The Macintosh Classic was first introduced in October 1990 and was produced until September 1992. With a price tag of $1500, the Classic was an early, real attempt to enter the low cost, consumer market. By late 1992 and throughout 1993, a Classic could be purchased for less than $1000. By contrast, the other Macintosh computers produced in 1990 were the high end IIfx for $10,000, the IIsi for $3800, and the mid-range LC for $2400.

The Classic was well named. To achieve this price point, the machine was a significantly updated version of the Macintosh Plus, which had been released in 1986. In appearance, the Classic recalled the smoother, graceful lines of the Plus, which had been radically ended in 1987 with the release of the ridged design of the SE. Like the Plus, it housed a Motorola 68000 CPU running at about 8 MHz, significantly slower than the high end machines produced along with it. Like the Plus, it came standard with 1 MB of RAM, but could be upgraded to 4 MB.

Unlike the Plus, the Classic sported a 1.44 MB Superdrive floppy drive, replacing the 800 K model of the Plus. This made the Classic compatible with other machines of the era, including DOS models. Also, unlike the Plus, the Classic could easily accept an internal hard drive. Plus users had to add an external hard drive, if they used one at all.

Many would suggest that the compact line had reached its pinnacle the year before, with the 1989 release of the SE/30, an easily expandable model that ran at 16 MHz and could hold 32 MB of RAM. However, this machine, selling at $4369, was out of the reach of many first time computer buyers.

More lightly built than the SE and SE/30, the Classic could be quite portable with its carrying case. As such, it was aimed at college students who would need to transport it from home to dorm living. It was also aimed at high school students and first time buyers who were interested in simple, personal word processing.

The Classic was, and is, an excellent, low cost "homework" computer. With the Claris Works office package, it is a powerful word processor, spreadsheet, and data base machine. Likewise, it can produce fine documents with Microsoft Word 5.x, Excel 3.x, and File Maker 2.x. These were its "killer apps" at the time, and are still compatible with current versions likely found in your office setting.

The Classic came with a modem port, allowing a fax modem to be easily added. Along with a printer, this was a fine package. The Classic could be easily networked to a home, school, or office LAN via LocalTalk. The Classic also came with a SCSI port, allowing a number of peripherals to be added, as well as an Apple floppy port, allowing backward compatibility to those Plus users who wanted to run two 800K floppies at once. The Classic also had the unique ability to boot from ROM, with no start up disk present. Though good for troubleshooting, or for computers designed to be terminals only, for some reason this technology never caught on.

Pictured below is my Classic with a selection of peripherals. Seen in the photo is an Apple StyleWriter II printer, though this Classic's first printer was a LaserWriter Select 360, producing excellent, high quality results. This printer is still available on the network. Also visible are a Logitech hand held scanner, a Syquest external removable media drive, a Prometheus ProModem 24e, and the Classic's convenient carrying bag.

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