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Odd Mac Plus Faceplate

warmech

Well-known member
I recently picked up a handful of compact Macs, one of which was a Mac Plus. I know it was a Mac Plus because of the form factor (and the Macintosh Plus 1MB sticker on the back), but the faceplate only had the Apple emblem - no "Macintosh Plus" label was present. I'll grab a photo when I get home, but the faceplate looks like it never had a name printed on it; there's no damage, be it chemical or physical, to the location next to the Apple logo where the name would go, so I'm wondering if they produced a version of the Plus with no name, a la the 128K/512K. Anybody see one of these before? My googling has come up with nothing so far.
 

mg.man

Well-known member
More than likely you have a 128k/512k Mac that was "upgraded" to a Plus. That "upgrade" was a new logic board and rear "case". This was all too common back in the day... I have three or four Macs that I picked up this way...
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
Anybody see one of these before? My googling has come up with nothing so far.

Is the logo in a box, like the 512k/128k? If so it was probably upgraded, which really replaced the entire back half of the machine, the LB and, IIRC, the floppy drive. I have a similar one.
 

mg.man

Well-known member
The other giveaway is that the 128k/512k serial number is on the "front" faceplate underside next to the brightness knob. If yours is an "upgrade to Plus", the serial number will still be there. And, the place where a "real" Plus has its serial number (in the middle of the underside of the rear "case") will be empty...
 

warmech

Well-known member
More than likely you have a 128k/512k Mac that was "upgraded" to a Plus. That "upgrade" was a new logic board and rear "case". This was all too common back in the day... I have three or four Macs that I picked up this way...
I do have another Plus from this same batch that was a 128K/512K upgraded to a Plus, but this one is different.
Is the logo in a box, like the 512k/128k? If so it was probably upgraded, which really replaced the entire back half of the machine, the LB and, IIRC, the floppy drive. I have a similar one.
The logo is the newer style found on the Plus onward.
 

mg.man

Well-known member
So, it has two serial numbers or just one? Also, "where" is the serial number located?
 

warmech

Well-known member
Looks like there's an answer - from the 512Ke page at apple-history.com:

Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:14:35 -0800
From: DS
Subject: Macintosh 512K/800 (512ke Variant)

You may want to note this one on the 512Ke page. Like the Macintosh ED, the 512Ke was also sold as the "Macintosh 512K/800" outside of the USA. The main difference between the 512Ke and 512K/800 & ED was that the later two models came with the Mac Plus extended keyboard.

In 1987 along with the rest of the Apple product line, the 512ke and/or variants were also produced in Platinum, this change involved a rear-bucket change of color and a switch to the Macintosh Plus front bezel without the name as depicted in the Macintosh ED on the 512ke page.

There you have it! Though, now I need to crack that case open and double check whether it's a 512Ke or a Plus...
 

mg.man

Well-known member
I need to crack that case open and double check whether it's a 512Ke or a Plus...
If it says "Plus" on the back... it'll be a Plus... the Plus has a SCSI port, so the bottom (ports) section is different - hence the need to swap the rear when upgrading from an original 128k/512k. Yours might be a 512ke (Platinum) that got the "Plus" upgrade... You should be able to tell without cracking it open - just see if it has a SCSI (25pin) port at the back. Also worth tapping in the S/N - but I'll bet it was a 512ke, now a "Plus"...
 

mg.man

Well-known member
Just been Googling all over the place... all the "512k"s I can find (original / 512ke / 512k ED) all have the Apple logo in a square, and, more importantly, lower down the facial. Only the "Plus" variants I can find have the Apple logo 'set in' (like yours) and aligned with the floppy slot. Curious to see what the S/N lookup spits out... but I'm guessing there's a Plus 'board inside.

Maybe someone previosly retr0brited the writing off... :rolleyes:
 

Crutch

Well-known member
Some of us here a discussion about these alleged platinum unlabeled 512ke’s a couple years ago. To my recollection nobody could actually come up with documentation of such a thing existing other than a few secondary sources like Wikipedia. I think the semi consensus was maybe that the few photos we saw of these were indeed Macintosh ED’s that had the writing cleaned off. But maybe we were wrong!

I would love to know more about this machine.

As I recall the recent “Macintosh 512/800” (per its included box) on eBay did have this case type and color but was actually labeled “Macintosh ED” on the case front.
 

robin-fo

Well-known member
Just a thought: Is it possible that this is a generic (third party?) replacement faceplate? The texture looks somehow rougher than on the Macs I know.. And the plastic appears to have less yellowing than the back case which is supposed to be younger (if it indeed was converted to a Mac Plus).
 

warmech

Well-known member
Alrighty! I finally had a chance to take a better look into this thing. It's a 512K, not a Plus (should have paid closer attention to the rear) and, according to the serial number... is an ED model. The S/N is F73734FM0001ED (that should have been a dead giveaway) and is detailed as follows:

Manufactured in: F => Fremont, California, USA
Year of production: 1987
Week of production: 37
Production number: 34F => 3619
Model ID: M0001ED => Macintosh 512Ke

Your Macintosh 512Ke was the 3619th Mac manufactured during the 37th week of 1987 in Fremont, California, USA.
 
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