Joe Rossignol at MacRumors is reporting that Apple’s long-running repair extension program for the butterfly keyboard has ended:
Apple’s free butterfly keyboard service program for select MacBooks models ended late last week, nearly six and a half years after it launched.
With the program now over, it is no longer guaranteed that customers with affected MacBook keyboards will be able to receive a free repair from Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. However, exceptions could be made.
At $450, this book makes my copy of Designed in California look like a deal at $299.
Back in March I wrote about the Jonathan, a computer Apple worked on in the 1980s that was designed around modularity:
In that post, I wrote:
My understanding is that the project never made it past the “conversations and mockups” stage. I get why the Jonathan never made it beyond the concept phase, but part of me wishes I could round up a bunch of modules meant for this platform. At least we have some fun photos and renders to enjoy.
Monday, September 9 will mark ten years since Apple announced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as well as the Apple Watch.
That’s all fine and good, but the real news of the day was free music from U2:
Apple, Universal Music Group and legendary rock band U2 today announced the release of the album “Songs of Innocence,” which Apple is gifting to iTunes Store customers around the world, making it the largest album release ever with over half a billion copies distributed. The album features 11 new songs from the band and charts their earliest influences from 70s rock and punk rock to early 80s electronica and soul. The album is free for iTunes Store account holders in 119 countries and is available exclusively on iTunes for the next five weeks.
When I started this project, my goal was to untangle the messiest of all Mac product lines. In my initial blog post I wrote:
At its heart, the Performa line is the fruit of badge engineering. This is often found in the car market, perhaps most famously in the Chrysler K-car platform that debuted in 1981. Over 14 years, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth shipped a dizzying array of front-wheel drive cars, all based on the same platform. Features, options, and prices ranged between them, but under the covers, these were all the same car, more or less.
We’ve done it; we have come to the final three Performas. It’s taken 11,000 words to get here, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
In a world of weird 1990s Macs, the 6400 may take the prize for the most awkward. Here it is, in Power Macintosh form, in an official Apple photo:
Launched in August 1996, this is the first (and only) Performa to use the traditional vertical tower case, and as you can see, it was quite the case.
In the spring of 1996, Apple updated its all-in-one Performa across two collections of models: the 5200 and 5400.
Thankfully, not all of them were beige…
In 1996, the Performa 5200 line was updated with three new models:
| Model | CPU | Memory | HDD Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5260CD | 100 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 or 16 MB | 800 MB | $1,699 |
| 5260/120 | 120 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 or 16 MB | 1.2 GB | $1,499 |
| 5270CD | 100 MHz PowerPC 603e | 8 MB | 1.2 GB | Unknown |
The 5260/100 came out in the fall of 1996, following the 5260CD and 5270CD, which both shipped in April of that year. All three of these systems shipped with a 14-inch CRT, running at 640 x 480 resolution, despite earlier Performas in the same enclosure using a 15-inch CRT capable of running at 832 x 624.
By the fall of 1995, the final pre-PowerPC Performas were still available for purchase by those looking to potentially procure a personal computer. Despite 68K-based Performas being on the market until 1996, Apple was already moving on, and now so must we.
These machines were an update to the 5200 all-in-one that debuted in the summer of 1995. The 5200 Series would remain on sale even after the 5300 models were announced, in true 90s Apple fashion.
This 28-minute video about a family buying a Performa is amazing in every single way. Cancel your plans this evening and enjoy.
For bonus points, check out the Australian version.
Starting in November 1994, Apple transitioned the Performa line to use the PowerPC processor. This took some time and started some eight months after the first Power Macintosh models were announced, but as covered at great length in this series, Performas were all rebadged Macs from other lines, so it was inevitable that they’d get the PowerPC treatment at some point.
With that said, let’s walk through this processor transition through the lens of a bunch of beige Macs. If you want to learn more about why Apple moved to PowerPC, I recommend this excellent article on the subject.
In August of 1994, Apple was on the cusp of shipping the first PowerPC Performas. That’s a topic for a future blog post, but just because the 68K machines were getting old doesn’t mean Apple was giving up on them.
Robin Meyerowitz wrote this for MacWEEK at the time:
Breaking from a 2-year-old strategy that limited Performas to major retailers, Apple USA last week said it is expanding distribution of its consumer Mac line to authorized Apple resellers, smaller retail outlets and computer superstores.
As a quick recap, the 600 launched at the top of the Performa range in 1992, as a remix of the Macintosh IIvx. The 200 and 400 both saw updates in 1993, but even after the 500 series was introduced, the 600 remained untouched. That changed in July 1994, when Apple took what had been just two SKUs — the 600 and 600CD — and exploded them into a range of machines:
Each of these machines was based on the Quadra 630, which was the last of its line. It used a new case design that was also used on the Power Macintosh 6200, among other machines. It featured the CD-ROM on the left, next to the floppy disk, which was now at the center of the case. To its right was a stack comprised of an infrared port, volume buttons, and a headphone jack. Its code name was “Show & Tell.”