When I first started working at Apple, the Macintosh Portable was the first top secret project I was introduced to.

@puciohenzap891

2 жыл бұрын

Just wondering what you're up to nowadays, still working at Apple?

@X-OR_

2 жыл бұрын

​@@puciohenzap891I worked at Apple from 1987 to 1996. I first worked for Tech Support (Supporting Certified techs in the field) and then worked in the DTS group (Moof) working with third party developers with hardware and software issues. My Apple job moved to Austin, TX ,but I wanted to continue to live and work in the bay area. I worked in biotech for many years and now am retired.

@error4159

2 жыл бұрын

@@X-OR_ You have a awesome resume.

@X-OR_

2 жыл бұрын

@@error4159 Thanks !

@enbymina

2 жыл бұрын

kickass! good on ya.

The swappable mouse/keyboard is such a cool idea for a portable this old

@babyboomertwerkteam5662

2 жыл бұрын

Back when Apple actually cared about upgradability and, in fact, even had that as a selling point.

@Charlesb88

2 жыл бұрын

Minor clarification but It was a swappable trackball/keyboard not a mouse/keyboard. I known It’s been a while since trackballs where much of thing though I believe a few models are still sold these days.

@discopants68

2 жыл бұрын

I actually own one of these and didn't even realize it had that feature.

@user-dx8br5vb3n

Жыл бұрын

@@babyboomertwerkteam5662 Apple has always prioritized end-to-end-control of the user experience over upgradability. In instances where they see the two as not being mutually exclusive, they sometimes make an exception. There is no "back when" on this. Macs of this era were notorious for their lack of expandability because Jobs hated slots. The upgrades available to Mac users who didn't want to void their warranties in the 1980s were extremely limited, and could only be had via Apple Service Centers.

@babyboomertwerkteam5662

Жыл бұрын

@@user-dx8br5vb3n Jobs hated slots - good thing he wasn't at Apple when the Macintosh Portable was made. Or the Macintosh II series, or the Quadras, or the early Power Macs, almost all of which featured between three and six expansion slots depending on the case size. Apple's engineers did care about upgradability when Jobs was out of the way. And even when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, their "pro" line-up of machines kept the upgradability, while the consumer machines (most notably the iMac) lessened it.

I worked in sales at Apple at the time the Mac Portable was introduced. The Portable was an amazing bit of engineering - the entire thing was assembled with no screws - all the parts snapped together, including the mounting of the boards and drives. The subframe was the most complex plastic part Apple ever produced, and it quite a thing to behold when it's seen by itself. If you can work out how to disassemble it all (it's not that hard), you can see how it was designed. It's pretty cool. Driven by product chief Jean-Louis Gassée, the Portable's design was meant to be free of compromises. In reality, it was filled with compromises, and all the wrong ones. Gassée assumed (wrongly, as it turned out) that portable computer users were more concerned about battery life than size and weight, and he directed the product team to build the product on that basis. To that end, they used very expensive static RAM (SRAM) instead of the more typical dynamic RAM (DRAM), because SRAM's contents could be held indefinitely with a small voltage, and almost zero current draw. This meant that while sleeping, the computer would draw almost zero power, allowing it to remain in sleep for weeks without discharging the battery. The large and heavy lead-acid battery was chosen because that battery chemistry could be charged from any level of discharge, to any level of charge, without ill effects on the battery. The nickel-cadmium batteries used at that time in competing designs had the well-known "memory effect," which meant that if you charged a NiCd battery without fully discharging it first, it would not be able to reach full charge. This created a state of what Gassée called "battery paranoia" that the Mac Portable sought to avoid. He was right about that, but the reality of the weight penalty imposed by the heavy lead-acid battery was not worth the benefits. The Active matrix LCD used by the Portable was groundbreaking, as all competing LCD-based laptops at the time used super-twist passive-matrix LCDs which, as anyone knows, were complete crap. The refresh rate was terrible, and they had awful image artifacts. The choice to use a reflective-back display without backlighting was driven by the battery life penalty it would impose, and again, it was the wrong choice. Active matrix displays later became industry-standard, but the Mac Portable was the first mainstream portable computer to offer this feature. The main drivers of the high price of the Portable were the AMLCD screen and the SRAM memory. These were (especially at the time) very expensive components. They were "interesting" choices to have made at the time, but the AMLCD later was adopted by the rest of the industry, showing Apple's leadership, at least in *some* areas. It wasn't a great machine, but a Mac Portable was definitely a cool status symbol. I hope you get to hang on to the one you have - it's a very fun artifact to have in your collection. Thanks for the tour and trip down memory lane!

@alb12345672

Жыл бұрын

Do you remember BusinessLand?

My Dad bought a Mac Portable when I was a kid, I came home from summer camp to him using it on our dining room table. I was very excited to to play with it, the screen, even without a back light, was so amazing for the time. When he went on a business trip and took me with him, I offered to carry the Mac Portable through the airports for him, which I quickly learned was a mistake. He did end up buying a small, simple clip-on lamp so he could use it in a hotel room with the rest of the lights in the room off while my Mom and I slept.

My dad had this. It was the coolest thing ever. I remember busting it out on a flight to play Glider. It felt like the seat tray table was gonna snap but I got a good 25 mins of playtime out of it.

@3rdalbum

2 жыл бұрын

25 minutes of battery life, or 25 minutes until the tray table broke?

@activatepornforme

2 жыл бұрын

@@3rdalbum Battery life. It was well used by that point and didn't last long. Tray table survived by bouncing off my knees.

Wow, aside from the yellowed space bar this thing looks pristine! I always thought this machine was super neat. There's a video of Jean-Louis Gassée completely disassembling this machine on stage to show how easily serviceable it was. Very different times for Apple for sure.

@Fifury161

2 жыл бұрын

It was designed without the need for screws - the only screws being in the screen and mechanical components (hard drive, floppy drive). The main case was all clipped together...

@Caseytify

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, these days you violate the warranty by looking at it funny.

Saw so many videos of this, the older Macs are cool and all but the Mac Portable takes the cake. It's just...so cool! Gives off the vibes of the Apple II/GS or other Apple computers of that time.

@frostech3149

2 жыл бұрын

@L. G. True, but that's the beauty of it

@lawrencedoliveiro9104

2 жыл бұрын

It’s a Jean-Louis Gassée design. Need I say more? Guy Kawasaki said of him that in his conversations he was particularly fond of two kinds of metaphors: military and sexual. So if you could describe your project as “a beautiful woman going to war”, he’d give you anything you asked for. ;)

@MrKillswitch88

2 жыл бұрын

@L. G. To me it looks just fine for the period and it could have been a lot lot worse lol.

@bwgti

2 жыл бұрын

Very true. But that no back lit screen is a deal breaker. Even in the late 80's early 90's they were hard to deal with.

@theoparke

2 жыл бұрын

I remember seeing one for the first time in an Apple-centric computer store, as a high school student. I was in love with it instantly. There was just nothing else like it.

4:51 nothing can beat the super clear, well designed, beautifully illustrated and glossy printed apple manuals from that era

We have rebuilt many Portables, backlight and non. They ALL need recapping at this point. We also need to check traces as they commonly get damaged. The Powerbook 100 is literally the portable motherboard redesigned. It even has the same powermgr chip.

@babyboomertwerkteam5662

2 жыл бұрын

Yup, Apple contracted out the PowerBook 100 to Sony and to reduce costs, they just made them shrink down the Macintosh Portable logic board. Meanwhile Apple internally developed the 140 and 170, which is why they look so different and feature an original board design.

@lawrencedoliveiro9104

2 жыл бұрын

I heard that Sony gazumped Apple on the manufacturing price of the PowerBook 100, so Apple cancelled subsequent orders after the first shipment -- of only 100,000, I think. This was a shame, as they were well-regarded machines. People wondered why no more were made, and Apple never convincingly explained why.

@CF542

2 жыл бұрын

I'd like to get in touch. I bought a Mac Portable and it actually runs but it needs restoring. Not something for the feint of heart.

@Fifury161

2 жыл бұрын

The PowerBook 100 also has the same "clock" battery requirements, although it used 3 x 3v "coin cells". Again, like the Portable, it would try to boot using those batteries if the main lead acid battery wasn't fitted, resulting in a set of very quickly drained "coin cells"!

@AmigaofRochester

2 жыл бұрын

@@CF542 I can definitely help. I'd post my website but KZread hates that. Just Google us

My high school computer teacher had a Portable. Which was nuts considering a Portable costs more than a new car.

the power adapter has a constant current limit to prevent the leadacid battery from swelling , if using lifepo4 as a replacement (which u should do ) there is no need to worry about current limiting as long as u don't charge it above 1c , that is if the lifepo4 battery pack is 6ah then u can give it 6amp max for maximum cell life. leadacids require charge current limitation like any other form of battery , this is why the power adapter is a current limited one , it drops the voltage as soon as the current exceeds rated to prevent too fast charge of that battery, i highly recommend in investing lifepo4 cells. 2of them in series and 2 in parallel will let u use this computer with back light and hdd running all the time for 4-6hrs.

@pseudotasuki

2 жыл бұрын

I imagine you could fit more than just two cells in that space. Has anyone added a charging circuit to limit the voltage automatically?

@KuntalGhosh

2 жыл бұрын

@@pseudotasuki i believe u can only fit 4 Lifepo4 32650 battery in the space of 6v 4.5ah battery. , If u can find pouch cells of Lifepo4 then u can probably do more capacity but 12ah 6v battery is already more than double the original lead acid & lifepo4 gives their rated amp hours even at 1c discharge while the 4.5ah of the lead acid is measured at a super slow discharge for 20hours.

The SRAM was the #1 reason why the sleep mode was so effective. I've got many sweet memories playing Shufflepuck on a Mac Portable back in the University computer store.

It's my understanding that Apple basically gave Sony a Portable and said, "make it better," and Sony came back with the prototype for the PowerBook 100.

6:13 There's no risk. That's not how current works. The load determines "amps". You could connect a 7.5v Portable to a power supply rated for 1000amps@7.5V ...the device will still draw the same amperage. i=v/r -> The 'r' is determined by the load (Mac Portable); the only question is: can the adapter supply enough amperage. ...not whether it has too much capacity. ...what you wouldn't want to do is connect it to a power supply that can't supply enough current, and of course, in general you want voltage to be pretty close. ...although there are a lot of devices with a much larger acceptable voltage range than you might guess.

@yay4this

2 жыл бұрын

i was shocked to hear was this was described in the video, too.

@jjjacer

2 жыл бұрын

@@yay4this many people get this wrong, especially anyone that hasn't gone into how electricity works (you can know electronics and basic board level repair without knowing how electricity works) Now where it could potentially be a problem is in a situation of a short, as the higher current PSU could damage more if there was a dead short compared to a low amperage PSU. but usually as long as the new PSU is at or only an amp or so more than an original that itself shouldn't be too much of a problem.

@Stryder_The_Nite_Owl

2 жыл бұрын

In simple terms, I've always remembered: volts are 'pushed' by the power source, and amps are 'pulled' by the device.

@dgpsf

2 жыл бұрын

Asking because I don't know, (but I already believed what you are saying): Could it be that the computer will draw 2A+ if "given the chance"? Surely that can't be, right? Because if that were so, it would be trying to draw 2A even on when running on its own "correct" power adapter and would be frying those left and right. Right??

@jjjacer

2 жыл бұрын

@@dgpsf yep, now if there is a short, or something in the computer drawing extra amperage (more drives, or added components, an overclock) then it would draw more than originally rated which might cause the original power brick to fail and a higher amperage one to keep working. another way to look at it is the PSU wattage. as you add more stuff to a computer the wattage goes up (volts*amps) if the case of having a PSU with higher AMPs / higher watts was an issue no one would buy higher wattage PSUs for their desktops. (you can usually use a higher wattage PSU for your laptop as long as the voltage is the same, and sometimes a lower wattage one but performance or battery charging will be sacrificed) Voltages are basically the only thing needing to be close to spec as the VRMs are designed for a certain input range. Sometimes you can run slightly higher voltages but not too far.

I love these retro laptop videos. Was on a binge watch yesterday about vintage laptops in movies. Like some laptops had the trackball side of the screen which was weird and in some movies they modified these luggage laptops to place the trackball next to the display because it “looked more interesting”.

@blunderingfool

2 жыл бұрын

That thing would not work on your lap. XD

@lawrencedoliveiro9104

2 жыл бұрын

How long could you keep it on your lap before you lost all feeling in your legs?

@Fifury161

2 жыл бұрын

Actually that was a design choice made by the manufacturer! A lot of those early era "portables" had side mounted or screen mounted trackballs. Compaq advertised it as a thumb operated trackball and the design was such that you gripped the screen assembly with buttons on the opposite side of the screen. Toshiba went with a clip on side mounted Microsoft trackball (the laptop had a dedicated "Ballpoint mouse" port on the side of the laptop)

As a person who 3d prints occasionally: what's going on with that blue part of the battery case? I know it's hidden inside the computer, but someone needs to work on those printing settings.

@jetsonian

2 жыл бұрын

It looks like they either have some extrusion issues, bad z-offset, or they printed it in the wrong orientation and that top had to be printed as a bridge.

@Rocket_Try

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly my thoughts

@ZonkedCompanion

2 жыл бұрын

I'd say it looks more like it was printed on a raft...

@lasskinn474

2 жыл бұрын

Zoffset or first layer flow %, how you want to fix it up to you

@TheCodeTinkerer

2 жыл бұрын

quick print ?

Great video sir!!!! I have several of these machines, both model types…and let me tell you they are the most finicky Apples I’ve ever worked on. Usually though, once you replace all the caps, install fresh battery’s and say a prayer it will usually fire right up. Luckily the M5126 used A much cheaper ram and by 1992 the price had dropped significantly.

This is one of my favorite machines I own. Very finicky, but so charming and cute though. The screen is amazing as well

My dad had one through the college he was a lecturer at and I got to use it a lot when he brought it home. That thing was sooooo heavy. These days, the carry case would have come with a telescopic handle and wheels! Great video!

@s6edge7

Жыл бұрын

i had a 2006 black macbook , and when i opened it up on the plane , people were hella confused on what that noise was , the thing liked to engage the dvd super drive on boot , also i had it running 10.7.0 (by installing it on proper hardware and then deleting some .plist file ,so it could do its thing on the black mac) but it was mine , and it meant something to me , pulled out of a office works e-waste bin by a under-payed employee, and then it sat around until i was able to scavenge a charger for it , it was all i had , and when i was able to play angry birds (all be it while singe(ing??) my lap) it was a step up from my galaxy mini 1 , that actaul dumpster fire ran android 2.something and had only enough storage for 1 game , it was exploration Lite , some minceraftesk knock-off , i dont know where this has gone but yes it has

The ability to move around the mouse and the keyboard is still a genius idea

@jackkraken3888

2 жыл бұрын

Right?

Funny, I was just watching a video about this this morning. I love the full size HDD in the case, really how it's a full desktop but just squished down.

The greatest irony being that the Portable's guts were the basis of the PowerBook 100--so going from their largest to their smallest portable in one generation.

@babyboomertwerkteam5662

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks to the magic of Sony’s engineers - Apple contracted out the PB100 to Sony, while developing the 140 and 170 internally themselves - at the time :P

I had one backlit and one non backlit. Picked them up and thrift store for $50 cuz I thought they looked cool. Didn’t realize they were worth so much. Inside the case you will find signatures of the design team embossed into the plastic.

10:10 "... an uncharacteristic flop...." Apple III, IIGS, Lisa... Not at all uncharacteristic. Apple flopped quite a lot. Usually it wasn't even flop so much as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Apple III is probably the 2md worst example of any personal computer failure company ever. Perhaps comparable to the infamous "Peanut" in self-inflicted wounds. The story of the IIGS is a similar self-inflicted gunshot wound.

@AaronOfMpls

2 жыл бұрын

Yah, the IIGS was crippled somewhat so it wouldn't cannibalize Mac sales. I do wonder what might've happened had they focused more on it.

@tarstarkusz

2 жыл бұрын

@@AaronOfMpls It really doesn't even make any sense. It wasn't ever going to be even as fast as a mac with an 8mhz 68000. But they deliberately crippled it and overpriced it for no real reason. OTOH, I think the II line was doomed from 1977 onward. The PC juggernaut was just unstoppable. But at least they would have gotten a few more years out of line, probably well into the 90s. In many ways, the IIgs is a fascinating system and could have been a worthy successor to the regular II and IIC.

@ps5hasnogames55

2 жыл бұрын

>russia avatar BASED

@tarstarkusz

2 жыл бұрын

@@ps5hasnogames55 Are you an anti-white/anti-Russian bigot? It's convenient for me that the flag is red, white and blue, which are the same colors of old glory. Every SJW on Twitter has the Ukrainian flag as their icon. I don't pretend I know the first thing about that conflict. I just know all the evil people support one side.

Awesome, Colin! So glad you covered this, I have always been curious about these. Lots of great info in the video. As always, nicely done!

Active-matrix screens were pretty rare back then. The Mac Portable screen had no backlight, but it was readable even in direct sunlight -- which you couldn’t say for nearly any other portable out there. And that lack of a backlight was a factor in its long battery life. Also the battery was a lead-acid one, like that in your car. Why? Because the more common type of battery for portable PCs in those days was the NiCad battery, which needed to be periodically run down to avoid the dreaded “memory effect”. There was no such issue with lead-acid, which could be kept at full charge all the time. Though it did add to the weight. Fun fact: when the ground-breaking PowerBook laptops were released in 1992, the lowest-end model, the PowerBook 100, actually had the ROM (and possibly other electronics) from the Portable. This meant that, even though all the machines in the range shipped with System 7.0.1, this one could run older OS versions back to 6.0.5 (same as the original Portable), though I think the battery management didn’t work completely efficiently.

That trick with the trackball position or optional numpad is amazing. I sometimes miss the old days.

Our marketing department had one of these at the office in the early 90's and I remember taking it home to work on when the Paris trains had one of their regular strikes. I was writing a proposal and collaborating with people in Singapore and Texas so the modem and email were also used. It was great to type on but very heavy to lug home and back!

Really interesting to hear about this device and especially the interesting characteristics of keeping them on the road.

Colin I’ve been a fan of your videos for a while now and I want to thank you for making this video 🙌🏻 and for featuring my photo of the Macintosh Portable 😁😁 It’s one of my favourite retro computers (my Mac Portable sits on my desk permanently). I was planning on making a video on it after my blog post but you did a better job than I ever could have. You should really pick up a backlit version, the backlight really gives the computer a different level of usability. Keep up the amazing work!

Thanks for the video. I believe the first Mac doesn’t get the credit it deserves for being portable. It came with a messenger bag that was designed to fit the mouse, keyboard, and external drive in pockets that would fit together to reduce space. It was designed to be put together quickly. It had a small footprint and a handle to carry it. It was 1984 when there was nothing like it (I was a teen then and into computers). The Osborn does deserve credit for being the first portable computer, I did see one in action once. However the first Mac solved some of its problems. Portability has always been important with the Mac.

I don't get how using a higher amp rated power adapter would pose more danger, the computer should only draw as much current as it needs. I mean unless Apple did something very horrible like using the power adapter to limit current draw. I would think voltage differences would be more dangerous.

@kaitlyn__L

2 жыл бұрын

If the current limiting is in the brick then a brick failure poses just as much of a risk either way too.

Some interesting facts about the Mac Portable you left out: The power supply being wired in series with the battery and the mainbord also meant that the computer could not be run while charging when the battery was running low. This was because the power supply didn’t supply enough current to keep up with the current draw of the computer so the computer would drain the battery faster then it was being recharged. Another issue with using lead acid batteries as the Mac Portable did is that if you drain the battery all the way down to nothing it can kill the battery, a problem that can occur with car batteries which is what trickle chargers are a thing in the automotive world. Another annoying thing about Mac Portable was that while the first generation no-backlight Mac Portable ran for a fairly long time per charge on it’s Lead acid battery (especially for the time) but also took a long time to recharge. This meant unless you lugged a heavy second battery around with external charger. You could be in trouble if you waren’t careful about how long you used it per day and how you recharged it.

It's amazing how modern a crisp black and white lcd display looks

8:55 Not just businesses. There was this entity called the Apple University Consortium, and at the time, all the universities in 🇳🇿 were members, including my employer. We could get Apple hardware at pretty good discounts, which were available to both staff and students. And for some reason, ours bought a total of five Mac Portables, which was possibly more than all the other 🇳🇿 Universities put together. And I remember one lecturer who was so attached to hers, she was very disappointed some years later when the battery failed, and it became hard to find a replacement.

Excellent content as always! Seeing those early PowerBooks brought back memories. as did the shot of that Mac IIci.

Count me among the very happy, non-business owners of the Portable backlit edition. As a college student, this machine was everything to me in the early 90s. I used it to write, play games, CREATE games, interact online (AOL was in its formative years), manage my money, and everything else. The unit sadly failed while driving it a long distance in a vehicle on the highway a number of years after I bought it, but I still have it and would one day love to refurbish and restore it back to health and fully operating condition. So many people love to dunk on the Portable in retrospect. Yes, it was relatively heavy and bulky. But compared to EVERYTHING else on the market? Apple wanted to make a Mac that could travel, with NO COMPROMISES. And that's exactly what they did. Everyone hating on the Portable back then was willing to trade off lots of functionality in exchange for light weight and ease of moving it around. This computer was not built with that mindset. It irks me that it constantly shows up on current-day lists of Apple missteps and failures, because the machine was so good at what it was designed for.

Great video Colin, such an interesting machine! Ironically, given how small the Macintosh SE is, this didn’t provide much extra portability. Especially given the price back in the day!

@Fifury161

2 жыл бұрын

They also weigh about the same! I guess though if you wanted to type up a document on the go you won't need to find a power source for the Portable. I guess this is why "AlphaSmart" keyboards became a thing!

Love your videos! Some of the best computer related content!

I live for “hey everybody it’s Colin” - a new video always brightens up my day.

Great video! I am familiar with this computer, but I’d only ever heard about its drawbacks. Nice to hear about some of the neat features.

Great timing on the upload when I just finished up watching some other stuff.

Your videos remind me of old Matt's Macintosh videos...and it's great!

Despite the flaws that it had since it’s inception, to say nothing of modern advances, there’s something so charming about these. Visually there’s just a real beauty to monochrome, active low res LCDs that modern monitors can’t capture.

@Incommensurabilities

Жыл бұрын

Agree. I think the closest modern(ish) equivalent would be retroreflective LCD panels

omg that trackball switching sides is awesome

Excellent! Thoroughly enjoyed this.

It looks dated now, but it's the only Mac that's really tempted me. The screen was much better than on the Toshiba laptop I had and worked quite well in normal office lighting and outside. It was way too expensive though.

Excellent retrospective as usual

Great video as always! Interesting content, great presentation and high quality production. 👍

My knee jerk thought was to fight about the charger, BUT... You said that the machine always runs through the battery, so the brick is a true charger only, and is *not* a power supply subject to the max pull of the machine. In that case, the issue might be that the electronics that limit the Lead Acid battery charge rate are in the charger, which you hinted at by stating there are limited charge control electronics in the machine. In that case, having more amperage available *could* then theoretically cause a problem with the battery. You need that limiter in place for the charge circuit, and if it's not internal, then it has to be in the brick. In that case, using a bigger brick could actually cause issues because the battery is dumb and will try to take everything available to charge itself. That's potentially dangerous with a SLA. Think of the power brick as a deep cycle RV battery charger, not as a modern laptop charger. If you throw too much current at a deep cycle lead acid, you can boil off the acid. In a SLA, it can heat up and go boom. Not good.

This was the first Mac I used! FYI, this was considered a “laptop” back then, but not a “notebook”, which was the new marketing term for thinner laptops.

The screen looks awesome. Pretty sharp!

the battery icon is the one that we find on a car's gauges light because it really uses lead-acid and it's an amusing novelty to me

Great video Colin! I love the portable! it is a very unique Mac. The 3d printed battery container is an awesome idea!! The only thing that I wish the first version had was a LCD backlight like you mentioned. I wonder if we could find a way to add a backlight to the 1st version?

... and as always, an awesome video to watch!

Another great video. Thanks for posting!

A flashback from my Mac. Thanks!

There’s something so cool about it’s chunk and little screen armoured by that frame. We shouldn’t be afraid of chunky laptops. They should have given an option to turn off the backlight for power saver mode, that would have definitely improved the reception.

In the right light, the screen on the Portable is beautiful!

4:32. That open and wake had the same impressiveness as when Craig introduced the M1 MacBook.

My favorite video on the internet is still astronauts on the space shuttle ejecting a floppy from one of these in 0g because it’s funny to watch it fly away

Nice job, Colin! This came out when I was in college and the only person I knew that had one was the chair of the Computer Science department.

Great job, you covered most of the bases. One bit of trivia though, if you disassemble the rear cover, the designers of the Mac Portable all have their signatures embossed on the plastic and this includes, Tim Cook.

I missed the term 'brittle plastic' in this one. ;) Great video & kind regards

Man, Halt & Catch Fire was such a good show.

Thanks for this awesome history!

Fun fact: the Macintosh Portable went to space on the STS-43 Space Shuttle mission. Was responsible for sending the first email in space and launching floppy disk projectiles across the crew cabin, among other things.

That was a good one, thanks for the Friday night vintage electronic fix. Top notch.

Current is pulled, voltage is pushed. Which means the computer will try to draw more power but is limited by the PSU.

I think that you over-state the problems with the original reflective LCD. I got one of these fully loaded as soon as they came out (and still have it). I knew things would get smaller, but lugging its weight and bulk all around Xerox PARC as well as back and forth to Toronto was worth the opportunity to have decent computing, and a chance to experience the impact before it became more "mobile". I declined the upgrade to the backlit monitor because the reflective one not only saved power, but also meant that it worked much better outside. It did its job. Nice coverage. Thanks.

Definitely some cool party tricks. The keyboard modularity and that trick handle 🥰

We used to rent these out at the Microcenter on campus at Berkeley. It was surprisingly popular. I always wanted one back then.

It was featured in season 2 episode 11 of Twin Peaks back in 91.

So rare to see one of these working and in top condition. Was this retrobrighted?

One thing that probably explains the market failure of this amazing unicorn of a Mac, is that, being “luggable” rather than a true laptop, it weighs almost the same as the compact macs of the day, the Portable and the SE both clock in at around 8 kilos. Don’t quote me on this but they would be almost the same volume too, though the portable is nice and flat. In fact, I remember lugging your Mac Plus/SE around being a thing back in the day, they even had a carry handle and an optional shoulder(-killing) bag. Of course there would be no battery power but with machines of this size and weight you would be needing a table for it to rest in anyway, there would be no cozying up in the armchair with either machine. Which pretty much leaves battery power, if you really needed it, or the few other tech feats like outdoor-readable screen, external monitor port to differentiate. And this at a quite hefty price markup.

This reminds me of the scene from 2010 with Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider) sitting on a beach with his portable computer that looks a lot like this thing. I guess the props dept. couldn't be bothered coming up with a portable computer design beyond anything that was already available in 1984.

I remember the first time I saw one of these was in the 1992 film “Single White Female.” It seemed so extraordinary and futuristic that she could dial into CompuServe, key in an address, post her message, and it appeared in the print edition if the New York Times on the day following!

Really good video, as always! One question though, something I’ve tried to figure out for a while: In the intro-sequence you show a short clip of you using what looks like a dremel to refine a green plastic part. I’m guessing you’re using some kind of x-y-table and a fixed dremel mount? Could you shed some mor details? It looks just like a setup I would like to have at home…

At the time, I think most portable computers were ironically named. I remember a friend used to bring his "laptop" to college. It weighed enough that most of us needed two hands to lift it, what with it weighing several kilos. That said, I'd still have had one in a shot. At the time, I wasn't really a mac user, so wouldn't have been interested in a mac portable. I was using a PC at college, so a PC portable would have been handy, and I had an Amiga at home, which I would have *loved* to have in a portable form. I use Macs now though, so it would certainly be interested to use one of these.

I just saw this pc on the show Salute Your Shorts the other day. The nerd kid "Sponge" was using one.

Love that era of Apple design language.

Interesting video of a cool and rare computer. Thanks!

Very informative video as always. In retrospect, I can definitely see how with the PowerBook series, Apple learned from the Mac Portable and tried to offer a true laptop experience. The funny thing is that these cost twice as much as the PowerBooks did at launch and it was only released two years earlier.

I have not seen one of these in years. Repaired quite a few of them in the early 90's when i worked at Comp USA in the tech department.

I actually had a Mac Portable in the early nineties. Actually enjoyed it for a while, eventually got rid of it for a LC 475.

You have some really nice filming techniques

I actually used one of these back in the day!

i had his thing for years its so easy to F up the filesystem

A custom interface for the HDD...never change apple. Nice vídeo

Another great video

I'm pretty sure the power supply isn't an issue, since I've charged mine using a bench power supply and it draws 1.25A at max. my guess is that the power management is good enough to not kill itself

Max spec Mac Portable in 1987 was $7000. If adjusted for inflation, that is equivalent to $18,290 dollars today. That kind of money could by a used car. A max spec 2021 MacBook Pro 16” is $6,100. I think that shows just how much technology has improved, and how much value the dollar has fallen in 34 years.

I remember mine with fondness - and the joy of selling it to get a PowerBook 100

Wow I remember having this laptop it was very heavy no back-light only paid £100 back in 1996 didn't keep long though wish I kept it now lol

Great video! I even had a PowerBook 100 once, too. I read a story and don’t know if it is true: when the Portable was first announced, Apple held a contest to give one to one of it’s employees. When it was announced who it was, they held an an event for the employee to come to the podium and take the portable from the President. The poor employee went up to pick the prize…and almost dropped i to the floor, given how much it weighed! The person had to carry it with both hands on the handle off the stage! I guess that should have been a warning to all right then and there. ;)

I used to lug one of these to the coffee shop and hack away at HyperCard stacks. Good times.

I used a Mac Portable with a backlight in high school, and I was really impressed with the thing. Unlike PC portables of the time, it was every bit as capable as its desktop counterparts. The screen was much nicer than the AOI Macs, with their smaller, blurrier, and more flickery CRTs. But yeah, ultimately it really wasn't that much more "portable" than they were.

The first one was actually called an Outbound that Apple put out of business. They used the Apple SE/30 CPU and repackaged the boards into a laptop with a tiny ram disk. It was much more sleek and compact than the Apple laptop that came to market.

my father-in-law gave me two Mac Portables a fair number of years ago - he had them at the workplace he was at (provincial government ministry) and decided to keep them when they were being sent for scrap. The carrying case that accompanied the computers were bulky enough to carry a small printer. Sadly, I didn't bother hanging onto those computers as they were taking up space that could be otherwise used. But they didn't go for recycling. A friend of mine collects old Macs and was willing to drive an hour and a half to come get them when I offered them to him. I can't help but think those laptops, with the backlight, could be made quite usable again with retrofit BlueSCSI "hard drives" and Lithium Ion batteries...Though that might explain why the AC Adapters are so pricey.

I have an Mac Portable that worked the last time I checked. With bag and rollerball/numeric keyboard. ;-)