• Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.

Free: Original 128K upgraded to 512K

aftermac

Well-known member
Well, I just picked it up this morning... took it into work... opened the nice carrying case... and the back says 512k. Sigh. I'll have to open it up and take a peek at the guts, but I don't recall any 128k Mac upgrades that involved replacing the case - which is what I was most interested in. Oh well, it was free and only 2 miles from where I work, so I can't complain too much. It did come with a very long hex screwdriver and a nice carrying case, so that's a win. :)

 

Dog Cow

Well-known member
No biggie; I'd rather have a 512k, anyway. They're more useful; more software will run on it.

 

aftermac

Well-known member
That's still a steal.
Definitely... the carrying case alone, would have been worth driving 2 miles out of my way. It's not the typical Apple carrying case... this one is made by "Lone Peak", which is fine since I already have an Apple case. It gives me something different to put in my collection.

Great epic find.
Thanks! :)

No biggie; I'd rather have a 512k, anyway. They're more useful; more software will run on it.
It wasn't necessarily a matter of functionality, since I already have a 512k, 512ke, and 3 Pluses. It was more for getting something I didn't already have. This 512k does have a SCSI upgrade, so that is unique. Hopefully, I can get it booting. The previous owner says it is getting a Sad Mac on startup, so it needs some looking into.

 

elSchus

Active member
It wasn't necessarily a matter of functionality, since I already have a 512k, 512ke, and 3 Pluses. It was more for getting something I didn't already have. This 512k does have a SCSI upgrade, so that is unique. Hopefully, I can get it booting. The previous owner says it is getting a Sad Mac on startup, so it needs some looking into.
3 Pluses? Do you have them networked?

 

aftermac

Well-known member
It wasn't necessarily a matter of functionality, since I already have a 512k, 512ke, and 3 Pluses. It was more for getting something I didn't already have. This 512k does have a SCSI upgrade, so that is unique. Hopefully, I can get it booting. The previous owner says it is getting a Sad Mac on startup, so it needs some looking into.
3 Pluses? Do you have them networked?
Unfortunately, not... I wish I had the space to have my collection setup and running, but my "museum" is basically a walk-in closet with poorly built shelving, in despearate need of a remodel. If my count is right, I believe this is my 75th computer. With my limited space only a select few actually get setup for use.

 

Anonymous Freak

Well-known member
Hmm... Do they have Steves signature inside?
All compact Macs up to and including the initial release SE have signatures inside. Some later SEs are missing them. Also, some early SE/30s also have signatures, while later ones are missing them.

But every single "Macintosh", 128K, 512K, 512Ke, and Plus have signatures inside.

 

Mac128

Well-known member
All compact Macs up to and including the initial release SE have signatures inside.
Give or take a signature or two. Every time they modified the inside of the case, somebody got cut out of the mold.

 

Quadraman

Well-known member
Well, I just picked it up this morning... took it into work... opened the nice carrying case... and the back says 512k. Sigh. I'll have to open it up and take a peek at the guts, but I don't recall any 128k Mac upgrades that involved replacing the case - which is what I was most interested in. Oh well, it was free and only 2 miles from where I work, so I can't complain too much. It did come with a very long hex screwdriver and a nice carrying case, so that's a win. :)
There was a 128k to Plus upgrade that involved replacing the back case since the ports on a Plus are different than those on a 128k. I actually have a Plus upgraded one here.

 

aftermac

Well-known member
Well, I just picked it up this morning... took it into work... opened the nice carrying case... and the back says 512k. Sigh. I'll have to open it up and take a peek at the guts, but I don't recall any 128k Mac upgrades that involved replacing the case - which is what I was most interested in. Oh well, it was free and only 2 miles from where I work, so I can't complain too much. It did come with a very long hex screwdriver and a nice carrying case, so that's a win. :)
There was a 128k to Plus upgrade that involved replacing the back case since the ports on a Plus are different than those on a 128k. I actually have a Plus upgraded one here.
True. I should have been more specific...128k to 512k upgrades that replaced the case. ;)

I'll trade you for the 128k that you just picked up! :D

 

Quadraman

Well-known member
Well, I just picked it up this morning... took it into work... opened the nice carrying case... and the back says 512k. Sigh. I'll have to open it up and take a peek at the guts, but I don't recall any 128k Mac upgrades that involved replacing the case - which is what I was most interested in. Oh well, it was free and only 2 miles from where I work, so I can't complain too much. It did come with a very long hex screwdriver and a nice carrying case, so that's a win. :)
There was a 128k to Plus upgrade that involved replacing the back case since the ports on a Plus are different than those on a 128k. I actually have a Plus upgraded one here.
True. I should have been more specific...128k to 512k upgrades that replaced the case. ;)

I'll trade you for the 128k that you just picked up! :D
Heh, no thanks. I gotta see what's wrong with it and if it's still all original. It has all the original ports sticking out the back so it probably hasn't had a motherboard swap, which is good news but that doesn't mean there isn't an aftermarket upgrade inside. There was an extremely rare upgrade back then that boosted it to 4 megs system RAM and added a 2 meg RAM disk but those are extremely hard to find so I wouldn't expect to see one when I open it up. Some people also piggybacked additional RAM chips onto the existing ones. I sure hope that hasn't happened with this one.

 

Mac128

Well-known member
128k to 512k upgrades that replaced the case
Not likely unless you know that for sure. When you took your 128K into an authorized Apple service center, they swapped out the 128K board, kept your original ROMs (pre-1986), and replaced the rear bucket label with the 512K logo. The case remained the same one you originally purchased. The upgrade kit merely came with a ROM-less 512K digital board and new label.

The only way I can imagine they replaced the rear case, is if it was upgraded to a 512K after 1986. In which case, they may have upgraded some 512Ks to a Plus and had a stack of 512K buckets and 512K boards in the back room and they just swapped out your with one of those.

Also, if it has SCSI, then the it was updated to a 512Ke with the 800K drive kit, which included the 128K ROMs. So what you have there is the original 128K case with a 512K upgrade kit & 800K drive kit and most likely a Dove MacSnap SCSI ROM board. It could also be any number of other accelerators with the SCSI board expansion, but the MacSnap was the most common I have seen.

 

aftermac

Well-known member
128k to 512k upgrades that replaced the case
Not likely unless you know that for sure. When you took your 128K into an authorized Apple service center, they swapped out the 128K board, kept your original ROMs (pre-1986), and replaced the rear bucket label with the 512K logo. The case remained the same one you originally purchased. The upgrade kit merely came with a ROM-less 512K digital board and new label.

The only way I can imagine they replaced the rear case, is if it was upgraded to a 512K after 1986. In which case, they may have upgraded some 512Ks to a Plus and had a stack of 512K buckets and 512K boards in the back room and they just swapped out your with one of those.

Also, if it has SCSI, then the it was updated to a 512Ke with the 800K drive kit, which included the 128K ROMs. So what you have there is the original 128K case with a 512K upgrade kit & 800K drive kit and most likely a Dove MacSnap SCSI ROM board. It could also be any number of other accelerators with the SCSI board expansion, but the MacSnap was the most common I have seen.
Hopefully, I'll be able to tear into it tomorrow to see what upgrades have been done to it. The SCSI port is run through the battery cover. I would highly doubt that this was a 128K at any point in its life. Of course, with a case and motherboard replacement, there is virtually no way to prove it.

 

Mac128

Well-known member
The SCSI port is run through the battery cover.
Yup. Classic Dove MacSnap (most likely). Requires 800K disk upgrade and 128K ROMs.

I would highly doubt that this was a 128K at any point in its life. Of course, with a case and motherboard replacement, there is virtually no way to prove it.
Nope. One easy way. Look at the serial number under the front left bezel. If it was made before October 1985, and ends with "...M0001" (not M0001W, D or E), then it most likely started life as a 128K.

And once again, the case back was not replaced, just the label/badge.

Also, I don't recall, did the 512K upgrade kit also come with a replacement agency label? If your agency label says Model M0001 (not M0001W, D or E), then that's a sure sign it was a 128K first.

 
Top