apm
Well-known member
I've been collecting 68k Macs on and off for years, but I've never had anything older than a Plus. So when an original Macintosh turned up on eBay within train commuting distance, for a non-exorbitant auction price (< £200), I jumped on it. Here it is:

It came with a keyboard, mouse, and an original carrying bag. Cosmetically, it's in really good shape for its age. Very little yellowing, no visible burn-in on the screen. The main flaw is a crack in the upper left corner of the case, and a couple marks where it looks like the case was opened before. Though oddly enough, the CRT doesn't sit flush with the case at the bottom. I can't find any evidence internally that anything is out of place -- has anyone seen this before?

The machine serial number (F4119NBM0001) indicates it's from week 11 of 1984.
Internally the machine is very clean. Also I noticed the original flyback transformer, one of the smaller ones which were replaced in later models because they were prone to failure:

Since the machine showed signs of having been opened before, and also because it was advertised as working (no RAM failure), I figured it was at least 50% likely it had been upgraded to a 512k somewhere along the way. But no, it remains a stock 128k!

And the machine does, mostly, work. It boots, and the floppy drive works perfectly (not at all sticky unlike a lot of the more recent machines I've found). The main problem is with the vertical height on the screen:

The picture will stretch and compress quasi-randomly, and is partly shifted off the bottom of the screen. At its tallest, it is nearly normal height, just a bit offset downward. At its lowest, it occupies about half the CRT.
Obviously the analog board needs a full recap. My guess for this specific problem is C5 (47uF which separates a couple op-amp stages in the vertical sweep circuit). The problem affects the entire picture equally, rather than distorting only the top or the bottom half, so I doubt the problem is in the push-pull output. And if C5 were working properly, then even a change in height should still stay centred on the screen. I'll post back here once the recap is finished.
Still, cap problems and minor crack aside, I'm happy to find an original Mac in such nice condition.


It came with a keyboard, mouse, and an original carrying bag. Cosmetically, it's in really good shape for its age. Very little yellowing, no visible burn-in on the screen. The main flaw is a crack in the upper left corner of the case, and a couple marks where it looks like the case was opened before. Though oddly enough, the CRT doesn't sit flush with the case at the bottom. I can't find any evidence internally that anything is out of place -- has anyone seen this before?

The machine serial number (F4119NBM0001) indicates it's from week 11 of 1984.
Internally the machine is very clean. Also I noticed the original flyback transformer, one of the smaller ones which were replaced in later models because they were prone to failure:

Since the machine showed signs of having been opened before, and also because it was advertised as working (no RAM failure), I figured it was at least 50% likely it had been upgraded to a 512k somewhere along the way. But no, it remains a stock 128k!

And the machine does, mostly, work. It boots, and the floppy drive works perfectly (not at all sticky unlike a lot of the more recent machines I've found). The main problem is with the vertical height on the screen:

The picture will stretch and compress quasi-randomly, and is partly shifted off the bottom of the screen. At its tallest, it is nearly normal height, just a bit offset downward. At its lowest, it occupies about half the CRT.
Obviously the analog board needs a full recap. My guess for this specific problem is C5 (47uF which separates a couple op-amp stages in the vertical sweep circuit). The problem affects the entire picture equally, rather than distorting only the top or the bottom half, so I doubt the problem is in the push-pull output. And if C5 were working properly, then even a change in height should still stay centred on the screen. I'll post back here once the recap is finished.
Still, cap problems and minor crack aside, I'm happy to find an original Mac in such nice condition.