The Macintosh Color Classic (sold as the Macintosh Colour Classic in PAL regions) is a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

designed, manufactured and sold by

Apple Computer, Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

from February 1993 to May 1995 (up to January 1998 in PAL markets). It has an

all-in-one All in One or All-in-One may refer to: Computing * All-in-one PC, a desktop computer with the monitor and computer in the same case * All-in-one printer or multifunction printer * ALL-IN-1, an office automation software package from Digital Equipm ...

design, with a small, integrated 10″

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Trinitron Trinitron was Sony's brand name for its line of aperture-grille-based CRTs used in television sets and computer monitors. One of the first truly innovative television systems to enter the market since the 1950s, the Trinitron was announced in ...

display at 512 × 384 pixel resolution. The display is capable of supporting up to thousands of colors with a video memory upgrade. The Color Classic is the final model of the original "compact" family of

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

computers, and was replaced by the larger-display

Macintosh LC 500 series The Macintosh LC 500 series is a series of personal computers that were a part of Apple Computer's Macintosh LC family of Macintosh computers, designed as a successor to the compact Macintosh family of computers for the mid-1990s mainstream educa ...

and

Power Macintosh 5200 LC The Power Macintosh 5200 LC and Power Macintosh 5300 LC were a line of personal computers that are a part of Apple Computer's Power Macintosh, LC, and Performa families of Macintosh computers. When sold to the consumer market, the machines ...

Hardware

The Color Classic has a

Motorola 68030 The Motorola 68030 ("''sixty-eight-oh-thirty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general ...

CPU running at 16 MHz and has a logic board similar to the

Macintosh LC II The Macintosh LC II is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from March 1992 to March 1993. The LC II is an update to the original Macintosh LC, replacing its Motorola 68020 processor with a 68030 and increasin ...

. Like the

Macintosh SE The Macintosh SE is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, from March 1987 to October 1990. It marked a significant improvement on the Macintosh Plus design and was introduced by Apple at the same time as the Mac ...

and SE/30 before it, the Color Classic has a single expansion slot: an LC-type

Processor Direct Slot A processor direct slot (PDS) is a slot incorporated into many older Macintosh models that allowed direct access to the signal pins of a CPU, similar to the functionality of a local bus in PCs. This would result in much higher speeds than having ...

(PDS), incompatible with the SE slots. This was primarily intended for the

Apple IIe Card The Apple IIe Card is a hardware emulation board, also referred to as compatibility card, which allows compatible Macintosh computers to run software designed for the Apple II series of computers (with the exception of the Apple IIGS, IIGS). ...

(the primary reason for the Color Classic's switchable 560 × 384 display, essentially quadruple the IIe's 280 × 192 High-Resolution graphics), which was offered with education models of the LCs. The card allowed the LCs to emulate an

Apple IIe The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The ''e'' in the name stands for ''enhanced'', referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in ...

. The combination of the low-cost color Macintosh and Apple IIe compatibility was intended to encourage the education market's transition from Apple II models to Macintoshes. Other cards, such as CPU accelerators,

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

and video cards were also made available for the Color Classic's Processor Direct Slot. The Color Classic shipped with the

Apple Keyboard Apple Inc. has designed and released dozens of keyboard models since the introduction of the Apple II in 1977. The current models in use are dual-mode (Bluetooth and USB) keyboards with integrated batteries: Magic Keyboard (silver only), and Mag ...

known as an Apple Keyboard II (M0487) which featured a soft power switch on the keyboard itself. The mouse supplied was the

Apple Mouse Apple Inc. has designed and manufactured several models of mice, trackpads and other pointing devices, primarily for use with Macintosh computers. Over the years, Apple has maintained a distinct form and function with its mice that reflect the ...

known as the Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II (M2706). A slightly updated model, the Color Classic II, featuring the Macintosh LC 550

logic board A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expan ...

with a 33 MHz processor, was released in Japan, Canada and some international markets in 1993, sometimes as the

Performa The Macintosh Performa is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. The Performa brand re-used models from Apple's Macintosh Quadra, Quadra, Macintosh Centris, Centri ...

275. Both versions of the Color Classic have 256 KB of onboard VRAM, expandable to 512 KB by plugging a 256 KB VRAM SIMM into the onboard 68-pin VRAM slot. The name "Color Classic" was not printed directly on the front panel, but on a separate plastic insert. This enabled the alternative spelling "Colour Classic" and "Colour Classic II" to be used in appropriate markets.

Upgrades

processor, the Color Classic can only go up to Mac OS 7.6.1. However, some Color Classic users upgraded their machines with motherboards from Performa/LC 575 units ("Mystic" upgrade), while others have put entire Performa/LC/Quadra 630 or successor innards into them ("Takky" upgrade). Another common modification to this unit was to change the display to allow 640 × 480 resolution, which was a common requirement for many programs (especially

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

s) to run. With the Mystic mod, the Color Classic uses the motherboard of the Macintosh LC 575 which has a

Motorola 68LC040 The Motorola 68040 ("''sixty-eight-oh-forty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 series, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060, skipping the 68050. In keeping with general Motorola nami ...

CPU (at a speed of 33 MHz instead of 25 MHz) and is pin compatible with the Color Classic. A Color Classic with the Mystic upgrade can go up to Mac OS 8.1 (Mac OS 8.6 and newer require PowerPC processors). With the Takky mod, the case and connector need to be modded, but doing so will allow the use of a PowerPC 601, 603, or 604 equipped motherboard. A Color Classic with the Takky upgrade can go up to Mac OS 9.1 (Mac OS 9.2 and newer require a G3 processor). On Takky Color Classics, there is a way to upgrade the processor with a G3 CPU, but it will only go up to Mac OS 9.2.2 as Mac OS X isn't officially supported.

Models

Introduced February 1, 1993 (Japan only): Macintosh Performa 250 * Macintosh Performa 250 Introduced February 10, 1993 (Japan, Asia, Americas) / March 16, 1994 (PAL regions): Macintosh Color/Colour Classic * Macintosh Color Classic Introduced October 1, 1993 (South Korea) / September 9, 1994 (Japan): Macintosh Performa 275 * Macintosh Performa 275 Introduced October 21, 1993 (Japan, Asia, Canada) / December 3, 1994 (PAL regions): Macintosh Color/Colour Classic II * Macintosh Color Classic II

Timelines

References

External links

Colour Classic FAQ

powercc.org - Upgrading Tutorials for Mystic, Takky, 640x480
{{Apple hardware before 1998 Color Classic Color Classic Color Classic Computer-related introductions in 1993