Macintosh plus boxes

[habibrobert]

Hello,

I was wondering if I could get more information about the different types of boxes that the macintosh plus came in? So far I've seen two original manufacturers boxes, a white one with a color photo of the macintosh plus and a monochrome one that looks like an ordinary cardboard box that says macintosh plus onit along with a drawing of it. I was wondering which era each box is from and why are they different? Did they come in different boxes depending on if hey were shipped to the costumer or bought at the store? Any information would be much appreciated!

Many thanks!

 

[jsarchibald]

The colour box would be the earlier beige model, and going forward into the 90s, Apple went with cardboard coloured boxes, so that would most likely be a Platinum up to 1990.

You can find a lot of info out there on the two different colours of macs, from the first beige models, to the swap to Platinum in 1987/1988. Hope this helps.

 

[Scott Baret]

I can confirm this--the later platinum Pluses came in the white boxes with the red Apple on the side and the gray drawing of the computer on the front. I have a platinum Plus made in the 49th week of 1989 with such a box.

There are manual variants out there as well to match these boxes and also to go along with system updates. The 1989 Plus manual wouldn't talk about the single, unified control panel from the pre-System 6 days, for example.

 

[Rasmus]

There are at least two early Mac Plus boxes, before the 1988+ boxes without color. As already noted, the boxes follow the changes in the manuals, etc., as tracked here: http://www.earlymacintosh.org/#Plus_manuals

The 1986 first-generation Plus box:

The 1987 second-generation Plus box:

 

[Macdrone]

I have a later box with an all red apple and greyscale looking plus on it.

 

[Scott Baret]

Here is Plus Box #3. I think these were made from about mid-1988 onward.

The Plus and SE had some changes that year. They lost their specs on the rear bucket label (no more "Macintosh Plus 1MB" or "Macintosh SE with one 800K Drive and 20SC Hard Drive"), the copyright dates were updated from 1986 to 1988, and the manuals would have changed to reflect System 6 (I have a Plus manual from 1987 which clearly has System 4.1 depicted). The style of labels on the floppies changed in 1988 too--no more black stripe on them.

 

[Macdrone]

That's the box I have, missing all but the bottom foam but its cool to have.

 

[CC_333]

Is that an AppleCD and HD20SC I spy in that photo?

That's a very nice example you've got there!

Not to mention, very complete!

c

 

[Macdrone]

That's the scsi version of the hard drive, it's nice but for when I bust out a 128 I like my floppy version lol.

 

[Rasmus]

It's worth noting that the 512Ke boxes were also updated in 1987 -- I never quite accumulated enough evidence (let alone decent photos) to cover the outer packaging in the systematic way that I handle other things on my site, but here's what I have:

The 1986 first-gen 512Ke box:

The 1987 second-gen 512Ke box. Note that, unlike the Plus, the manual and software bundle inside the box did not change in 1987, only the outer box itself:

 

[Scott Baret]

CC, that's a 20SC enclosure. It's the SCSI ZFP drive Apple released shortly after the Plus and has a different enclosure than the HD20 (which used the floppy port). They made this series in a bunch of different capacities. My 20SC has an 80MB drive inside, which I believe was actually pulled from a IIx, as it's the only other model where I've seen/heard the exact same 80MB Apple-branded 5.25" drive. I do have the original box for that drive enclosure.

I don't have the box for the CD 300e, but that's exactly what the smaller drive is. I do have a 150e with the box though!

 

[TheIanMan85]

I feel like my Plus box has the picture angled on one side and straight-on on the other side. I'm too beat from having just pulled a double shift to go outside and into the basement to take a look right away; but I'll take a peak later when I get the energy to go down there to do some laundry. It's the same early style Rasmus posted. I'll be sure to post my findings.

 

[TheIanMan85]

I checked my Plus box in the basement. It does have both images that Rasmus posted. Anyone have a box in this style with the same image on both sides?

 

[Rasmus]

I checked my Plus box in the basement. It does have both images that Rasmus posted. Anyone have a box in this style with the same image on both sides?

Thanks! I can only laugh about my assumption (that they were two different boxes, not different sides of the same box) -- at least I had the good sense to know I didn't have enough evidence to be sure, and didn't put such misinformation on my site...

Still, I do have evidence that one of those Plus boxes (in the photos I posted) held a 1986 beige Plus, while the other held a 1987 platinum unit. So it would seem the outer box didn't change in 1987, but everything inside -- the manual, the software bundle, and the machine itself -- did change.

To follow up on the 512Ke -- assuming I was equally wrong about those two photos, we can draw the same conclusion, except Apple also didn't change the manual and the software bundle. Only the machine itself changed in 1987 -- the box, the manual, and the software bundle remained the same.

 

[NJRoadfan]

1988 was the switchover year to the red Apple/B&W box for the entire lineup as the Apple IIgs box and manuals underwent a similar change. Apple also overhauled manuals, switching to glossy paper (or was it the other way around, don't have my IIgs manuals handy) and dropping the "black box" Apple text on the cover. System disks also dropped the black box as well. Coincidentally the IIgs and Macintosh system software both underwent huge changes in 1988 to merit large revisions in the manuals.

I'm surprised that Apple released a new revision to the System Disk User's Guide for 6.0.4 though. Were the changes that dramatic?