Apple Macintosh SE/30

I returned the MacSE30 that I bought at the Apple Store back in 1989 or 1990 when I went into grad school. Compared to the Epson that I bought at the same time it was a fantastic machine that would do almost everything that I needed to do out of the box whereas for the Epson I needed to buy other software. It helped that I already had Mac software though. I returned it because I couldn't afford it. The cost with peripherals was almost 3X the price of the Epson so I took advantage of Apple's return policy and let it go. I still have my original computer though, a 128k Mac that I upgraded to 512k within a couple months of getting it back in January 1985. I have the printer, an external floppy drive, and maybe something else. I used it to introduce my kids to computers, teaching them to type and use a mouse and to play the one or two games that I have for it. I have several software applications that are not Apple software including one with capabilities that I made good use of back in the day. It was mathematical software that I could feed the software points defining a line and it would compute the equation defining that line out to the nth order polynomial. It understood linear, logarithmic, and exponential scales so all you needed as input were the points in x,y space and the scale for each variable. It was very powerful and there was nothing like it in DOS land or in early Winland. I used it find the equations of lines in published nomographs and then used those equations t…

It's easy to pick up a bit of an old computer habit. I'm in the process of putting a machine I used to own back together, a Mac IIcx with Trinitron monitor, running Emagic Logic (a midi sequencer) as this was a hugely influential machine when I was getting into audio. In the process of finding the right bits for this, i've ended up with an SE/30, a Mac LC and a Mac II, basically in order to get hold of other bits, and the price was good. They are now all running, and i've got no real use for any of them, but it's great to convert broken doorstops into fully functional doorstops :)

Well, your average Chromebook has a similar screen, more power, built-in battery, and can run Linux. And Ye olde Beaglebone or Android computer on an HDMI stick is more portable and more powerful. And if you want a new Mac, well, the Mini is an amazing machine in a tiny package, or there's also the Intel NUCs. Or for gaming, the Shuttle PCs, Razer Tomahawk, etc. Or just connect your iPad to a keyboard. Don't get me wrong, I loved those old Macs too, having learned Logo and Hypercard on them. But most of that machine was the CRT monitor plus huge components. You can pack a lot more into a lot less these days. I do miss the "cute" factor though. They were loveable in a way that modern machines just aren't.

Ah, memories. I worked at Apple BITD, and it was fun to pick out a computer to get with my annual employee discount. My favorites were the IIci [1], with its very clean and compact design that was the result of lots of user research into making the II easier for people to open up and upgrade, and the PowerBook 140 [2], one of the first Apple laptops, just because it was so damned cute. And for the original Macs, I still have a padded case with a shoulder strap, which made my SE/30 [3] a credible luggable. [1] https://apple-history.com/iici [2] https://apple-history.com/140 [3] https://apple-history.com/se30

I will say the form factor of the classic Mac (in my case a Mac SE/30) was amazing for writing. The height was perfect without the ability of the text to go to just above the keyboard like a conventional monitor on a stand. I end up duplicating it by using half a window or finding a text editor that holds the current line at a certain height. It was also a very portable design. I have an old Color Classic II case that I sometime think I might mod into something a bit more modern (since it is DOA anyway).

It's hard to quantify, but sitting at one of these upright Macs is a joy. The B&W screen was great for writing. It had this friendly-face look about it, and it took up so little desk space. A laptop is sort of similar, but you sit hunched over at those. The classic Mac allowed you to sit like a human instead of a caveman. I get that it's not great for everything we do today that requires acres of screen real estate, but if you want to concentrate on a single task like writing (or programming) with little distraction, it's really nice.

Ah, I also bought a SE/30 recently, as part of a batch of an upgraded 128->plus, an original SE, and my prize: the SE/30. All working too. The reason I bought the SE/30 is because it's the computer I had on long term loan for my very first "paying" gig as developer, I was 17: making the software that drove the audio system for the Lille (FR) brand new metro lines back then. Wrote the software in Turbo Pascal, to run on a smaller mac -- it had a GPIO card that drove 2 big REVOX tape reels, and was rewinding them in sequence while the other played elevator music. It also had a selector and an 'alarm' button to trigger digital announces from the control room, in case of problems on the metro line. The audio played on 10th's of stations, for years. After a few mishaps (finding tapes torn to completely shreds in the computer room, because the 'beginning of tape' signal hadn't worked really well after rewinding!) it worked absolutely flawlessly until late 1999. I should have charged more :-) It also had an easter egg! It was playing an 'happy birthday' message to myself every year, in every stations, early day on my birthday. Nobody ever complained :-) I eventually returned the SE/30, and was given a PowerBook 140, which wasn't as fast, but hey, laptop baby, and, I still own that one!

Compact — SE/30. Amazingly expandable & powerful, while at the same time almost being portable given its size. Perhaps an era equivalent, except for having a monitor, for the new Minis. Desktop — IIci. Probably the best-looking of the 80s Macs, while at the same time large enough to give plenty of room for expansion. Both of these had long lives thanks to upgrades, & both would be fun & good-looking revivals.

> You can pack a lot more into a lot less these days. True, but even so, there is no reason to not have a little tower with a friendly face sitting on a desk, even if it's mostly empty space. Or use the empty space for something, like a door to a cubby where you can store a game pad. If you need mobility a laptop is great. But sitting hunched over at a desk using a laptop is not nearly as good as sitting upright with the screen at a more ergonomic height. Maybe it's all just nostalgia, but I think we got a lot of things right back in the day, and the toaster Mac was definitely one of those things.

Apple's initial price for the SE/30 in the US was $4369, but price came down rapidly in the first year, ultimately costing less than a Mac II with greyscale card and monochrome monitor by the end of 1989. But that was 30 years ago. Today, there seems to be a Mac mafia buying up the lower priced auctions and then jacking up prices of these ancient machines on turnaround, but you can still find an untouched SE/30 within spitting distance of the cost of a Classic II. They're both attractive machines in the compact format, but I wouldn't accept a Classic II for free, where I'd be tempted to buy certain particular SE/30 models, depending on condition, for few to several hundreds of dollars.