September 20 marks the 20th anniversary of the first truly mobile Mac, the Macintosh Portable. (For 1980s computers, all the compact Macs were surprisingly portable–they even sported convenient handles–but they couldn’t run off batteries.) When you hear the Portable mentioned at all these days, it’s mostly to mock its size–rather hefty even by late 1980s standards and absurd today. But we’re celebrating its birthday with Benj Edwards’ revealing teardown.
Benj contrasts the Mac Portable to the iPhone and iPod Touch–which makes sense, since they’re both truly portable computers, ones that are vastly more powerful and less expensive than the Mac Portable. They aren’t, however, Macs. So here’s a quick comparison of the Portable with today’s most portable Mac, the MacBook Air. Like its 1989 ancestor, it’s been criticized for being compromised and pricey–especially the original early 2008 version. But can you imagine the dropping of jaws you would have witnessed if Apple fans of 1989 had been able to peek into the future and see the Air?
| Apple Macintosh Portable |
Apple MacBook Air |
| September 20th, 1989 (original version) | January 15th, 2008 (original version) |
| No, he was at NeXT | Yes |
| Compaq LTE | Dell Adamo |
| $5799 | $1499 |
| 15.25? by 14.8? by 4?; 16 pounds | 12.8? by 8.94? by .16-.76?; 3.0 pounds |
| It would have to be the largest one the world has ever seen | Yes |
| No (it would have involved a |
Yes |
| 16-MHz Motorola 68HC000 | 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo |
| 1MB of static RAM | 2GB of dynamic RAM |
| 40MB (optional) | 120GB |
| 10? active-matrix LCD with no backlighting; one-bit monochrome; 640 by 400 | 13.3?, active-matrix LCD with LED backlighting and millions of colors; 1280 by 800 |
| Lead-acid battery provides 8-10 hours of dial-up productivity | Lithium ion battery provides up to five hours of wireless productivity |
| Trackball; can be positioned to left or right of keyboard | Multi-touch trackpad; fixed |
| Yes, can optionally replace trackball | No |
| 1.44MB; option for second drive | None |
| None | None (external model available) |
| Video (requires adapter), external disk drive, SCSI, ADB, LocalTalk (printer), LocalTalk (serial), audio out | Mini DisplayPort, USB 2.0, audio out |
| None–Apple was working on it when the Portable shipped, but didn’t finish until 1995 | None |
| None, but nobody cared, since memory cards hadn’t been invented yet and nobody owned a digital camera | None |
| LocalTalk | 802.11 Draft-N Wi-Fi |
| I’m sure they would have included it if it had been invented yet | Bluetooth 2.0 |
| Yes (optional) | No (external model available) |
| Not invented yet | Yes |
| System 6.0.4 (originally) | Currently OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard |
| HyperCard |
iLife |
| There were DOS-compatibility products for Macs from early on, but I don’t recall any that let you run Windows on a Mac Portable. | Yes, through Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and VMWare Fusion |
| Yes | Yes |
| Virtually nil–it was just too flippin’ large | Pretty high |
Any additions, corrections, or questions? More Apple nostalgia: Apple Patentmania: 31 Years of Big Ideas
The Patents of Steve Jobs
A Brief YouTube History of the Steve Jobs Macworld Expo Keynote
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