Mac Portable gets a 20th anniversary vivisection
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Sep 22nd 2009 8:57AM
posted Sep 22nd 2009 8:57AM
In September 1989, Apple made its first stab at a portable Macintosh computer. The name? "Macintosh Portable." Kind of has a ring to it, huh? This 16 pound behemoth packs a 10-inch (640 x 400) monochrome display, 16MHz Motorola CPU, 1MB RAM, 40MB HDD, 3.5-inch floppy drive, and a 2400 baud modem into a handsome clamshell design that features (and this is our favorite part) a modular design that allowed the user to position the trackball on either end of the keyboard. Lefties of the world unite! Originally yours for $6,500 - $7,300 (that's $11,288 - $12,677 when adjusted for inflation), but we're guessing you can find someone on eBay (or at Goodwill) to cut you a deal on one at this late date. Hit the read link to celebrate this momentous anniversary in the manner of a true gadget-head: by watching someone gut the thing and take pictures of it. You'll be glad you did.
There is actually still one of these mac portables at my dad's house... I wonder if it still works
Your dad can earn millions selling this thing on ebay. Engadget team would happily buy this thing. Who said it was inexpensive to be a fanboy.
Even if it doesn't work, you could probably sell it to some Ben Heck wannabee (Heckabee?) who wants to gut it and put an iPhone inside, running a 68K emulator.
Does anyone remember the Toshiba equivalents?
I had two plasma ones - the 3400 and the 5200 (I think) ... orange screens!?
Then there was the little 1200's - LCD 320x240 screens, 10Mb HDD and 640kb RAM - yes that's right ... I said 640kb baby YEA!
Man I'm old!?
Bezeeeeeel!!!!!!!!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Apple-Macintosh-Portable-Computer-Model-5120_W0QQitemZ250499940290QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a52f5bfc2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
that guy is certainly not gettint rich any time soon selling those macs
I've got one of those too... we used to call it the "Macintosh Luggable".
Did that thing have a battery? If so I wonder what the battery life and the size of that thing was.
it wasn't user replaceable.
Yeah, it had a lead-acid battery. Like your car I think.
It used a motorcycle battery.
The battery is completely user replaceable. It weighed a lot, so carrying a spare wasn't pleasant, but it worked fine.
It was a motorcycle battery and it had good battery life partly because the machine didn't have a backlight, which really really sucked as badly as it sounds like it would.
We had one of these. Even then, it felt like it weighed a ton! But I remember a few great things about it (other than it let me take -- or more accurately, drag, my Mac experience with me): 1) The screen, while monocrome, seemed good for the time, 2) the battery life was great, and 3) The trackball was amazing and one of the best pointing devices on a 'portable' ever! (Granted the whole trackball assembly was probably heavier than a Macbook Air, but that is beside the point, haha)
Great picture, the irony is dripping off of it.
I love it!
Interesting how a twenty year old device has the better screen resolution...
No camera? Must be a great gaming machine, right?
Yep, Oregon Trail
Frogger!
http://www.kidsgamer.com/play-online-game.php?game=Frogger
This comment is so full of internet win, as was the reply. Made my turn heads in the office with my laughter ;)
alright, why did they kill the trackball? glad RIM brought it back. heres hoping laptops will have trackballs again.
touchpad sux!
I think trackballs fell out of favor because of how dirty they'd get. You know how a mouse with a ball gets crapped up with gunk and stops functioning properly? You're not even touching the ball on that mouse; imagine the effect on a trackball, where your filthy thumb is actually doing the work.
On the funny side, my dad used to LOVE track balls and HATED mice. Over time he admitted that he'd finally gotten used to the mouse and said "turns out when you get to the edge of the pad, you can just pick up the mouse and move it."
They don't get any dirtier than mouse *buttons*. I use a trackball at work (Microsoft Trackball Explorer ROX!), cuts down on RSI. If I use my home computer a lot (mouse) my shoulder starts killing me. When the ball gets dirty, I pop it out and clean it - no big deal. I find the trackball much easier to use for my day to day work clicking buttons and text, but prefer the mouse for more 'delicate' stuff like photo editing and gaming.
Modern laptops are too thin to fit any decent size trackball. And that assumes you can relocate some of the internal components to make room for one.
Battery life was amazing. You could fly coast to coast and back playing simcity without needing to replace the battery. Weight wasn't so good, but wow did it last for a long time. Best time was over 12 hours.
There was nothing like this on the market when it shipped.
I remembered the battery life as being great, but I was not sure if that was me being nostalgic. But ya, I remember being on long car trips working on that thing for the duration -- sure I could not walk when I got out of the car with that thing sitting on my legs for that long, but me work was done ;-)
I defense of its bulk, I guess apple did call it a 'portable' computer, not a 'laptop'.
Doesn't exactly fit on an airline tray table though.. at least not for us plebes in coach.
This takes me back to the days when I worked in IT support in the UK - so before it was recognised as a proper business function or department!?
I used to support IBM XTs, ATs and then the PS2s on a Token Ring network!? How old am I?
I remember once having to upgrade the RAM in a desktop from 512kb to 640kb - the board was one of those old style huge things (12x4 inches) and it cost something like £2000 ...
Exponential is a word that springs to mind!?
how cool would it be to get real signatures right over the ones pressed in the plastic!
Can Ben Heck please hack one of these into a golden tee machine.
They should have used a netbook (I know, Apple stupidly does not make one) as the comparison device, the specs would have been more in-line.
16MHZ vs 1.6GHZ
10" screens
40MB HD vs 160GB HD
$6,5000 vs $300
and so on...
what's $6,5000?
How cool wouldn't it be if someone modded it? A hackintosh perhaps? Just rip out the internals of a Wind or something similar.
If only I had the know how how to pull something that awesome, then I would do it.
LOL My work still has one of these... It works perfectly XD
Thing is, my father had and still has an IBM portable from around 1981-83 with two floppy drives, one for the OS and one for whatever program you want. Excel 1.0 and Word 2.0 are not very advanced programs, but it was revolutionary at the time. Thing even still works.
Hard to believe that's at least 5 years older than this machine.
OMG =o That thing is my age !!!
LOL even that dinosaur of a computer has a higher resolution screen than the iPhone. After 20 years of innovation apple's "mobile" computers are even further away from HD. High-Five Apple!
1) Apple's "mobile" (sic) computers are MacBooks and Pros, not the iPhone.
2) The MacBook Pro has a better-than-full-HD screen.
3) The Mac Portable had a 75 ppi display. The iPhone has a 163 ppi display.
4) There are no pocketable devices with a HD display (≥720 lines), iPhone or otherwise.
5) You, sir, are a moron.
1) Definitions
Computer: a programmable usually electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data
Mobile:capable of moving or being moved
2) Nobody is talking about the macbook pro besides yourself.
3) Although ppi is one convention of measuring "resolution" the pixel resolution, the set of two positive integer numbers, where the first number is the number of pixel columns (width) and the second is the number of pixel rows (height), is another popular convention for measuring resolution. In this case, 640 x 400(Mac Portable) vs. 320 x 480(iPhone)
4) The literal definition of HD is any resolution above SD. Therefore, many pocketable devices sport "HD" displays. There are too many to name but heres one you can read up on, courtesy of engadget.(1024 x 480 is a higher pixel count than any SD format, hence its technical HD classification) http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/30/softbank-introduces-sharp-aquos-fulltouch-slider-with-quasi-xga/
5) Funny you would assume I'm a "sir." I appreciate the attempt to show respect by calling me sir, but I think you should know that your losing your argument to a woman.
6) You, my friend, are the moron.
The Portable looked a bit tired next to the most stylish PC laptops of 1989-91, from companies like Compaq. John Sculley reversed the situation when he had Apple design the first PowerBooks, with help from Sony.
Funny old world, eh?
Yes I still have the two of them packed away in pristine condition. At 10K each, it was a bargain to have these works of technical magic from Apple.
I've been waiting for Apple (or any other forward thinking company) to offer right and left-handed mouse pads on their laptops for years! - or offer a modular design like they did back then.
This seems like a no brainer to me! It is so f'ing uncomfortable to bend your wrist towards the middle to use a laptop track pad. So people usually turn their whole arm so up really up isn't up, it's diagonal. It hurts my wrists just thinking about it - so my solution? I only use plugin mouses and never use the laptop trackpad.
Get it straight Apple!
How come at one time you used to understand people were right and left handed? Did you forget?
What? Only ONE mouse button!?!? Who actually USED this thing to get anything done?
I actually have one of these in the attic. Used it for a while at a job back in 1991-ish and they let me take it when they upgraded me to something else. If I remember, though, it's stuck in sad-face mode and won't boot. I might have to go get out the ladder...
The Computer Chronicles had a show when it first launched the Macintosh Portable...
You can watch it here on archive.org
http://bit.ly/QrQZm
Jump to 18:00 for the Mac...
Now let's imagine what technology will look like in 20 years. ;D
For those who have read the full article: Where does one buy an iphone for $99?
Anywhere the iPhone is sold. The 3G sells for $99 with a 2 year contract. This is nothing new at all.
I was a salesman in NYC for an authorized Apple dealer, when these came out. If I remember correctly, the Mac Portable was significant because it was the first application of Active Matrix LCD technology. Screen refreshes were much faster and sharper than the old dual scan LCD screens that were used in the Compaqs, HPs and Toshibas of the time. No ghosting as objects moved, which was important for a graphics based OS. It was also the first 68000 based Mac to break the 8 mhz processor clock ceiling. This puppy ran at 16 mhz. Finally, I believe it was the first portable to include a Trackball built in. Toshibas relied on old Microsoft BallPoint trackballs that affixed to the side of the laptop. You had to detach them before packing the laptop in your carrying case.
So, you can laugh if you want, but this Macintosh Portable introduced several technologies to the world of portable computing, and Intel based laptop manufacturers eventually followed Apple's lead.
But can it run Crysis? :|
Does anyone have an unboxing video of it? :D