Prototype Apple Macintosh Classic spotted in the wild, and it looks awesome

The Macintosh Classic was sold back in the 90s as Apple‘s entry-level option. At a price of under USD 1,000 (~RM4,067.50), it was the most affordable way into the Mac world—back when the Apple ecosystem wasn’t as lauded as much as it is today. If you need some help jigging your memory (or if you were born after the 90s), a couple of images of a prototype Macintosh Classic has just been spotted in the wild. The coolest bit? It has a translucent casing—something not commonly seen on the mode at the time.

The images were shared by DongleBookPro on Twitter, showing off the see-through Macintosh Classic in its full glory:

For some comparison, this is the standard beige finish of the original Macintosh Classic (which looks pretty boring in comparison, to be honest):

In any case, the translucent Macintosh Classic pictured above is supposedly a prototype, and it gives you a peek into the insides of the all-in-one computer. Look closely, and you’ll also notice how inefficient the use of space is within the 9″ CRT monitor. In contrast to that, take a look at teardown videos of mobile devices and laptops of today, and you’ll see components tightly crammed into tiny spaces, all in the name of portability.

It doesn’t appear to be for sale, but you can be sure that a Macintosh Classic from back in the day would fetch a really, really high price. Obviously, specs within the computer are pretty pathetic by today’s standards, with a reported 1MB of RAM, a n 8MHz Motorola 68000 processor, and a monochromatic CRT display pushing a resolution of 512×314 pixels.

Still, it shows how far technology has come, and perspective can be a serious factor for aspects like size. Today, mobile phones that can slip into your pocket are many times more as powerful, but back then, devices like the Macintosh Classic were expensive, cutting-edge machines that you often had to purchase with bank loans—because even USD 1,000 was a lot of money back in the 90s.

[ VIA , IMAGE SOURCE ]