". Apple.
  9. ^ "Macintosh Color Classic: Technical Specifications". Apple.
  10. ^ "Macintosh Performa 275:Technical Specifications". Apple.
  11. ^ http://lowendmac.com/compact/macintosh-color-classic-ii.html
  12. ^ "Macintosh Color Classic II: Technical Specifications". Apple.
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