Macintosh Portable
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| Introduced: | September 1989 |
| MSRP: | $6,500 |
| CPU: | Motorola 68000 |
| CPU speed: | 16 MHz |
| Shipped with system version: | 6.0.4 |
| RAM: | 1 MB, expandable to 9 MB, 8MB backlit version |
| Discontinued: | October 1991 |
Macintosh_portable.jpg
The Macintosh Portable was Apple's first attempt at making a portable Mac.
Released in 1989, it was received with excitement from most critics but with very poor sales to consumers. Seemingly no expense was spared in the construction of the machine. It featured a black and white active-matrix LCD screen in a hinged cover that covered the keyboard when the machine was not in use. The mouse function was handled by a built-in trackball on the right hand side of the keyboard. Its memory was expensive SRAM in an effort to maximize battery life.
The machine was architecturally similar to a fast Macintosh SE, using a low power version of the 68HC000 running at 16 MHz. Weighing in at 16 pounds, due in large part to the sealed lead-acid batteries used, the machine was widely considered more of a "luggable" than a portable, and compared to the PowerBook 100 series introduced a few years later, lacked the ergonomic layout that set the trend for all future laptops. On the plus side, it had a full travel keyboard, and battery life was up to 10 hours. Unlike later portable computers from Apple and other manufacturers, the battery is charged in series with the supply of power to the computer. This means that if the battery can no-longer hold charge, the computer will not boot. As these batteries are all over 15 years old, it is very rare to find an original battery that will hold charge, and therefore boot. It is possible to repack the battery with new cells, or use alternative 6V batteries, as described on this lowendmac webpage (http://www.lowendmac.com/pb/portabattery.shtml). The Mac Portable had a standard 1.44 MB floppy disk drive, an optional internal hard disk (a low-power 3.5" drive from Connor was used), and also offered the first optional internal modem in a Macintosh.
In February 1991, Apple added a backlit screen, changed the SRAM memory to pseudo-SRAM, and lowered the price, but discontinued the model in October of the same year.
Despite the machine's disappointing sales, it was a brave attempt at making a workable portable computer, at a time when it wasn't really obvious what form such a machine should take. It was also limited by the available battery technology of the day. The first truly modern portable computer was the PowerBook, but the Mac Portable was a significant step on the way, even if only to show what form such a machine shouldn't have. The Portable did not disappear completely with the release of the PowerBooks, however: the PowerBook 100 is in fact a Mac Portable compressed into a small enclosure. Apple sent the Portable plans to Sony, who miniaturized the components and manufactured the PowerBook 100 for Apple.
The Macintosh Portable (and PowerBook 100) can run Macintosh System 6.0.4 through System 7.5.5.
External links
- Macintosh Portable (http://mlagazine.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=130)fr:Macintosh Portable