April 14, 1986: The “low-cost” Macintosh 512Ke brings hardware upgrades — and a bit of confusion — to the low end of the Mac lineup. The Mac 512Ke is an “enhanced” (hence the “e”) model of the Mac 512K. The upgrade addresses complaints that the original Mac lacked enough memory. The 512Ke adds a double-density … Read more
Apple launched Vision Pro on the 40th anniversary of the Macintosh. That’s surely not a coincidence — both are ground-breaking computers that show where the company is headed for the coming decades. Anyone highly critical of Vision Pro because it appeals only to a niche audience and is very expensive needs to remember that those … Read more
March 23, 1992: The “headless” Macintosh LC II arrives, wooing value-oriented customers with a beguiling mix of updated internals and budget pricing. Designed to take up minimal space underneath a monitor (sold separately), the Mac LC II is destined to become a hit. In retrospect, the entry-level machine is roughly analogous to today’s Mac mini. … Read more
March 19, 1990: The ultra-fast Macintosh IIfx makes its debut, sporting a hefty price tag appropriate for such a speedy machine. The fastest Macintosh of its day, it boasts a CPU running at a “wicked fast” 40 MHz. It gains an additional speed bump from a pair of Apple-designed, application-specific integrated circuits. Prices start at … Read more
Pimping out a computer setup with vintage gear is super-cool, even if the old stuff doesn’t get much use (or is solely for display purposes). Today’s M1 MacBook Pro setup recently added a new Studio Display, and both of those modern machines bask in the glory of a nearby classic Macintosh SE from the 1980s. … Read more
March 7, 1989: Apple introduces the Macintosh Portrait Display, a 15-inch vertical grayscale monitor designed to show full pages on a single screen. Intended for word processing and desktop publishing, the $1,099 monitor (plus $599 for an additional video card to run it) works with any Macintosh. Something of a rarity today, the Macintosh Portrait … Read more