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Welcome to my technical column for AppleChipmunks. My name is Michael Ehrman. My experience with Apple starts with the Apple One and continues through today as a developer, a dealer and a servicer. I will be publishing three columns weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This week my three columns will deal with the “retro” Macintosh. FYI, the G5 will become retro with the release of Snow Leopard but I will be covering various issues on different Macintosh computers and including the Apple II, Apple III and Lisa computers. Boy, I am showing my age.  So let’s get right into it.

For those who belong to my generation, we have grown up along with them however, for the younger generation it is still an enigma for many of us. What is a retro computer? First, it is any older system that has been discontinued or superseded in technology. This means machines with serial ports as USB ports superseded that. SCSI gave way to SATA, not IDE. Why not IDE?  IDE was a slower technology but more widespread and less expensive. NuBus slots on the Macintosh gave way to ISA. ISA to PCI. Each of these changes obsoleted the older machine making it “retro”. Intel Macintoshes obsoleted older Macs that ran Classic which obsoleted systems running Mac OS 9 which obsoleted Macs that could not run Mac OS 9. And so the food chain continues where newer technology force the older models into “retrofication”.  Same is true in the Windows world. Try running an XP or Vista on a 386. This is like turning the machine on in the AM and using it in the later PM. Technology marches on. Want to know about classic retro Macintoshes?  Try searching the web or listening to the RetroMacCast on iTunes. For me, and millions like me it is like reliving the glory days. I remember as a dealer when we sold our last Lisa or Macintosh XL  we celebrated as these became hard to unload. Now, I wish I had a hundreds of them as their value grows every day as does the nostalgia. Plus, Lisa 7/7 Office System was really great. More about that later.

Retro Apple products can be found in yard sales, thrift stores, eBay, and so forth. Ever notice they are there and then are shortly gone but the retro Intel 1GHz Pentium III sits on the shelf almost forever, sometimes getting sold but more likely being scrapped. Why is it these Apple systems sell and the PC does not?

Normally it is the desire to own an Apple product at an affordable price, or to pass onto their child what the parents had while growing up, or for a collector’s item or even for “resale” at a profit (Yes, believe me it is possible). PCs on the other hand are purchased to fill a void, or stripped for parts to fix another PC and on that rare occasion, either to run an old game or application and more rarely, for a collector.

Notice the difference between the two platforms? Everyone basically loves an Apple product even after it has completed its life cycle as a product. Many people tolerate a PC product. This is not the column to wage this war but I will from time to time point out why I find the Apple product more superior (and also why they actually are Superior).

In Wednesday’s column I will guide you how to check out a retro Apple product in the thrift store, what to look out for  and what you can do to help yourself in deciding whether to purchase that Apple product or not. I will also give you a basic idea about the price involved though many times you get unprecedented bargains in the Retro “treasure hunt”. This will help enhance your experience and enjoyment of these classic computers.

In Friday’s column I will cover how to make an apparently dead hardware on these retro computers come back alive from the “dead” or prove that it truly is in need of replacement and give you resources to find your parts.  Apple is no longer the place to buy these parts. So that’s it for this article, do come back here for the next dose of retro medication. You can also subscribe to the RSS Feed and get to read it as it is published without the fear of missing the article.

Be sure to check it out here at AppleChipmunks!

Happy Chipmunking!