25th Anniversary Macintosh

The unofficial 25th Anniversary Macintosh dream machine ...
Aluminum and glass unibody construction,
One Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for connecting a DSL or cable modem,
Two Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports for connecting computers or network devices.
One FireWire 800 port,
One FireWire 400 port,
Five USB 2.0 ports (4 rear, 1 front/keyboard passthrough),
Mini DisplayPort,
Audio line in,
Audio line out,
Kensington lock slot,
9" LED-backlit glossy display,
Support for external display in extended desktop mode,
Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking,
Built-in Bluetooth,
Built-in stereo speakers,
Built-in omnidirectional microphone,
Built-in iSight camera,
8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW),
One open full-length PCI Express expansion slot,
4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM,
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed,
1066MHz frontside bus,
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor; 512MB of GDDR3 memory,
Built-in 128GB solid-state drive,
3 drive bays supporting,
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 8MB cache,
500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 16MB cache,
750GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 16MB cache,
1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 32MB cache. AND JUST FOR FUN, our engineers have created a 128K, 64K ROM emulator with ports to use respective OS X port drivers. It comes with a complete collection of Apple Software disk images containing every piece of software created and distributed by Apple for use with the 128K.

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Comments

tmtomh's picture

Very cool idea, and actually quite nice-looking. Would love to see a full-color rendering to get the full visual impact.

M

full-color rendering? you mean the display? Otherwise, this is the "full-color" rendering LOL Apple has come full circle to embrace 1-bit color design again!

Hawaii Cruiser's picture

Pretty cool, except for the keyboard and mouse. Why go back to those clumsy designs? Something with a mix of new, retro, ergonomic, and stylish would be much cooler, and functional--making it a design that someone might actually want to use on a regular basis without having to inevitably disconnect the keyboard and mouse as it is and then use instead, one of the regular current versions--which would almost surely happen, and which would then undermine the unique image and experience of the special setup as a whole. They'd sell better with a sense of complete functionality that way, and with the right new design, somehow maintain the retro feel.

I'm thinking for the mouse, something like a stealth bomber design. You want to reference the boxy form of the original design, so you bloat it to the shape and volume like the mice of today (funny how mice have evolved to look more and more like actual mice), and then cut the shape into flat planes the way a stealth bomber is made up of a bunch of angled flat planes and no curved surfaces. Maybe make it non-symmetrical but with a big button the same size and shape as the original--and maybe a right click button on the side, but much more discreet, almost unnoticeable--and somewhere a tiny Mighty Mouse wheel. It would keep its ergonomic utility but be very different from any other mouse and refer in different ways to the original mouse. They could probably work up a market for the mouse alone.

For the keyboard, maybe much thinner, the same width, the same number and layout of the original keys, and keep the keys still highly raised--even keep the keys the same plastic and color as the originals--basically identical keys to the original--but the box of the keyboard has sharp edges and is made of brushed aluminum. And keep the coiled cord. Maybe a coiled cord to the mouse too, but less tightly coiled.

Just letting the ideas run. It could all turn into something phenomenal as a whole, more like the TAM, not just new guts in an old case design, but then again, also paying homage to the original design at the same time.

I stopped watching the Superbowl right after they turned back the first touchdown (if they're going to video review calls, why not just wire up all the uniforms with sensors and let a computer make all the referee calls instead--hey, no more mangled referees down on the field!--or maybe that's the best part), so I don't know, I didn't see the commercial, and I rarely watch commercialed TV. Is this the actual Mac 25th Anniversary surprise? Where did this image come from?

I was actually hoping Apple would run a commercial during the Superbowl. I don't think they have run one since 1984, but I seem to recall an iPod commercial one year, but could be wrong on either point.

This is merely a Photoshop-ed design of something I'd like to see and lazy-ness limited what I was willing to do. I agree, it could be updated like the TAM, which was actually pretty closely designed to resemble the original, even the color (bronze). Frankly the current iMac carries on the same general shape and is pretty much the TAM. I don't disagree that the keyboard and mouse should be updated. If this were mine, I'd probably be using the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with it. Certainly if Apple actually made this, they would simply include their standard keyboard and mouse. However, as a collector's piece, designed to resemble the original, I'd want all the pieces to match, whether I used them or not.

Hawaii Cruiser's picture

Hey, very nice Photoshop work. I especially like the surface quality of the case. It keeps you guessing whether it's plastic or metal. And you're an advertising copywriter too!

I read elsewhere that Apple was going to have some big event commercial during the Superbowl. I guess it was just a rumor.

This is likely what Apple would do:

http://www.applefritter.com/node/22487

Since I did this one, I started to think there's no reason why they couldn't do an aluminum mouse too, especially with the new MacBook Unibody technology. However, this form factor would be far more limited than the deeper "empty box" approach of the original design. But I would sure take one of these as a server interface, desktop e-mail client, iChat and multimedia interface, a larger external screen would be attached when I needed it.

Looking at the MacBook 24" LED companion, I think the real advance for external screens will be support for dual-span wireless displays, making a small interface screen CPU perfect for locating anywhere. Sort of like a desktop-sized iPhone. Imagine the possibilities when the iPhone can connect to an external monitor ... basically a computer in your pocket.

mmphosis's picture

Awesome!

512 x 384 x 1 bit 9" monochrome LED-backlit glossy display?

DrBunsen's picture

512 x 384 x 1 bit

Pshyeah - why bother? But double it to 1024 x 768 and at least 6 bit, and you have a panel that can cleanly display 512x384 in 4-pixel blocks, and XGA natively.