the greatest vintage apple-collection

An Attempt that failed

There were some Macs I couldn't afford back then, but desperately wanted. These very machines now hold a special place in my collection.

The Macintosh Portable was Apple's first attempt at a portable Mac in 1989 – and it was a disappointment. The device was too big, too heavy, and above all, too slow. A Macintosh Plus seemed almost as portable in comparison. It used the aging 68000 Motorola processor, which had already been used in the Mac 128 from 1984. Although the clock speed was doubled to 16 MHz, 68030 processors were already being used in the Macintosh II series in 1989.

Aside from its enormous lead-acid battery, the Macintosh Portable also had some real highlights. It boasted one of the best trackpads Apple had ever built. This could be mounted either to the left or right of the keyboard – a detail that was way ahead of its time. And the Macintosh Portable didn't have a single screw. It could be completely disassembled without tools in just a few minutes.

The screen was also exceptional. Even outdoors, it was easier to read than many notebooks that came onto the market years later. The second revision even had a backlit black-and-white screen. 

I now have over a dozen Macintosh Portables in my collection. Surprisingly, the plastic has hardly yellowed, unlike many other cases from that era. When they work, these machines are excellent to use – the keyboard is still practically perfect.

Unfortunately, most Macintosh Portables are no longer reliable. The main cause is the capacitors, which are significantly more difficult to replace than, for example, in the Macintosh II. There are also apparently other age-related problems that I still can't fully explain.

Furthermore, the Macintosh Portable absolutely requires a battery to start. Without a battery, it only works briefly if the capacitors still provide enough residual voltage – which quickly dissipates. Therefore, I installed modern lead-acid batteries from a specialist retailer into the original battery cases. An alternative solution now exists where the power is supplied directly via the ROM interface.

The Macintosh Portable remains one of the greatest technical enigmas for me – and at the same time, one of the most fascinating challenges in my collection.