Outstanding. I remember when they were released (in Australia, 1991?), I schlepped over to ComputerLand to drool over it for a while, then went home to my Z80 computer.
I do it because I love this stuff as I’m sure you feel the same about your collection as well… having said that, would be nice to get a shoutout from Apple ;). Seriously though, this was a lot of fun and I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Considering Apple nowadays, it won’t happen unfortunately. The Apple from back then is dead. Now it’s “highest valued tech company in the world” Apple. Greedy Apple.
Excellent work. It's great that this little piece of computer history found its way into the hands of someone who could restore it. That's gotta be the nicest mac classic specimen around.
Man, this was amazing! Judging by the quality of the video I easily thought you were an established RU-vidr with a million subscribers. A tiny advice: the subtitles were sometimes a bit too quick to read, you might leave them on for a few more seconds in your future videos. At any rate, I see great future ahead of you, keep up the good work!
Thanks so much and great advice. Luckily subtitles are something I can go back and edit at any time. I agree some are too quick so I’ll go back and see if I can pace them out a bit more. Thanks again for the kind words and glad you like the content!
@@mojoblues66he put subtitles for ppl who are deaf hard of hearing that’s why RU-vidrs just like my channel put subtitles but I can’t find a program to do it automatically
Holy crap, this video had me emotionally invested in that little Mac (it liiiiiiives). This was hugely interesting and informative, but also just had a really nice story to it. I can't wait to see what else you put up. This was wonderful!
I bought one of these new, and I remember the unboxing experience as being magical, watching your video I had a sense of the unique smell of a 90s Mac coming out of the box! The manual for these was top quality, as was everything including the packing materials. It was my first Mac. Yesterday I opened a MacBook Air 15” and I feel the unboxing experience today is still quite an experience.
I feel like smell is one of the strongest emotional triggers - and this smelled exactly like you would expect! It was awesome. I think Apple still does a great job with the unboxing experience, but to your point nothing beats the old school manuals that were so comprehensive they taught you how to use a mouse!
stumbled across this by accident and was totally blown away!!! The unboxing was pure gold!!! and seeing that screen light up at the end made me grin from ear to ear!
I personally hate the mentality of people keeping old electronics in the box, while it's certainly a way to preserve the contents of the box... the main attraction itself is likely to have failed and is just rotting in its own packaging. Great job giving this thing the life it deserves.
Wow! I'll echo what other commenters have said: video is enthralling and masterfully produced. Yea... your channel is going to take off with this type of content! And... what a find!! Thanks for sharing the process.. a true showcase of next-level diagnostic and troubleshooting skills, repair skills, and all captured with top-notch production quality!
it's crazy how this wasn't permanently damaged! i wasn't around when old tech like this existed but it's always interesting to see how it was done back in the day before so many of the standards today got established with the modern PC
I feel like I've come across a multi-million subscriber channel before it got big. Fantastic video and what a computer! Wonder how many of perfectly(-ish) preserved computers like this are still sitting in someone's attic or garage just waiting to be found.
AWESON! I also have an old Mac at my home, but I used to mistakenly believe that it would start up anytime I turned it on. I have now learned that it requires tremendous effort to make it work. Your video has been a great learning experience for me!
Glad it helped! Before I started getting back into these computers a few years back, I totally thought they would just turn on. Its been a really cool experiencing learning about them on a hardware level and seeing what time does to some components.
This was a great video, my first experience with a Mac was a Macintosh Plus, it had a battery backup, etc. We used it in Tanzania, East Africa in the early 90s and it was a workhorse. I was a kid and mostly used it for games, but my dad did publishing with it for the local print shop we were supporting as part of Eastern Mennonite Missions. I will never forget that little beast, even after the battery backup was killed in a power surge, we still used it and it was a sad day when we left it behind when we came back to the states. I will always remember playing Scarab of Ra, and the various kids games I had on it, and looking at the newsletters we did up on it, it has that authentic 90s mac look that was unique. Truly a magnificent piece of technology! It brought tears to me eyes seeing that untouched piece of history you restored.
@@polymatt Yea, I really appreciate you sharing your restoration video, and taking the time, effort and expense to restore that thing. I'm amazed that some of these old computers are being found untouched to this day. Seeing a mac or an IBM with a massive spiral bound notebook as a manual, and being lovingly individually packaged really is a dissonance between then and now. We had the most powerful desktop computer in the village, our competition was one of those portable LCD style IBMs or something that the Canadian missionaries up the road had. Having a PC in the 90s in Tanzania was no small matter, the print shop my day was upgrading and eventually took over management of, actually was typesetting with print tech from the 40s or something, and the stuff we did with our tech we brought and new print shop stuff let the village church go from typesetting basic hymnals by hand to us printing calendars, full books, new literature and so much more. It was eye-opening just how far we pushed that village into the modern era. People don't appreciate just how portable those little macs were back in the 90s, and just where around the world they ended up and the massive impact that they had all over the globe. They were very versatile and came in so many varieties.
Wow-the condition of that classic makes it look like you went through a time-warp and brought it back! Looks AMAZING! Great job restoring it! Thanks for another great video.
Thanks so much! That was the first time I’ve unboxed a compact Mac. Even when I was a kid and had one we bought it used from our school. This was such a cool experience and glad I was able to get it working! Thanks again for watching and glad you enjoyed!
7:30 ALWAYS when working on B&W cube Macs, the very first thing after removing the back case is to unplug the small board from the CRT. See your SCSI ribbon cable touching it as you unplug? One wrong move and you crack the CRT, because the board will lever against the pins on the CRT. Back in 1999 when I started working at Apple dealers, the techs taught me this rule.
@@polymatt Indeed! Especially nowadays where replacement tubes are no longer manufactured! Also -- and this tip is more for others than for you, since you did it right -- always remove the case by lifting it straight away. Attempting to angle the rear case can also hit the CRT board and break the tube...
Didn’t realize you were the thinkpad 701c guy until after I finished this! Bravo to your work preserving those amazing laptops, and this Classic too! You’ve got great skills and I hope you keep making videos. Would love to have voiceovers too if you’re up to it.
Thanks so much - yeah, I've definitely done a deep dive on the 701c line but I liked the idea of using this format to show some of the other things I do as well. Glad you enjoyed it!
Geez, I'm pc user and builder, but I was just captivated by this video (my first personal computer, though, was a Mac Plus, bought it in 1986, had it for four years and it worked great). Wow, nice job. Thanks for posting this. You do geek proud.
Heard about this video on the Nextlander Ramblecast and was going to look it up and here it is in my feed like Google was listening..... Anyway, cool video!
@@polymattRamblecast 120. Unfortunately, it's behind a paywall. I'd try to link you a copy here, but I've had comments with even the most veiled URLs I can fathom be auto-deleted.
Nice, although I was concerned about dunking the speaker in IPA, and powering up the power supply with the ultor cap disconnected, You had it awfully close to the neck board 13:54, if it did fire up I would expect a large arc and possible damage. This does show the downside of computers, assuming nothing is wrong, it is all but totally useless these days (for it's original intended use)
What an awesome video. From Macintrash to Macintosh! Now you can go play Zork! But seriously, I throughly enjoyed that. After getting blamed for breaking one of those as a kid (wasn’t my fault) it’s amazing what modern parts can do to old machines.
Man, seeing a pristine mac classic really brings me back. That perfect color, no discolorations, no aging on any of the metal. When I was a young kid, I was too poor to get a computer. Game consoles were about the extent our finances would allow, but my friend got a brand new mac classic just for his bedroom (lucky punk). I remember being so excited with him when his dad walked in the door with it and brought it to his room, unboxed it, and put it on his desk. ...Fortunately our power on moment was a flip of the switch, contrasting with yours. ;)
So awesome to see that original gray instead of the oxidized yellow color unsealed ones become. And to see that boot screen after all your effort, a thing of such beauty and boot speed.
The process of opening up the box of a new computer for the first time when computers were something rather special in the home (not rare, but far from ubiquitous, unlike today), the excitement at seeing the new model up close and personal and giddily knowing that it's YOURS; I miss that. That Mac looks imacculate inside, the PCBs and chips looking brand spanking new. That cruelly created the illusion that it was going to fire up first time! Great work getting it back up and running.
Wow I am impressed and it was so entertaining to watch it being restored into Mac Classic from start to finish. And the length was not long or shot. Beautifully edited.
Very nice video. Just goes to further show that no aluminum electrolytic capacitor has eternal life, not even on a sealed and never-used machine. I must say I did grimace when I saw that paper speaker get dunked in IPA, but it certainly was a relief to see it works fine after drying. Also very interesting to see just how many components need replacing, above and beyond just the capacitors. Your video does a long way to warn people who buy sealed computers that they still probably need repair work, and such would need to be factored into the cost of the machine. No doubt you paid a pretty penny for that sealed Classic. But it certainly is lovely to behold, and now that it's working, I know it means something very special to you. It would to me. Thanks for sharing!
I had forgotten what a sweet little computer the Classic was! After the Mac Plus I went straight to Mac II's with 24bit colour. I have a company, 'David Myers and Associates' based in Australia and I was commissioned to design and produce Apple's very first digital 'Direct To Screen' presentation introducing 'Mac OS-7' and all of it's features. I designed the presentations on a Mac II with 20Mb SCSI 'Syquest' external drives and Apple ran the shows on other Mac II's connected to modified Sony RGB theater projectors, worldwide. You have inspired me to search for a similar unit as beautiful as yours. Thanks for bringing back all those memories! Cheers, David.
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the video. It was such a fun project for me to work on. This was one of the first computers I owned that was “my” computer growing up.
Running the analog and logic boards out of the case like that is risky business. Disconnecting the yoke doesn't remove B+ from the flyback in that model, so if both boards are working you have horizontal drive and the HV will come up! That loose anode cap could arc to the logic board and blow something up, or arc to you and stand your hair on end. It wouldn't kill you but it won't feel good. Without the yoke the deflection circuit is not tuned and you can blow the horizontal output transistor. Better to leave the logic board out of it and check voltages on the plug. They should be stable without the logic board, and you're guaranteed to have no HV.
Great video! Thanks for making it! In case it isn't mentioned, the power board outputs very high voltages, so I was a little stressed out when you just had it powered on the bench like that. There is a big resistor that you can remove one leg of to make sure power doesn't go to the high voltage parts of the board. I don't remember which one of the top of my head, I think it's one of the blue ones maybe, but Adrian's Digital Basement has a video where he shows this. If it were me I'd also verify in the schematics. The thing about high voltage is that, depending on the voltage and materials, your gloves might not actually be enough insulation and it could just right through. So this is a serious danger here! Also, that voltage could jump through the air and fry components on your motherboard (logic board) even if it isn't touching it. I went back and checked but I couldn't tell if you actually disabled the high voltage. But I hope that in the future you will if you aren't already! Work safely! Also... you left the battery in while submersing the board. It's probably okay but not the best idea as it could short something out.
Hey, thanks so much! I didn't know about the resistor trick - I'll definitely have to check that out, and as far as the battery - I actually caught that as I was doing it :D. If you watch the video, the very next clip the battery is removed and sitting on the side of the IPA bath. The good thing was that I was using 99% but still a chance that you don't need to take! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Same, I always loved the super compact design. My first time dialing up to a BBS was on one of these and whenever I see one, I associate it with the "soothing" sounds of dialup. Was a magical experience back in the day.
When I was attending Uni in the early 90's I remember there was a student in my maths class always carry his Macintosh Classic into the lecture theatre just like what they do with laptops nowadays. Thanks for the fond memories.
Thats amazing - my first exposure to these was in grade school. We had an entire lab of Apple II systems and one day we got a couple compact macs. Everyone fought over getting a seat at one. I love the nostalgia something like this brings back for people. Glad you enjoyed watching!
Thank you! You can find these but unfortunately all compact macs have become collectible, even the lower end ones - and ones like these are likely going to need the same TLC. I’d recommend looking in local listings rather than places like eBay.
Gosh this was a joy to watch. I have a G3 project on the horizon needed the analog board recapped. I’m experienced with soldering so it doesn’t worry me, but this video definitely reignited the itch to get in and do it
Thanks for making this video. Have some mac. My old 1980s Amiga still work. Seeing a NEW old computer coming out of the box.... so perfectly new. Miss that old light-grey color.
Man I’m glad you found one brand new and you were able to fix it and get it working. I remember playing the Oregon Trail on one of them machines. Man brought back some memories. Good job on getting this piece of history running again. 👍
What an amazing video! I've never owned a Classic Mac but used Commodore C64 and Amiga back in the day. I find videos like this quite moving that people are still loving these old machines and giving them a new lease on life. Seeing this brand new (old stock) Mac being unboxed was quite special!! Also I am wondering if you could let me know where you sourced the music from. Amazing stuff! :D
Great job, you did this little machine a good turn with care and precision. Great to see it's in good hands. Incredible to see it in original condition like this.
Great vid! I have a Classic II that one day I'll have to recap as well when i get comfortable enough to do it. Speaker's starting to distort and the display had lines during boot randomly. Fun times await
This is unreal! Factory-sealed items have something magical to me and if something remains in that condition for decades that makes it even more special. I bought my Classic in 1997 when it was already pretty long in the tooth but it was the only thing I could afford at that time. It came with a black carrying case with an embroidered Apple logo. A thing of beauty but also huge, so when I sold the Classic I did so along with the bag because I didn't have the space. I still don't but it was a fascinating thing! Side note on batteries: I've messed with countless late-80s and 90s Macs and the only symptoms of refusing to boot without a PRAM battery have always been a black screen and no HDD activity beyond the spin-up self test. A reboot after a few seconds cures that and the computer boots perfectly fine. If you don't get any fans and HDD spin-up you've got a power issue (or ADB in some rare instances, if your Mac has soft power-on).
That is straight out of the 90s for me. My high school had a lab of Mac SE30's and Classics, that we used every day. The nostalgia is almost overwhelming.
This actually humbled me. I was *_sure_* it was gonna boot, because in my experience leaky caps from the '80s/'90s are normally from years of hot running. But you called it, man!
This was amazing to watch. I love watching unboxing vids of NOS retro computers and video game systems etc. I have a new in the box sealed ColecoVision that I am contemplating opening but love just admiring it on my shelf for now. I had one as a kid so its so nostalgic for me.
I'm so glad I randomly stumbled upon this video...simply amazing video thank you so much for going into detail and showing your skills. When the chime came in and the monitor turned on I was like YASSS! lol!
Nice work, man. Subscribed. The no-talking approach is reminiscent of Primitive Technology’s vids, but with background music instead of chirping birds and other woodsy sounds. That said, you’ve got a good speaking voice, so narrating as you go would certainly work. My first Mac was a Classic II, which I bought in 1992. I still remember the nerdy excitement I felt when I unboxed it. 🤓
I don't know if you know the trick (and I'm a little late to the party) but on the Classic, holding cmd-option-x-o after chime should boot to a minimalist ROM boot disk. If you get a chime on a Classic, you can always boot to Finder even without any floppy or SCSI disk with the ROM boot disk. Also, for an Easter Egg, get info on the ROM disk, it will tell you the location is "hiding inside this machine".
Truly fascinating to watch your work. It gave me so much "feels" to see this Mac power on. Have you ever considered restoring work for computer history museums?
I have watched a lot of repairs videos, and to see something from 33 years ago only started to work after being left on the shelf is amazing. I can only dream of fixing some of the things I have put aside due to electrical/electronic breakdown, maybe one day
