Apple Studio Display CRT (17-inch, ADC, 2000)

At the Macworld Expo in New York CIty on July 19, 2000, Apple announced three new Studio Display designs “in stunning crystal-clear enclosures”—two flat panel displays and this CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Apple Studio Display.

The displays, designed to complement Apple’s Power Mac G4 Cube and Power Mac G4 professional desktops, shared three distinct features:

“each is powered from the computer, eliminating the need for a separate power cord; each has a two port powered USB hub for convenient connection to desktop USB devices, such as keyboards, USB speakers and digital cameras; and each utilizes the Apple Display Connector, a revolutionary new cable that carries analog and digital video signals, USB data and power over a single cable and features a quick latch connector.”

Steve Jobs noted that “These new beautiful displays perfectly complement our new extraordinary computers. Their innovative design helps clean up desktop cable clutter, and makes set-up a breeze.”

According to Apple’s press release, “The 17 inch (16 inch viewable) Apple Studio Display features a Natural Flat Diamondtron CRT, extraordinarily sharp text and ColorSync internal calibration to keep colors accurate over time. [The] Display…features both futuristic styling and a unique electrical design that supports multiple resolutions at over 100Hz vertical refresh rate.”

The site 512 Pixels provided several additional comments, writing that the “Studio Display (17-inch ADC) was the last standalone Apple display to feature a CRT. At 17.4 inches it was deeper than it was wide. At 45.8 pounds, it was heavier than a iMac G3.” They also comment on the industrial design of the display:

“Instead of hiding the display’s guts inside opaque plastics and metal shield, the 17-inch ADC has a crystal clear case that allows anyone to see the internal workings of the Naturally Flat Diamondtron CRT suspended inside. By revealing all, the Studio Display (17-inch ADC) has nothing to hide. Its transparency and minimalism is pure Apple.”

According LowEndMac, the Apple Display Connector (ADC) used in this display is a proprietary display and data connector developed by Apple. It is a modification of the DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connector that combines analog and digital video signals, USB, and power all in one cable. This connector was used by Apple between 2000–2004.

Sources: Apple Newsroom, 512 Pixels, LowEndMac

Macintosh Products Guide CD (Spring 1999)

This CD was packaged in an orange sleeve from the ADC (Apple Developer Connection). The packaging lists the contents:

Macintosh Products Guide

“Have you ever wondered if the right software or hardware existed to perform a specific task on your Mac? Or have you heard about some of the latest products for your Mac and wished you had a convenient resource to learn more about them?

On this CD you’ll find Apple’s Macintosh Products Guide, the only tool you need to help you locate information on over 12,000 software and hardware products for the Macintosh platform. Here you’ll learn about the hottest products available for your Mac, including games, productivity applications, printers, scanners, image editing applications, utilities, digital cameras, USB peripherals for the iMac, and much, much more. And many of the products listed in the Macintosh Products Guide have direct links for easy online purchase.

We’re sure you’ll find the Macintosh Products Guide on the web an invaluable resource for all your product information needs—one you’ll turn to again and again. With that in mind, be sure to visit the Macintosh Products Guide web site for the latest information on the wide range of products available for your Mac. Point your browser to www.apple.com/guide.”

Source: Apple

Apple Developer Connection Select Membership box and DVDs (2007)

The Apple Developer Connection Select Membership box was sent to new members of the Apple Developer program that served as a “welcome kit” to the ADC program. Based on its contents, this membership box was sent in February 2007 (the DVD design features a large 02/07 in red-orange Apple Myriad font). After the box was sent, new content could be downloaded from the Apple Developer website and no new physical media (CDs/DVDs) was necessary.

This Apple Developer Connection box contains a welcome letter, a set of DVD-ROMs (Developer DVD Series—February 2007), and the then-current Mac OS X Leopard Developer Preview DVD.

The welcome letter reads:

Welcome to Apple Developer Connection Select Membership.

This orientation package includes the resources you need to get started-all in a convenient case that can be used to store the Mac OS X releases and monthly Developer DVDs you’ll receive as part of your once-a-year membership.

The enclosed brochure provides an summary of your Select benefits, including:
• Early access to Mac OS X, Xcode Tools, and other Apple technologies
• Two one-on-one discussions with Apple’s developer technical support engineers
• Significant savings on one Apple hardware system for development and testing
• Access to ADC’s state-of-the-art Compatibility Labs up to two times a month

You also get the Leopard Early Start Kit-exclusive, advance access to a complete set of development resources to help you develop applications for the next major release of Mac OS X.

More information on your membership may be found in ADC “Frequently Asked Questions” at developer.apple.com/faq/. Feel free to contact us with specific questions at developer.apple.com/contact/.

Again, welcome to ADC Select Membership. We look forward to helping you develop and market world-class Mac OS X products and solutions.

Apple Developer Connection

The DVD contains the following folders:

  • About this DVD (html-based reference library)
  • What’s New (software updates including Airport Update 2006-002, Security Update 2006-008 PPC, Security Update 2006-008 Universal)
  • ADC Reference Library (html-based library)
  • Development Kits
    • Apple Loops SDK
    • AppleScript SDK
    • Bonjour SDK for Windows
    • CardBus DDK
    • Core Audio SDK
    • DotMac SDK
    • FireWire SDK
    • Image Capture SDK
    • iMovie Plug-in SDK
    • iTunes COM for Windows SDK
    • iTunes Visual Plug-ins SDK
    • Kernel Debug Kit
    • Kernel Debug Kit 10.4.6
    • Kernel Debug Kit 10.4.7
    • Kernel Debug Kit 10.4.8
    • Language Analysis
    • Mac OS X USB Debug Kit
    • Multiprocessing 2.1v2 SDK
    • PCI DDK 1.1.1 Mac OS X
    • Power Manager DDK for Mac OS X
    • QuickTime for Java Windows SDK
    • QuickTime for Windows
    • QuickTime SDK
    • Sherlock Channel SDK
    • Software License Agreements for UDIFs
    • Text Encoding Converter 1.5
    • USB Debug Kits
  • Tools
    • Developer Utilities
    • Localization Tools
    • Networking & Communications
    • QuickTime
    • Testing & Debugging
  • Xcode Tools (Xcode Tools 2.4.1 Release for Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger)

Source: Apple

Macintosh Products Guide Winter 2000 CD (2000)

This Macintosh Products Guide CD is from Winter 2000. The cover art shows a graphite iMac DV Special Edition and it specifies that the CD contains “A catalog of over 16,000 products for your Mac.”

The publisher of the CD is ADC (Apple Developer Connection). The back of the CD says that it will help you “learn about the hottest products available for your Mac, including games, productivity applications, printers, scanners, image editing applications, utilities, digital cameras, USB peripherals for the iMac, and much, much more.”

Source: Apple

Power Mac G4 (1.25 GHz, “mirrored drive doors,” 2003)

The Power Macintosh G4/1.25 GHz “Mirrored Drive Doors” tower used a 1.25 GHz PowerPC 7455 G4 processor, 256 MB RAM, an 80 GB hard drive, a 12X DVD-ROM/CD-RW “Combo” drive, and allowed wireless using an optional AirPort (802.11b) card. This model was released along with new Power Macintosh G5 models to provide a lower-cost alternative for users who did not need the power of the G5 and still wanted to boot with the MacOS 9 operating system.

While similar to the previous “Quicksilver” model, the front of this tower retains the silver opaque color, but adds a mirror-finished plate over the two available optical drive doors in the center. Although two drive spaces are available, this example only uses one “Combo” (CD/DVD reader/writer) drive in the top position. The prominent drive doors also include the power button at the top-center and an “interrupt” button off to the right. A single speaker is placed above the doors. Four conspicuous ventilation holes span the bottom of the front of this tower.

The back of the tower was flipped compared to previous similar tower designs (G3 blue and white, G4 graphite, and G4 Quicksilver), in that the expansion slots are placed at the top. This tower has spaces for five slots, but only uses slot 1 (at the bottom) to house a VGA port and ADC (proprietary Apple Display Connector) port; slots 2–5 are unused. Ports are included below with two USB, two FireWire (400), one ethernet, a space for a modem port, and side-by-side microphone (line-in)/speaker (audio-out) 3.5 mm jacks. A dedicated Apple speaker port is included to allow Apple’s crystal-clear spherical speakers to be used.

The right side of the tower included a latch with a circular rubberized grip that allowed the entire side of the tower to be opened on a hinge, revealing and providing relatively easy access to all internal components. Plug-in slots (such as video, memory, and wireless) were attached to the hinged side, while components such as drives and fans remained attached to the internal metal frame of the tower.

A design concept worth noting in this tower is its two-layer round-hole pattern on the back. The internal layer features smaller, closely spaced holes in silver metal, while the larger outer holes are spaced further apart in light-silver plastic. The concept is similar to the somewhat-maligned “cheese grater” design used in the 2019 Mac Pro tower. The 2019 Mac Pro uses a “machined spherical array” of ventilation holes in a distinctive design—”The lattice pattern on the Mac Pro is based on a naturally occurring phenomenon in molecular crystal structures.” To be clear, the 2019 design is a single piece of machined metal—not two separate layers—but the designs are related visually. In both the 2003 and 2019 towers, the holes are used simultaneously as design, structure, and ventilation.

Source: Everymac, Apple

Power Mac G4 (1.0 GHz, “Quicksilver,” 2002)

The Power Macintosh G4/1.0 GHz was nicknamed “Quicksilver” because of its new silver color and its significant speed upgrades from the previous graphite G4 model. Internally, it included dual 1.0 GHz PowerPC 7450 (or 7455) G4 processors, 512 MB RAM, an 80 GB hard drive, and a wireless connection was available with the addition of an optional AirPort (802.11b) card. A few Quicksilver models were available with different levels of processors, drive capacities, and RAM options.

The front of the Power Macintosh G4 “Quicksilver” was opaque silver (replacing translucent plastics of previous designs). The top included spaces for two optical drives. This example includes a DVD-ROM drive in the top space and no device in the lower space. Below the optical drives was the power button, and two additional smaller buttons—reset and “interrupt” buttons—both used to recover from system-level issues. The bottom-center features a prominent chrome-finished speaker (without a protective grille).

The ports on the back included stacked headphone and line-out speaker 3.5 mm jacks; a modem (telephone) port; one ethernet port; two FireWire (400) ports; and two USB ports. Five slots were also available. This model included slot 1 with a standard VGA port and a proprietary ADC (Apple Display Connector) port, while slots 2–5 are unused.

The right side of the tower included a latch with a circular rubberized grip that allowed the entire side of the tower to be opened on a hinge, revealing and providing relatively easy access to all internal components. Plug-in slots (such as video, memory, and wireless) were attached to the hinged side, while components such as drives and fans remained attached to the internal metal frame of the tower.

The four corners of this tower serve as feet and/or handles. They are cast in crystal clear acrylic.

Source: Everymac

DVI to ADC Adapter (2002)

The Apple DVI to ADC Adapter allowed any Apple flat-panel display using an Apple Display Connector (ADC) to be used with any computer with a DVI port. The device included a power supply, power cord, and DVI/USB cable. Apple described the capabilities of the adapter:

“It has been carefully designed to maintain the digital integrity of the video signal for the best possible viewing experience. The adapter provides an all-digital signal path between the computer and the display. It features active components that regenerate both the digital graphics and USB signals coming from the computer. This ensures delivery of the highest-quality images even at the extremely fast signal rates used by the Apple Cinema HD Display.”

The purpose of the Apple Display Connector (ADC) was to reduce display cables. ADC combined DVI, power, and USB in a 30 pin (3 x 10) connector. ADC was used between 2000–2004. The primary issue with the proprietary ADC connection was that it carried power to the display (DVI does not), thus, a typical adapter was not possible. Instead, this adapter was relatively large because it included a power supply, measuring about 5 x 5 x 1.5 inches. It was also expensive for an adapter, selling for $99 when it was released.

Mac models that could use the Apple DVI to ADC adapter included Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors, 2002–2003), Power Mac G5 (June 2003–Late 2005), PowerBook G4 15-inch (DVI, 2002–Double Layer SD, 2005), PowerBook G4 17-inch (2003–Double Layer SD, 2005), MacBook Pro 15-inch (Early 2006–Early 2008), MacBook Pro 17-inch (Early 2006–Late 2008), Mac mini (Early 2005–Mid 2007), and Mac Pro (Early 2006–Mid 2012).

Sources: macobserver.com, usedmacs.us, macofalltrades.com

Studio Display (15-inch, LCD/ADC, 2000)

The Apple 15-inch Studio Display (LCD/ADC) featured an active-matrix LCD display and integrated two-port USB hub. It used a clear-plastic housing similar to the Apple Cinema Display. Its optimum resolution was 1024×768 and also supported 640×480 and 800×600.

This model used an Apple Display Connector (ADC). The design matched the aesthetic of the Power Mac G4 Cube models and the Mac towers of the time. A year after release, a larger 17-inch model became available using the same case design.

Source: EveryMac.com

Studio Display (17-inch, LCD/ADC, 2001)

The Apple 17-inch Studio Display (LCD/ADC) featured an active-matrix LCD display and integrated two-port USB hub. It used a clear-plastic housing similar to the Apple Cinema Display. Its optimum resolution was 1280×1024 and also supported 640×480, 800×600, and 1024×768.

This model used an Apple Display Connector (ADC). The design matched the aesthetic of the Power Mac G4 Cube models and the Mac towers of the time. A similar 15-inch model was also available at the time

Source: EveryMac.com