The first step to opening up the Macintosh Portable is to remove the rear cover by pressing in the two square buttons on either end of the rear above the ports. This reveals the battery compartment, the RAM, ROM, and modem slots, as well as the floppy and hard disk drives. 

The rest of the computer can be easily disassembled by following the instructions here. Disassembly takes only 15 minutes or so and makes the Macintosh Portable a dream to work on compared to other contemporary computers of its time. Typical computers of the late 80s were held together with a myriad of screws, often using many different lengths and widths throughout their designs.

Once disassembled, there are 3 main components – the screen module, the inner chassis, and the ABS plastic covers. The inner chassis is perhaps the most interesting – as Jean-Louis Gassée stated during the product launch event: “This is the most complex piece of plastic Apple has ever made.” I suppose in 1989, creating an intricate plastic shape through injection molding took some technical prowess, something that we would hardly think about as challenging today. 

The internal chassis holds the computer’s internals together, providing support and structure for the battery, expansion cards, hard disk & floppy disk as well as forming part of the hinge support for the LCD display.

The floppy disk is pretty standard and is pretty well built – these tend to just need a cleaning. The hard disk on the other hand is usually dead or close to it. I would recommend replacing the hard drive with a SCSI2SD solution. There’s a good tutorial here on how to get Mac OS onto your SD card.

When the computer is fully dissembled, one can really appreciate the amount of plastic used to create the Macintosh Portable – about half the weight of the computer is derived from its internal and external plastic! 

Below is main event – the Macintosh Portable’s (Backlit) motherboard. I’ve added the capacitor values to help anyone that is recapping theirs. Be careful when removing the SMD can capacitors as they have a tendency to pull up pads with them if you’re not careful. In my experience, the two large radial caps don’t seem to need recapping. If you are going the electrolytic route, pay attention to the clearance between the board and the plastic chassis – you will have to get creative to fit large caps on the board correctly.

Also, not the VGA-looking port on the top right. It’s NOT a VGA port (of course, it’s a proprietary Apple design) – plugging in a VGA cable *will* damage the circuitry around the port.

Lastly, be careful when handling, removing or reassembling the board – the board is quite large and any flexing can easily damage the traces on the board. If you’re having problems with your Macintosh Portable after recapping, you can try to isolate the problem by testing the traces. The motherboard has a lot of signal test points, and schematics can be found here, and a modern version here (both these links are to schematics for the original Macintosh Portable, (the backlit ones haven’t been found), but the circuitry is aside from the power management aspects are quite similar between the two).

To get your Macintosh Portable working after you recap the motherboard you will have to replace what is possibly the world’s largest computer battery.

The lead-acid battery that comes with the Macintosh Portable will be long dead – some purists have cracked these open to replace the old sealed lead acid cells with new ones, but it’s much easier to simply replace the battery with a standard lantern-type lead-acid battery. Just make sure you use thick gauge wire to connect the terminals as long thin wires can increase the resistance too much to the point that it can cause problems powering on. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous you can take the path that I took, using a LiFePo4 battery – these batteries are drop-in replacements for sealed lead acids. They weigh less and last a lot longer. You can find these on Amazon and are compatible with the Macintosh Portable’s charging circuitry. I built myself a custom one that lasts for more than 24 hours on a single charge (with the backlight on!). I know that’s a bit overkill, but, hey, it’s still pretty cool.

Other than the battery, and the hard disk, the last thing you can update is the RAM. The Macintosh Portable comes stock with 2 MB of RAM soldered on the motherboard – which is barely enough to get System 6 going. Most Macintosh Portables on eBay will come with a RAM expansion card that usually brings the total up to 4 MB.

However, if you want to max out the RAM on the Macintosh Portable, then you need the MacEffects 8MB upgrade card – this baby gives you between 5-9 MB of RAM depending on your configuration, more than enough to run System 7.5.5 – the latest Mac OS supported by the Macintosh Portable.

That’s about it – I hope this post helps someone who’s restoring or trying to repair their Mac Portable. It’s a unique device, and if you’re interested in why and how Apple developed such a unique product, check out my posts below:

Part 1: The Macintosh Portable -A Tale of Too Big, Too Late

Part 2: Macintosh Portable: The Blame Game

Part 3: Using the Macintosh Portable

The post Inside the Macintosh Portable (Repairs & Upgrades) appeared first on Retropaq.

Well, in typical Apple fashion, we will never know exactly what happened as Apple closely guards its secrets then and now – but we can still piece some things together. In a recent (2018) blog post, Gassée claims at the time of the Macintosh Portable’s release, he already thought of it as being too clunky and had already wanted to approach Sony to assist Apple in miniaturization:

“Another project, the Mac Portable, isn’t as successful. Convinced it’s going to be too big and heavy, I want to bench the project lead and ask Sony to partner with us to develop a much smaller portable Mac. It seems like a perfect marriage: Sony is already a well-liked Apple partner, and their talent for miniaturization, aesthetics, and good manufacturing is indisputable. I get strong push back on the proposed moves, complete with accusations of being anti-American. I lose my nerve and capitulate.“

Excerpt from: MondayNote.com (full article here)

We don’t know who gave the “strong pushback” exactly – though he implies it was John Scully, judging by the rest of the blog post. Of course, this is only his side of the story. Though, I must say I find it a little hard to believe that the Head of Macintosh Development would have simply allowed Apple’s first mobile computing device to be this clunky. There has to be more to the story. Personally, I suspect that Gassée, known for his artistic and perfectionist flair, was convinced an actual laptop would compromise the “Macintosh” experience that Apple was known for, and arrived at the conclusion that a luggable would be a better fit.

Whether or not this is true or not is pure speculation of course. When pressed by reporters on the weight of the Macintosh Portable during the launch event, in a reply fit for an artist, Gassée reassuringly mused:

“All I know is, when people touch it, when they put their hands on it, they want it, even if its heavier”.

E. SCOTT RECKARD. (1989, September). Apple Unveils Portable Macintosh Computer (UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.). Associated Press.

Sounds like there was perhaps a tiny bit of denial at the time of the launch. Though there was some logic in his thinking – Apple fans had a track record of buying anything made by Apple, but perhaps this time Gassée and/or the product development team had gone too far in terms of the weight, and not far enough in terms of the innovation.

Though on some level Gassée knew that the Macintosh Portable was going to be a failure, with one book on Apple history stating:

“We knew the Luggable was a dud. But it was a first product… I offered to give a two-hundred-dollar trade-in for anyone who bought in a Luggable in exchange for a Be box. I wanted to destroy all evidence”

Carlton, J. (1997). Apple:: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders (1st ed.). Crown Business.

Sounds messy. Whatever happened, it didn’t end well for Gassée, as he was forced out of Apple a year after the Macintosh Portable was launched. John Scully and the board were apparently dissatisfied with Gassée’s performance at delivering new products and forced his removal.

It seems, one way or another, through some combination of mismanagement and a lack of understanding, the Macintosh Portable was developed as a backward-looking 1980s portable, and not a forward-looking, 1990s laptop.

Price of the Bleeding Edge: The Active-Matrix Display

Though the Macintosh Portable was hefty both in weight and price, it did pack a punch with new screen technology. The Macintosh Portable dazzled people with its display and was the most technologically advanced at the time. It was the world’s first commercially available active-matrix LCD, setting the Macintosh Portable apart, though to save on power, it was initially not backlit. All other portables & laptops were passive matrix – a slight step up from the calculator-like LCD screens of early portable computers but had poor contrast and were notorious for image blur & ghosting. Apple’s active-matrix LCD was revolutionary as each pixel could be toggled and refreshed rapidly, independent from neighboring pixels. This resulting sharp image, even with on-screen movement, allowed for a superb user experience when coupled with the Mac OS GUI. In the end, active-matrix became standard technology in all LCDs (even to this day) due to its superior performance.

Though there is always a drawback to using cutting-edge technology – it’s expensive. Lack of economies of scale and low production yields on the new technology contributed significantly to the Macintosh Portable’s astronomical price. Another side-effect of pushing the technological envelope is supply chain unpredictability. Product ship dates are often delayed for absolute cutting-edge tech and are therefore a closely guarded secret. It must have been a nightmare for Apple, when, in one of the earliest “Apple leaks“, news broke about an Apple employee releasing internal documents outlining the Macintosh Portable in February 1988.

Why was there a leak? We don’t know exactly, but by this time, the Macintosh Portable had already been in an advanced stage of development for at least a year. We know this as the unique keyboard PCB of the Macintosh Portable has a silk screen date of 1987. Additionally, these other photos below from AppleDesign show other prototypes with non-active-matrix LCDs from early 1986. It seems like the initial designers came up with a laptop, and Apple responded by adding a Numpad and a smaller, active-matrix screen.

Perhaps the leak was intended to motivate Apple to not wait for the Active Matrix LCD. Or perhaps it was to show the Macintosh community what a literal “big” mess the Apple Portable was going to be. Of course, Apple did the right wrong thing: After the un-intended publication of its plans, Apple waited. It took a devastatingly long, one-and-a-half years to bring the Macintosh Portable to market (release date: September 20, 1989). That is 3 years from the dates of the original design concepts. Apple had broken the cardinal rule with new tech and had waited too long for it to be perfected. When the Macintosh Portable was finally released, it was already seriously dated. Most manufacturers had shifted focus to laptops, and the remaining portables and luggables on the market were more powerful and portable than Apple’s offering. It almost seems like Apple had forgotten that they were in the fast-paced, high-tech world, where computers were out of date within 18 months. The LA Times summarised it best, by noting at the Macintosh Portable launch event: “This machine would have been OK 12 months or 18 months ago. But not today“.

The Problem With Extended Family

In addition to the lengthy delays, Apple also priced what remaining customers they had out of the market. The Macintosh Portable launched with a list price of US$7,499 (equivalent to over US$15,500 in 2021). US$7,499 was a tough pill to swallow for many Mac users – especially since the Macintosh Portable was similar in functionality to its CRT-based cousin, the Macintosh SE/30 – priced at US$4,369, some $3000 less. It also didn’t help that all Compact Macs had a built-in carrying handle, and were treated as luggable “portable desktops” by many. The only meaningful differentiator of the Macintosh Portable was battery power, but that came with an additional trade-off. To conserve power, the launch version of the Macintosh Portable, unbelievably, had no backlight, greatly limiting its appeal further.

To top it off, the Macintosh SE/30 sported a state-of-the-art 68030 CPU, which could run circles around the Portable’s 68000. Existing Mac users did not see their desires for portability met, and those thinking about getting into Macs balked at the Portable’s astronomical price and dated appearance. Resultingly, stating demand as lackluster would be an understatement for the Macintosh Portable, and Apple sold less than 10,000 units in its first quarter of release. This led to the first of many price slashes of the Macintosh Portable with the first being $1000 off in April 1990 (just 7 months after launch). The fire-sale tactics could not save the Macintosh Portable and it was quietly discontinued in 1991.

Apple did try to improve the appeal of the Macintosh Portable midway through its retail life by releasing an updated model that incorporated a backlight into its LCD (along with a further reduced price tag) in 1990. An upgrade option was also available to allow existing users to swap out the non-backlit display for a backlit one (though it cost $1165 for the upgrade). Sadly, this attempt to fix a flaw of the Macintosh Portable did not help much – as though it left the Portable with a much improved backlit display, it reduced the battery life by up to half, resulting in the Portable having a battery life similar to much more portable competing laptops.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try, Try Again

A year on from the departure of Gassée, Apple released the Powerbook 100 series of laptops with great success in 1991. The PowerBook was what the Macintosh Portable should have been, and set the stage for modern laptop design in the coming years. With its shallow, condensed keyboard, appropriately sized and repositioned trackball, miniaturized components, and compact footprint, the Powerbook is Apple’s first “true” laptop (one that you could actually use in your lap!).

Not everything in the new PowerBook, however, came from a clean slate – the cutting-edge screen module on the Macintosh Portable had been ported over to the top-of-the-range Powerbook 170, and the low-end Powerbook 100 used the same basic circuit design as the Macintosh Portable, with Sony assisting in miniaturization to fit it in the smaller footprint. In fact, both the entry-level Powerbook 100 and the mid-range Powerbook 140 used passive-matrix LCD displays – and were wildly successful. It seems that a slightly less crisp display was an acceptable compromise after all. The PowerBook was truly a laptop for the 1990s, capturing 40% of the laptop market with its updated design and true portability. This left the poor Macintosh Portable looking even more dated than it already did at launch, and was soon forgotten – it is hard to believe that both of these computers were sold retail at Apple in the same year within 6 months of each other.

Though the Macintosh Portable was a commercial failure, it was an essential stepping stone marking a critical juncture in Apple’s history. It marks the point when Apple recognized portable computing would be the shape of things to come and incorporation of that idea into their strategy. All of Apple’s world-transforming products, from the MacBook to the iPod to the iPhone, can trace their roots back to their hefty great-grandfather, the Macintosh Portable.

Whilst the Macintosh Portable might have been a commercial failure, I actually love using mine as a desk-bound Mac:

Why the Macintosh Portable is Actually Amazing – with a tour around the exterior and running Mac OS 7.5.5 >>

Or

Taking a Look Inside the Macintosh Portable – taking the portable apart (with no tools!) & exploring the internals

Or go back to part 1: The Macintosh Portable -A Tale of Too Big, Too Late

The post Macintosh Portable: What Went Wrong? appeared first on Retropaq.

The most amazing feature of the Macintosh Portable, for me, is undoubtedly the keyboard. I typed the first draft of this blog post series on my backlit Macintosh Portable, and it really was a pleasure – they certainly don’t make them like this anymore! The keys are full travel, but not too clicky; they depress with just enough force so that you can really type at speed. A masterpiece of design borrowed from other Macintosh desktop keyboards that really makes a writer want to keep on typing. Perhaps if SATC had come out 8 years earlier, Carrie Bradshaw would have been lugging the Mac Portable round to a Starbucks. Though I will note, that for a portable, the keyboard is remarkably similar to that of a deskbound Mac, and one would have thought that Apple would have made some compromises on size for the sake of portability. One contemporary laptop that managed to shrink down a keyboard and deliver an excellent typing experience was the IBM L40-SX – a laptop with arguably one of the best keyboards to type on. Now, this comparison is not to say that the Macintosh Portable keyboard is inferior, but more just to point out that it is possible to deliver an excellent typing experience on a keyboard that is not full size and full travel.

The exterior of the Macintosh Portable is reminiscent of the Macintosh IIc, with its off-white exterior and an elegant row of slits in the top plastic casing. This design language, known as “snow white”, was first used on the IIc back in 1984. Aesthetically speaking the Macintosh Portable is a beautiful embodiment of the Snow White style, with its clean lines and minimalist look. The plastic used in the Macintosh Portable is of the ABS variety (the same used in motorcycle helmets – being very sturdy, rigid, and resistant to impacts. Luckily the plastic has also aged well and is much less brittle than the plastic used in other contemporary laptops. The thick fog-white colored plastic along with the wedge design gives the computer a sculpture-like quality. When standing vertical in its carrying position, the Macintosh Portable could be mistaken for some fine art modernist monolith in an art gallery.

Opening the Macintosh Portable is intuitive if a little clunky; the carrying handle doubles as the screen release. To release the screen, one pushes the carrying handle inwards, towards the keyboard. I have found, however, that setting down the computer and releasing the carrying handle can result in the computer unexpectedly opening up a bit as the handle falls and releases the catch for the screen. 

The screen panel can be adjusted for a wide viewing angle – and is quite ergonomic to use either standing in front of it or sitting at a desk. As mentioned in my previous post, you could rest this behemoth on your lap, and the screen angle allows you to do this, but it would not be very comfortable for your knees.

You might notice the two indentations on either side of the LCD – these cutouts are to accommodate the trackball, as it can be configured to be placed on either the left or right sides, a nice touch for those who are left-handed. The keyboard, as previously mentioned, is a marvel. It is up there as one of the best full-size keyboards I have typed on. The trackball does need some getting used to, but after a while, it quickly becomes second nature after spending a few hours with the machine. Make sure you clean the trackball and its contact wheels inside the trackball enclosure if you are not getting smooth cursor movement.

Round the right side of the unit is the SuperDrive, a 1.44 MB floppy disk drive capable of reading and writing both Mac and PC formatted high-density diskettes as was included with other contemporary macintoshes. The power eject mechanism really accentuates the no-compromise desktop feel that the Macintosh Portable was trying to achieve. There is even a video of the Macintosh Portable ejecting its floppy disk aboard the Space Shuttle in outer space.

The rear of the computer houses the I/O ports, modem phone line jack, sound output and power port. The Macintosh Portable features an external SCSI connector (perfect for SCSI CD-ROMs and Zip Drives), as well as a connector for an external floppy disk drive. There is one port that suspiciously appears to be a VGA port for an external monitor but, in true Apple fashion, is actually a proprietary external display connector that is not compatible with VGA. 

On the left side of the portable we have two buttons used to restart the computer should the computer become non-responsive. Pressing these two buttons simultaneously will trigger a hard reboot of the computer. This is the first Macintosh I have owned and during daily use, I have not needed to use the buttons often; however, when setting up the computer with all the software that I was trying to install, I did have to reset the computer when certain programs caused the system to lock up. There is a third switch to the right of the two buttons is used to lock the reset buttons, preventing them from accidentally being pushed.

Booting Up The Macintosh Portable

The Macintosh Portable is built around the then-new idea of being “always-on” with the system entering a reduced power consumption sleep state when not in use. The benefits of this are clear as in normal operation, there is no boot time, which was still quite a novelty in 1989. However, this sleep state is not optional – power is drawn from the batteries even when the computer is “shut down” and not in sleep mode, meaning that a full charge will be drawn down by the battery after a couple of days of non-use if the power adapter isn’t plugged in.

Turning on the Macintosh Portable is also slightly unusual. Since the computer is always in “standby mode”, one pushes any key on the keyboard to turn on the computer. If the computer was put to sleep, then tapping a key resumes the working session. If the Macintosh Portable was shut down, pressing a key triggers the computer to boot with its distinctive chime.

Before getting into Mac OS 6-7.5.5 and installing any software on the Macintosh Portable, I would highly recommend using the official introductory disk to really get a feel of Macintosh Portable’s user experience. Full of beautiful HyperCard-Esque animation, the guide covers basics such as how to use the mouse and more complex features such as managing files and using the control panel. This program can only be run if the Macintosh Portable is booted from the floppy drive. Images of the disk are available here.

For those who used a Macintosh back in the late 80s and early 90s, the Macintosh Portable’s selection of supported OS versions is a familiar interface with OS 6 though 7.5.5 is supported. System 6 is what was shipped with the Macintosh Portable and is snappy and responsive, however, if you are looking for a more sophisticated OS, with more granular controls and capabilities, I would highly recommend using System 7.5.5.

Though note that System 7.5.5 shipped in 1996, and as such, takes longer to boot and runs a tad slow. It is best to disable the Control Strip, else the computer becomes notably more sluggish, particularly with multiple applications running concurrently. Some users noted at the time of the Macintosh Portable’s release that it was slightly underpowered, due to its use of the Motorola 68000 CPU. This was the same CPU used in the Original Macintosh 128K back in 1984, though at a higher clock speed of 16 Mhz. For most applications, however, the CPU performs satisfactorily, with Microsoft Word performing well.

Virtually all Macintosh software designed to run on a 68000 CPU will run on the Macintosh Portable, though I have noted a few games that crash or run with a corrupted screen, most notably the Dark Castle series and Sim Farm. I suspect that it is the non-standard screen size of the Macintosh Portable which is causing problems with select titles, though fortunately, the problem does not occur often. 

The battery life of the Macintosh Portable is indeed remarkable for its time. I have personally managed to squeeze 5 hours of continuous use out of the machine playing games and typing documents with the backlight on. I suspect I might have artificially extended the battery life in my case as I am using a SCSI2SD in place of the original hard disk, which uses far less energy as it has no moving parts. 

And that brings us to the end of this review of the Macintosh Portable – A vintage computer that was generally disliked by contemporary Apple users due to its large size and price tag, but is now highly sought after due to its rarity. If I were a Mac user at the time, I too would have likely balked at the idea of paying the price of a small car for a mac that is barely more portable than a similarly equipped Compact Mac. Today, however, I am a happy user of the Macintosh Portable, as it is not every day you can type a blog post on a failed Apple product from some 30 years ago.

Don’t forget to check out:

Part 1: The Macintosh Portable -A Tale of Too Big, Too Late

Part 2: Macintosh Portable: The Blame Game

Part 4: Inside the Macintosh Portable (Repairs & Upgrades)

The post Using the Macintosh Portable appeared first on Retropaq.

We take our MacBooks for granted today, tossing them into our bags without much of a second thought – but have you ever stopped to wonder exactly when did Apple make its first foray into mobile computing? What was the first Macintosh to run on batteries? The answer lies with the fascinating tale of the Macintosh Portable – Apple’s first (and worst) attempt to make a mobile Mac.

Our story begins in 1989. Four years have passed since Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple Computer. Apple II’s, once considered the company’s cash cow, were now close to obsolete. Despite the success with the newer Macintosh line, there was still clearly a gap in Apple’s product lineup. The rise of portable and laptop computing in the MS-DOS-based PC world had left Mac users empty-handed. They demanded a portable Macintosh and would not settle for crudely designed, third-party devices which struggled to garner mass appeal. Apple knew time was running out for them to bring the Macintosh from desk to lap.

It was, therefore, with great enthusiasm that Apple debuted the Macintosh Portable in 1989. Jean-Louis Gassée, who had been appointed by John Sculley to replace Steve Jobs as the head of Macintosh Development and President of Apple Products, was the natural choice to showcase what Apple had been working on. He introduced the Macintosh Portable on stage at a shareholder’s meeting, just as Steve Jobs had done for the original Macintosh in 1984.

In a slightly strange but nevertheless entertaining presentation, Gassée assembles a Macintosh Portable on stage without any tools. By doing so, he highlighted the Macintosh Portable’s unique construction – an entire computer held together through a complex system of plastic tabs and catches. There was not a single screw involved. Gassée at one point proudly states: “This is the most complex piece of plastic we have ever constructed” – Though I am not entirely sure why Apple thought that was a selling point to investors or consumers. I highly recommend watching the presentation for yourself – it is fascinating to watch the introduction of an Apple product that would be remembered for being one of Apple’s few flops.  

An underpowered portable or an unportable laptop?

As Gassée “builds” his computer on stage, his portable Mac grows less and less portable. He pulls out a 35 cm by 40 cm (11.8 by 15.7 inch) square ABS plastic base. He adds a thick plastic chassis. And then a full-size trackball mouse. A full travel keyboard. A 3 lbs LCD module. And to top it all off – a 3 lbs, sealed lead-acid battery – similar to the kind used in cars. The result? A Macintosh that weighs almost as much as a typical A/C-driven, desktop Macintosh. 

Perhaps that comparison is slightly unfair as the weight of the Macintosh SE does not include the keyboard, but the point remains: what would compel Apple to design a computer that looks like a laptop but is just as heavy as a desktop? We can partly answer that question by looking at the portable computer market in 1989.

The Portable Computer Landscape in 1989

In the late 80s, one could choose from three general types of portable computer. There were the luggables/portables that usually needed A/C power which offered near-desktop performance, but were typically heavy, bulky, and not really all that portable (despite many brands, including Apple, naming them as “portable”). Available also were battery-powered laptops which were slightly more portable, but as a trade-off, had less functionality and computing power. Finally, there were the proto-notebooks & tablets, which, whilst appearing temptingly portable, had severe limitations in functionality and computing power.

As you can see, computer shoppers at the time had quite a selection to choose from. Apple, arriving late to the portable computer market, was trying to stand out in a very crowded room. Each class of computer had distinct advantages and disadvantages and specialized towards certain customers’ needs. For example, some ultra-portable computers like the NEC Ultralite were extremely lightweight and portable but had very limited functionality (no in-built floppy drive, no hard drive, and was quite slow). Others, like the briefcase-shaped IBM P70, were not very portable at all but were as powerful and feature-rich as most desktops.

At the forefront of the portable computing revolution were the laptops. These computers were in the “Goldilocks” zone – just the right balance of power and portability. They were more powerful and functional than the ultra-portable proto-notebooks and palmtops and yet were much more portable than the A/C-powered luggables. Though the portability offered by early battery-powered laptops was a welcome development, they were notorious for quickly running out of juice. Laptop battery technology was relatively unsophisticated in 1989, and most laptops could barely manage 90 minutes of continuous use on a single charge. Technology had only advanced so far and had yet to deliver a battery-powered truly mobile portable laptop that was as feature-rich & powerful as a desktop – such a computer would not arrive until 1992 with the introduction of the IBM Thinkpad 700c.

A Portable Identity Crisis

So where does the Macintosh Portable fit in? Well, it seems that Apple decided (in true Apple fashion) that the Macintosh Portable would be in a class on its own – borrowing characteristics from both luggables and laptops in an attempt to get the best of both worlds. The limited battery life of laptops at the time likely led to Apple deciding that a long-lasting battery would be a necessity for a battery-powered Mac. Solving this “battery paranoia” (as termed by Gassée), was understandably viewed as crucial for success. Apple and Gassée, however wildly overshot the mark, and delivered a computer with 10-12 hours of battery life, made possible by using a lead-acid battery (along with a special low power, Motorola 68HC000 CPU and low-power RAM chips). The catch? The lead-acid battery alone weighed over 3 lbs, the CPU was relatively slow, and the RAM chips were expensive. 

The large battery contributed greatly to the resulting bulk and weight of the computer – firmly placing the Macintosh Portable in the heavyweight (but generally high-performance) Portable / Luggable category of portable computers. Rather oddly, however, it was paired with a power-saving, low-performance CPU with low-power RAM chips typically found in highly portable laptops. This is a perplexing combination, as the low power, low-performance components are designed to be utilized in highly mobile, compact computers, where only a limited battery life is available. Yet, with the Macintosh Portable, they have been paired with a computer that is not mobile at all. Instead, they have been paired with a gigantic battery, allowing the Macintosh Portable to offer an amazing battery life that nobody can really utilize, as you can’t conveniently transport and use the Macintosh Portable in situations where you would need a battery-powered laptop (like on a tray table on an airplane). Its use is limited to desks, where a power outlet would likely be available. 

In fact, the defining features of the Macintosh Portable, from its amazing-to-use full-size, full-travel keyboard, large trackball mouse, full selection of ports, internal expansion slots, and general uncompromising full Macintosh experience, compromised the one thing a portable computer should be good at: being portable. The result is a luggable trying so hard to be a laptop (in shape) but with fully uncompromised, chunky, desktop characteristics.

Whilst one might be tempted this desktop-sized laptop computer in their lap, they would quickly learn of their mistake. At 7.2 KG (16 Lbs), using the Macintosh Portable like a laptop causes waves of pain to slowly emanate from your knees (trust me, I tried). Unless you’re a bit of a sadomasochist (or, perhaps, just training your legs), it is obvious in reality this computer went from desk to desk, and not from lap to lap. Though the name is accurate – it is after all called the Macintosh Portable (as in luggable), not the Macintosh Laptop.

This confusion in identity persists to this day, with websites often referring to the Macintosh Portable as “Apple’s first laptop”, which as we can see, is just not really true.

A Marketing Misunderstanding?

Although the design philosophy of not compromising on full-size features for greater portability is obvious (and confusing), it’s evident that communicating this idea was not easy. Developing a marketing strategy for the Macintosh Portable was understandably problematic – selling a computer with a seemingly oxymoronic name must have been an immense challenge.

In its promotional video, released as a mock documentary to demonstrate the portability and features of the Macintosh Portable, showcases 3 strange users: A fireman, a police detective, and most bizarrely, an extreme-environments film producer. His segment is the best: at one point the Portable is being casually toted up a sand dune, and in another, all 16 lbs of it are being swung onto a rock for spontaneous mid-desert data entry (all the while looking suspiciously lightweight). I’d be willing to bet that Macintosh Portable in those scenes had the lead-acid battery and hard disk removed. The film producer attempts to convince us of its portability further with appropriate late 80s marketing puffery: “We had to climb 90 feet up into the jungle canopy… In addition to bringing a camera, it would be just as easy to bring the Portable Mac“. Yeah, right. Check it out for yourself below:

In later advertising, the value proposition shifted likely due to the marketing team realizing that people could actually see that the Macintosh Portable being shown in the ads. It doesn’t take a genius to tell that the Macintosh Portable is simply too big and bulky to be actually portable. The advert below pivots strategy and instead tries to sell the ease of use of Macintoshes in general. They did however still try to allude to the notion of portability by showing it being used in an airport setting, without showing the computer being moved.

Perhaps the most perplexing question, therefore, is WHY. Why did Apple manufacture a dated luggable-portable, instead of a slightly feature-compromised but more sensible and compact laptop? Surely, this would be something that Mac users really wanted? Why did they seemingly not bother with portability much, if at all? And why did Apple not know how to market what they had made? How had so much gone wrong?

Find out in Part 2: Macintosh Portable – The Blame Game >>>

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