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Hypothesis: Apple intended to launch the LC475/Q605 in late summer 1993

nickpunt

Well-known member
New evidence as come to light! A photo from Apple's Infinite Loop campus store from this reddit thread shows a Performa 460, 475, and 550 side-by-side, with the P475 is in the old-style case, and the P460 is in the transitional espresso case. This shows that Apple was selling old-style 475s at something akin to retail. I think this changes hypotheses a bit:
  • Rules out Replacements and Pre-production hypotheses
  • Partners hypothesis is still likely, as its selling on Apple campus at IL
There's also a logical wrinkle here: why did the P460 have the transitional espresso case (I've also never seen any in any other style), while we now have an in-the-wild contemporary photo as well as numerous examples of the P475 in the old style case?

If the 460 and 475 were manufactured at the same time, and Apple had old LC-style cases to clear out, it would make much more sense that the P460 would get the older Snow White case style (used on SE, 020, and 030 Macs) rather than the new Espresso style (used on other 040's). To me this logic rules out the clearing out Inventory hypothesis, since the 460 would be the natural recipient of such an action.

However, if a run of the 475 was manufactured first, and the 460 only a few months later (perhaps as a hasty update to the 450), it would explain the difference in the cases. To me this logic lends credence to the hypothesis that the P475 was initially slated to be launched earlier but was Delayed.

Of course, Apple famously didn't have their shit together at this time, so Incompetence always remains the alternative hypothesis.

As far as when this photo was taken, these models are all part of the same lineup and came out at the same time (10/18/93) so it makes sense they're side-by-side. Given the P460 was discontinued mere months later (2/1/94, source), we have a 3 month window of when the photo was likely taken (other photos in the series seem to be from other times, given what models are out). Based on the artifacting of the image and the reddit poster's earlier thread of the source these images being a QuicktimeVR video, my strong hunch is it's taken on a QuickTake 100 (intro'd 2/17/94, but probably internally tested earlier), and the image is stretched at the edges for QuicktimeVR. That might put the provenance sometime on the later side of the 3 month window, maybe Jan 94.
 

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nickpunt

Well-known member
@NJRoadfan amazing thanks for the link up! Relevant part:

> Other models of Mac only existed because of the DET [Dept of Education of Australia]'s contract such as the LC475 auto inject case and floppy drive (which was a rework of surplus LCIII’s in the Singapore factory warehouse.

If this is the entire reason for the LC475 body style, it seems we have a modified version of the Inventory hypothesis as the winner! I guess someone in DET really really liked those auto-inject drives. @CTB care to weigh in with any more detail here?

To tie up some loose ends, the July 1993 manufacture date then corresponds to when the LCIII (or just case) was manufactured, before its brains got swapped with an LC475. Guess they didn't silk-screen the exact model number label until they shipped it, or found a way to remove it and reapply a new one.

One loose end that remains is that schools would have purchased LC475s, whereas Performa 475s were destined for homes, and yet those still had the same case for a while.
 

Scott Baret

Well-known member
Was this computer ever intended to be called the LC IV? I remember my dad saying something about a rumored "LC IV" at some point in 1993 right around the time this computer officially came out.

(Note: he didn't work for Apple, nor was he in the tech sector; he was, however, a teacher and was in the target market for LC computers, especially as he moved up to department chair and supervisor positions).
 

CTB

Well-known member
@NJRoadfan amazing thanks for the link up! Relevant part:

> Other models of Mac only existed because of the DET [Dept of Education of Australia]'s contract such as the LC475 auto inject case and floppy drive (which was a rework of surplus LCIII’s in the Singapore factory warehouse.

If this is the entire reason for the LC475 body style, it seems we have a modified version of the Inventory hypothesis as the winner! I guess someone in DET really really liked those auto-inject drives. @CTB care to weigh in with any more detail here?

To tie up some loose ends, the July 1993 manufacture date then corresponds to when the LCIII (or just case) was manufactured, before its brains got swapped with an LC475. Guess they didn't silk-screen the exact model number label until they shipped it, or found a way to remove it and reapply a new one.

One loose end that remains is that schools would have purchased LC475s, whereas Performa 475s were destined for homes, and yet those still had the same case for a while.
The mistake everyone is make here and is a logical one is that the Performa was consumer only and the LC was Education. That might have been the case in the USA but wasn’t the case elsewhere in the world. Australia and most of Asia Pacific including Japan sold Performas into Education. Remember most of the pizza boxes were built at the Singapore factory and Asia Pacific was a secondary market for Apple. What this meant was Product Marketing teams in various Asia Pac countries took whatever they could get at the lowest transfer price possible. Apple Asia Pac was also set up differently to the USA. The head of Product Marketing for Performa was also the head of Product Marketing for Education so models were interchangeable. What I am trying to say is that there is actually no way of making sense of what models went where when, remember Apple was in complete disarray at the time. All I can confirm is that the LC475 with manual inject floppy and snow whitish design was a rework of the LCIII inventory because I was there when we did it. Another anomaly you will find with this series is the software included. Some had the Performa software included with the LC models as they were used a deal sweeteners in Education deals.
 

nickpunt

Well-known member
Thank you @CTB for chiming in with the history! I guess Apple's best intentions for product differentiation with Performa / LC didn't quite happen in reality, as they didn't in so many ways in that era.

Seems like the LC475 case is now closed, so to speak :)
 
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