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Performa LC 475 oddity? Pre-production? Demo?

unity

Well-known member
MJ313 and I have been discussing this one, we have not come to a definite conclusion on this and maybe never will without some conclusive evidence that is not just specualtion. Conclusion being what it is. Pre-production? Demo unit? Internal demo? Upgrade kit?

Oddities:

- Only says "Macintosh Performa" on the front. No model variation after. Its very obvious that nothing was removed either upon close inspection. I took a shot and processed it to bring out details, etc. Its below. If for some reason the variation number was removed, it was done in a very careful way to not scuff, dull the surface at all. I am confident in saying it was never stamped.

- The "Performa 475" label is printed on stock Apple serial label - notice the "M" in the lower left. Upgrade kits had a proper decal for the front (images can be found online of that).

- The motherboard appears to be early regular production with a ROM slot installed. The ROM slot is normally not found. The PRAM reset button was removed from production runs at some point. The word "PRIMUS" is found on the serial mobo label, but again this can be found on regular production runs. Not sure if they all said PRIMUS, but I found a few examples. So besides the ROM slot, the board is not super unusual.

- ROMs have labels. Of the early run boards I did hunt down, none had labels. Notice the S in the part number where it should be a space or hyphen.

- That Performa label stuck on is odd in the sense that Performa is really just a software package.

- You had the LC 475, Performa 475 and Quadra 605 based on this same board. The upgrade kit Apple offered was an "LC 475 Upgrade", not a Performa or Quadra upgrade kit.

- Production date puts it around 3 months prior to the October release of the Performa , LC 475 and Quadra 605.

- The FCC label is not cover up another (which could indicate an upgrade was done)

Most serials I have seen include EVT/DVT/PVT. This one does say PT but that may be a stretch. I dont have other units of this time to compare serial to and Apple was never good at using the same serial setup by this time. But any input on that may help. I have run across only one other 475 like this in my searches but the pic is not high resolution. http://myplace.frontier.com/~kadaggett/StackOMacs/other68k.html- That same image was discussed here in one old post.

So what do you think?

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Macdrone

Well-known member
That is a strange bird.  I would say demo unit as the sticker looks unfinished.  At no point would they have left the black block on it.  Also usually the sticker area would be smooth and matched to size the sticker.  It looks like an afterthought.  The fact it says performa makes it feel like it was geared towards education as schools dont care about model number.

 

unity

Well-known member
Black block?

Well the sticker is just a regular serial label as you can find on most other Macs. Its not that thicker plastic like label they started to use around this time. I have seen them put to use in odd ways like this before. So I think it was just placed there to identify this "box" so to speak. Maybe in a line-up of sorts for quality check during final development?  I dunno, strange indeed.

 

Macdrone

Well-known member
But no peformas are silk screened across like that from the apple on that line with the apple.  They are all placed centered below.  The black block on the sticker seems like it would be cut off if it were actual unit.

 

360alaska

Well-known member
I believe this unit to be a "Hodgepodge" of two machines, I have a Performa 475 and it has the reset button. (Although, It doesn't have the rom slot.) I bet somebody had a 475 with a bad top case and a 450 with a bad bottom case(or other issue)... It'd be pretty easy to make that label if somebody wanted too. Nothing special... Prove me wrong...

Josh

Something else I want to add is that according to myoldmac.net's serial decoder:

Manufactured in: SG => Singapore
Year of production: 1993
Week of production: 30
Production number: 0HA => 588
Modell ID: 1PT => Macintosh LC (Performa)

Your Macintosh LC (Performa) was the 588th Mac manufactured during the 30th week of 1993 in Singapore.

 
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Macdrone

Well-known member
Only issue is the top case.  The silkscreen Macintosh Performa in line with the Apple I have never seen.  No performa I know of every had that arrangement.  At a minimum ther top case is not normal at the least.

 

unity

Well-known member
The black block on the sticker seems like it would be cut off if it were actual unit.

I still have no clue what black block you are talking about.

As for the letter arrangement, the Performa 400 seems to have the same as this one.

 

unity

Well-known member
It'd be pretty easy to make that label if somebody wanted too. Nothing special... Prove me wrong...
Of course. By why put the "M" in the lower corner? That "M" is found on many of the serial labels on Macs I have in hand. Also that "M" was not printed at the same time as the rest of the label, the M is dull. The Performa 475 is some sorta laser print that has a sheen to it. If I can get a pic that shows the reflectiveness of each I will try. But I dont think it will turn out well. I will also add that while its a paper label, it has that slightly plastic covered feel to it. Again, like Apple serial labels. Point being, that label was made in house at Apple.

I bet somebody had a 475 with a bad top case and a 450 with a bad bottom case(or other issue)... 
Maybe. There could be some process to remove the model number printed on the top. After all, no case exists that we know of that just says "Macintosh Performa". They all have a model number. But I know of no method that will not dull the sheen of the case plastic. or result in some sort of buffing appearance. Seems like an odd amount of work to go though by any owner. I mean they would know what is inside. But still, this makes no sense. The board in this box is for an LC/Performa 475 or Quadra 605 - released in October of 1993, not July. Same goes for the FCC label, so they would have had to locate one of those and slap it on. So that would mean someone swapped both the upper and lower? Could not be just one.


 
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Macdrone

Well-known member
if its an m i guess its too blurry for my blind eye lol.  Sorry, either way makes no sense with an erroneous mark there.

 

unity

Well-known member
You can click the image to enlarge. If you read above, the M is found on many Apple serial labels. So its label stock that Apple uses, just normally for serials.

 

Danamania

Official 68k Muse
Only issue is the top case.  The silkscreen Macintosh Performa in line with the Apple I have never seen.  No performa I know of every had that arrangement.  At a minimum ther top case is not normal at the least.
Depends on the Performa. I can't remember offhand seeing a Performa 475 in-line, but for the earlier Performas the in-line arrangement is the only one I've seen.

 

Macdrone

Well-known member
performas on the LC front I have never seen, in line for lc's yes.  Usually the performa is under and centered on the apple, on the 6xx series and 6xxx series.

 

sstaylor

Well-known member
How about a refurbished unit?  Maybe the refurb center had generic-ish top cases to use as replacements as needed, with the sticker stuck on to designate model.  Also, refurb machines sometimes received reworked early production logic boards.  The only problem with my hypothesis is that refurb machines often had a serial number to indicate; but I'm not sure that was always the case.

 

Danamania

Official 68k Muse
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