last updated May 2020

Upgrading a classic computer - the legendary ColourClassic by Apple

Back in the mid 1990s I was convinced that I would never be wanting a computer in my home - until I came across that awesome Apple Macintosh ColourClassic (CC). Looking at it now in 2020 its appearance is still striking - reduced to the max, clear shapes and proportions, appealing, a must have. That's what Apple's approach to design is all about.

I fell in love with it and bought one. Okay, it was a Roadapple, a machine with a crippled data bus (16 Bits instead of 32), slowly computing and limited with regard to upgrade possibilities. But with an awesome case design. And that’s the point. Then I sold it to a friend. He fell in love too and still keeps it today.

ColourClassic in Apple's sales brochure in 1993:

The Apple sales brochure from February 1993.

Performa 5200, awesome design but awful performance

Limited in my funding unfortunately I got another Roadapple then, a Performa 5200, sporting a PPC603 running @ 75 MHz but with poor logic board design. Got fed up with it and gave it to a kindergarden for the kids to play with it. Now I own a vaio notebook (WinXP). Although it’s not a Mac it does its job well.


article from German magazine MacUp 1994

Finding the right secondhand Mac: The ColourClassic was rated lower than a Performa 450. The author admits than design lovers occasionally pay more than the last known Apple price (MacUp 05-1994).

The times have changed in that parts of vintage Apple computers become reasonable priced on ebay. So I’ll get me another ColourClassic and start to make a cool customized and number-crunching PC out of it. Here’s what can be done and what I plan to do: