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'20th Anniversary Mac' Clarification

Photorun

Photorun

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2003
1,216
0
NYC
They were pretty cool but came out at the typical overinflated Apple price of $10,000. I had a friend who actually bought one at that price. Needless to say he was a bit miffed when less than six months later their prices tumbled from a couple price points down eventually to three grand (or four grand).

Neat machines though, would love a TAM myself.

Note: Jerry Seinfeld set had one (on his back desk from the door) for a couple years after the Classic sat for many of the first few seasons.
 
M

michaelrjohnson

macrumors 68020
Aug 9, 2000
2,180
5
53132
the TAM is a good signifier of the way computing technology has progressed. that machine retailed for $10,000 initially. the powermac G5 retailed for what, $1799 initially? I dont' think we should complain TOO much about apple's pricing. we get more bang for our buck than pc users do, and there's less bucks we have to pay to get the bang.
 
NusuniAdmin

NusuniAdmin

macrumors 6502a
Nov 19, 2003
870
1
TAM's were great for there time.

TAM's were awsome. Pretty fast for those days. It was also the first mac to use lcd monitor technology. The only prob was is that is was old world mac rom tech. I wish they released it later and popped a g3 in that baby with new world rom junkies...but then again the first powermac g3 still used old world technology. But it was awsome, lots of extra video and sound goodies. If apple releases a 30'th anniversry mac (for apple's 30'th, not the macs) I hope it is just as cool. But instead of lcd tech it should be the first mac to use holigram technology :D. heheeheheh........Just imagen it....a 30'th anniversery mac with a G6 or G7 clocked at 5-6 ghz with a 2.5-3 ghz bus....ohhhhhh ya baby.....
 
A

andyduncan

macrumors regular
Jan 21, 2003
172
0
Unfortunately, rather than being a computer for the masses, the Spartacus was an Amelio-ist tribute to everything that was wrong with the Macintosh:
Ridiculously overpriced, underpowered (yes, even for the time), lacking expandibility, and aimed at an elite subset of the market, rather than truly being a "computer for the rest of us".
I hope any machine released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh itself will be more accessible; something in the eMac price range.
 
wdlove

wdlove

macrumors P6
Oct 20, 2002
16,568
0
Actually the $7500 price of the 20th Anniversay Mac was a pretty good value. That it came with a 12" display, custom Bose speaker system complete with subwoofer, and a unique keyboard with an integrated Italian leather palm rest.

I wish Apple would offer some package deals on the CPU and monitor today!

I looked at the eBay aution site for the TAM. Very enticing offer, I am almost tempted.
 
S

sboyle

macrumors newbie
Jan 25, 2004
2
0
Dublin, Ireland
At the very end of it's life, Apple did a deal whereby any Apple dealer who sold one, got one for the dealership. Our multimedia shop was an official reseller (lots of museum installations), so my boss and I bagged a couple and split the cost. Sonnet released a G3 upgrade (I immediately pounced on the 300Mhz, but should have waited for the 500), and it's easy enough to up the hard drive (with any standard laptop drive). The Bose sound system makes a great platform for iTunes (if only they'd release iTunes 4 for OS 9 so it could integrate with the rest of the network). Inbuilt TV and Radio, v. basic DVR capability, fantastic looks. And video in, so I can hook the playstation up without needing more space on my desk.

The 800x600x16bit resolution's a bit limiting. You can only fit 128MB of memory in. And you should never ever try and run OS X on it (it screws up the parameter RAM so badly the only cure is unhooking the motherboard battery and waiting two days for it to clear.)

Simon Boyle


Powerbook G3 Firewire,
Blue & White G3
Twentieth Anniversary Mac
PowerMac 8600
Powerbook 540
Powerbook 520
Duo 230
Powerbook 100
MacPlus
 
MacFan25

MacFan25

macrumors 68000
Jan 5, 2003
1,624
0
USA
From the pictures I have seen of it, it looks beautiful. I'd like to see one up close.

I guess Steve announced this right when he came back to Apple?
 
D

dwishbone

macrumors regular
Jul 24, 2002
240
0
On the Moon
that was a 20th Anniversary Macintosh for the 20th Anniversary of Apple...not of the Macintosh itself.
the mac itself as we know it was born on January 24th, 1984.
 
SiliconAddict

SiliconAddict

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2003
5,889
0
Chicago, IL
Originally posted by michaelrjohnson
the TAM is a good signifier of the way computing technology has progressed. that machine retailed for $10,000 initially. the powermac G5 retailed for what, $1799 initially? I dont' think we should complain TOO much about apple's pricing. we get more bang for our buck than pc users do, and there's less bucks we have to pay to get the bang.
Click to expand...

Bull.

It was an overprice computer with good speakers. The TAM was just a way for Apple to fleece Mac users who are insane enough to spend $10,000 on a freaking computer. Think about this a second. I can go to a car dealership and pay off half of a brand new car with that kind of cash. HALF A CAR!! Or get a used car and pay it off in full. And at least that car will still be running in 8 years. Can the TAM run OS X? (I know for a fact that a 300Mhz Pentium II that I've got sitting at work works just fine with Windows 2000. I think my company spent about 1,800 on it at the time.)

People who spent that kind of money are in the same league as that kid who tore out that guts of that G5 and put a PC in it. Too much money on their hands.
 
Snowy_River

Snowy_River

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2002
2,520
0
Corvallis, OR
Originally posted by michaelrjohnson
the TAM is a good signifier of the way computing technology has progressed. that machine retailed for $10,000 initially. the powermac G5 retailed for what, $1799 initially? I dont' think we should complain TOO much about apple's pricing. we get more bang for our buck than pc users do, and there's less bucks we have to pay to get the bang.
Click to expand...

Uh... just as a point about pricing, the Power Macs of the day were retailing for around $2000 (I bought a 266 G3 desktop - the top end model at the time - about nine months after the TAM for about $2495). So, the cost of the TAM is not a good thing to compare with a new G5 Power Mac.

Perhaps the better comparison would be...

A dual 2GHz G5 Tower with...
*4GB RAM
*2x 250GB HD
*ATI9800 Graphics
*23" Cinema Display
*Airport Extreme card
*Bluetooth
*Fibre Channel card
*iSight
*Logitech Z-680 THX speakers

Total: $9,314.95

:D
 
Snowy_River

Snowy_River

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2002
2,520
0
Corvallis, OR
Re: TAM's were great for there time.

Originally posted by NusuniAdmin
TAM's were awsome. Pretty fast for those days. It was also the first mac to use lcd monitor technology...
Click to expand...

Well, not really. In most respects, this was an exploded and suped up PowerBook 3400, which was a Mac that used LCD monitor technology... ;)
 
G

ginjg

macrumors newbie
Jul 18, 2002
22
0
The TAM were specifically designed to be collector's Items. It was a limited edition, only only 10,000 produced worldwide. That's why the price was so high.

The TAM did have one pci expansion slot for a a half length card and a place for a comm card and even came with an extra back that accomodated the card while still keeping the back relatively low profile.

We got ours new, 8 months after it was released, for $2200.00. And sold it in 2001 for $1550.00 with the original box and all the included extras including the leather cd case, pen & pencil set, etc. so we didn't fare too badly on the deal
 
SeaFox

SeaFox

macrumors 68030
Jul 22, 2003
2,620
954
Somewhere Else
Whoever is submitting all those "Look, there already has been a Twentieth Anniversary Mac." emails must think we're really dumb, or really new to the Mac platform, one of the two.

What? they already made a TAM? Wow! Thanks for the info. We had no idea!
/sarcasm

Too bad it was so ho-hum when it came out. If i remember right there were Performa models with faster processers already out at that point.
 
R

rog

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2003
422
107
Kalapana, HI
Get Real. the TAM was an overpriced hunk of junk. The 250 MHz 603e was a lot slower than 604es of the era, which hit 350MHz not long after the TAM intro. A 233 604e would have been a much better processor for this mac. Within 8 months, Apple was making G3s that were 3X faster for far cheaper! The PowerBooks of 1997 were far cheaper and better deals. The TAM was $1999 within a year, and was still overprice at that price since a 266MHz G3 was cheaper. An 800x600 screen was unbearable even in OS9. Personally I am glad Apple didn't release an overpriced new anniversary mac because if history tells us anything, it would have been a rip off, much like the current iMac line already is with its 1999 technology, but 1979 prices.
 
F

ffakr

macrumors 6502a
Jul 2, 2002
617
0
Chicago
There's only one person who had a clue about the TAM.

First off, it was $7,500 not $10,000.

Second, (as correctly noted once) it was a limited edition, collectors edition macintosh. It was not released for typical mac users.
If you purchased a $7500 TAM, It was delivered to your office or home by an Apple representative.. it was opened, installed and setup by Apple. You also got a how-to use session.

This wasn't a typical Mac user experience.. it was a decadent computer buying experience on par with the purchase of a Rolls Royce.
TAM wasn't a speed deamon when it was released, it was basically a laptop in a custom case. It was, however, at least a couple years ahead of its time design-wise (look at the piece of crap that Gateway released to compete with the LCD iMac).. and though dated now, it was a beautiful machine when it was released.
 
voicegy

voicegy

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,429
17
Sandy Eggo - MacRumors Member since 1-1-2002
The TAM was a work of art, they only made 10,601 of them (odd number, eh?) and I owned one for two years after Steve came back to Apple and put 'em on "fire sale" status for 2 thousand bucks...the leftovers flew off the shelf.

I've never owned a more jaw dropping, elegant, audience pleasing device. The capabilities at the time were amazing, the remote control could turn it on or off, open the drop-down CD ROM door, turn on the optional TV, change channels, and NOTHING out there could touch it for the sound quality.

Rant and rave about it being a piece of overpriced underpowered junk...there was nothing like it out there, and never has been. It still looks great in person, although compared to today's standards, is woefully inadequate. But that's to be expected given the history, overall, of computing power over the years.

I sitll have the pen and pencil set in their original leather case, and the wall poster hanging in my office. I lament Apple not putting out a "special" machine to mark the 25th Anniversary of Apple Computer, or the 20th Anniversary of the Macintosh for 2004...but can totally understand given the economy in general and how Steve had nothing to do with the original TAM.

Then again, it's only February. Who knows?;)
 
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