Tag: 1995

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System 7.5 Apple Watch (1995)

The Apple Watch was released in 2015, right? Not exactly.

Twenty years before the (smart) Apple Watch, Apple offered a product they referred to as an Apple Watch as a “FREE gift” for customers who updated their operating system to System 7.5. From May 1 to July 31, 1995, Apple allowed customers who paid $134.99 for System 7.5 to select between two gifts, the software application Conflict Catcher 3 (by Norton to resolve Mac system extension problems) or this Apple Watch. An article written in 1994 that is (surprisingly) still available online (as of February 2020) outlined all the methods to upgrade to System 7.5.

The Apple Watch (1995) was not a smart watch, but it was high-style for the mid-1990s. The watch followed the “Memphis” design aesthetic that originated in Milan, Italy. In an article presenting ten iconic examples of Memphis design, the origin of the style is reported as, “The Memphis Group…a collaborative design group founded by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass” (Creative Bloq). This Apple Watch is included among ten designs in the article. The style itself is “characterized by ephemeral design featuring colorful and abstract decoration as well as asymmetrical shapes, sometimes arbitrarily alluding to exotic or earlier styles” (Wikipedia).

The Memphis Design group is still represented online at www.memphis-milano.com. Even a cursory look at the designs on the site reveals an unmistakable connection to the look of the 1995 Apple Watch.

As an Apple collector, I have been searching for this Apple Watch for many years. I was able to acquire an example from a friend of mine from Minnesota.

If you wish to see the original print advertisement for this Apple Watch offer, I found a version published in the June 1995 MacWorld magazine. The vintageapple.org website has digitized past MacWorld issues and a PDF is available here. Please see magazine page 82 for the full-page ad.

Sources: Cult of Mac, Creative Bloq, Wikipedia, TidBITS

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AppleCD 300e Plus (1995)

The AppleCD 300e Plus was among a few nearly identical SCSI-connected external CD-ROM drives manufactured by Apple. All AppleCD models used a SCSI (Small Computer System Interface, pronounced “scuzzy”) connection. According to PC Magazine, SCSI was “used in mainframes, servers and storage arrays in the late 1980s and 1990s… The SCSI bus connects up to 15 devices in a daisy chain topology, and any two can communicate at one time: host-to-peripheral and peripheral-to-peripheral.”

The AppleCD had a 1x Read-Only CD-ROM that could read CDs with with up to 750 MB of data. Ports on the back of the device included two 50-pin Centronics SCSI connectors, red and white audio RCA connectors, and device power input. A front input included a mini-headphone audio jack. The AppleCD could read five CD formats: CD-Audio, CD-ROM, HFS, ProDOS, and High Sierra.

Several models of the AppleCD drive were made, including the SC, SC Plus, 150, 300, 300e, 300i plus, 600i, 600e plus, and 1200i. The “e” designates external devices using the same design as this AppleCD 300e Plus.

Source: Wikipedia, PCMag

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PC Card storage module (for PowerBook 5300 series computers, 1995)

According to the Macintosh PowerBook User’s Guide for PowerBook 5300 series computers, this storage solution is called a “PC Card storage module.” This module is shown on page 2 of the manual in one of the labels of an annotated drawing of the PowerBook 5300.

The manual states: “PC Cards (also known as PCMCIA cards) are about the size of a thick credit card and have a 68-pin connector at one end. They come in many varieties, such as fax/modem cards, mass-storage cards, Ethernet connection cards, and wireless communication cards. You can use PC Cards to expand your Macintosh PowerBook’s capabilities.”

Later, the three types of PC Cards are explained: “There are three types of PC Cards. The different types refer to the thickness of the card. A Type I card is 3.3 millimeters (mm) thick, a Type II card is 5 mm thick, and a Type III card is 10.5 mm thick.”

The manual also provides details as to how to use a PC Card to connect to the three Apple online services available at the time when the Internet was just becoming widely used, AppleLink, Apple Remote Access (ARA), and eWorld. All three applications were available on the PowerBook 3400 Macintosh HD.

The PC Card storage module can store up to four Type I or Type II PC cards. It is used by sliding the module into the right or left module bay of the laptop.

Source: Apple

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Apple Mousepad (light gray, c. 1995)

In the early- to mid-1990s, Apple included a Registration Card in the box that came with every Macintosh (in the brown box labeled “Macintosh Essentials”). In my experience setting up these early Macintosh computers, Apple allowed users who filled out these “official” registration cards to choose from a subscription to MacWorld magazine or a free mousepad. In our school computer labs, we usually opted for the free mousepads.

This is an example of the free mousepad Apple sent. It is 8.75×7 inches, light gray (to match the platinum color of Apple computers of the time). The mousepad is in two layers, light gray plastic on top and black textured foamy rubber on the bottom, approximately 0.125 inches thick. The design is the word Apple® in black type nearly 3 inches tall in the font Apple Garamond, Apple’s corporate identity font of the time.

Source: None available

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Apple IR Remotes (c. 1995)

Apple included a few different versions of IR remotes in the various AV kits and expansion cards sold throughout the 1990s. The remotes shown here represented two designs with the same functions. The remotes were not marked as “official” Apple parts, lacking both model numbers and serial numbers.

The buttons include Mute, Power, Volume up, Volume down, Channel up, Channel down, Display, Stop/Eject, TV/Mac, Reverse, Play/Pause, and Forward.

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Apple Ethernet Twisted Pair Transceiver (c. 1995)

The Apple Ethernet Twisted Pair Transceiver used the Apple Attachment Unit Interface (AAUI) to connect Ethernet transceivers to computers. This transceiver used a 10BASE-T connector. This version of the transceiver used an RJ45 port.

Apple computers with an AAUI port included Macintosh Quadra, Centris, PowerBook 500, Duo Dock II (for PowerBook Duo), early Power Macintosh computers, and some Macintosh LC and Performa computers.

When I first began as a Technology Coordinator for a school district, our Macintosh LC520 network was connected entirely using Apple Ethernet Twisted Pair Transceiver devices and BNC connectors in a daisy-chain setup. When we updated the computer lab, we stopped using the AAUI port and installed 10BASE-T cards in the computers.

Source: Wikipedia.org