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Mint condition LC475 & battered PB1400cs

68kAlex

68kAlex

6502
Hi all, this is my first post on 68kmla! I used to be a Mac user from the early 90s right through to 2011, but when my white MacBook gave up the ghost I ended up migrating to Windows.

However, as a writer I missed the focus and simplicity of the old System 7 machines so decided to see what I could find on EBay.

I managed to pick up an LC475 in near perfect condition for £35 inc postage, complete with 14" monitor, keyboard and mouse. The peripherals have a little cosmetic damage but I've stripped the computer down and examined all the caps, and I can see nothing wrong. It booted perfectly first time and the 80MB HDD is running fine. I'm sure as the system ages the caps might eventually go, but for now it's running System 7.1 like a dream.

Secondly I have inherited a PowerBook 1400cs from my Dad, unfortunately a little worse for wear. The battery is of course dead, and the hard disk was on the verge of failure so I've fitted it with a 512MB industrial CF card. There is also an odd backlight issue which I'm worried might be the screen caps failing. Having dismantled it I can't see any obvious sign of degradation, but I'm no expert.

Anyway I'm looking forward to getting involved in the forum. At the moment I'm looking for a better keyboard for my LC475 (preferably the M0116) and some means of connecting the LC475 directly to my Windows 8 PC.

Will post some pics when I get home from work!

 
Welcome to 68kmla ;)

That LC475 sounds nice :) must have slipped past me in the couple of weeks i haven't been watching eBay,always looking out for those...

I do highly recommend recapping it anyway, after all it's better to get it done now than when it becomes a problem (even if they look good there not to be trusted!)

To get it connected to your PC your going want to find it a PDS Ethernet card, there where some for £10 - £15 on eaby not to long ago.

With the 1400 you could look into recelling the battery to get it back up and running, might also be worth leaving it on charge overnight, if i do that with mine i can sometimes get about half a hour or so's charge

 
Thanks for the welcome! I'm really chuffed with my LC475 find as I always wanted one as a kid. Here it is:

IMG_20130822_182649.jpg

As you can see, minimal yellowing and all in very nice condition! I might well take up your advice on recapping the unit as it would be a shame for leaking caps to wreck anything internally. I think there's a company in Reading that recaps Macs (not confident enough in my own soldering skills to do it myself).

I don't hold out high hopes for the PowerBook battery to be honest, as according to my Dad it hasn't taken a charge for many years and doesn't even register in the computer. I'm thinking of removing the cells and just placing the empty plastic shell back into the laptop to avoid having a gaping hole. I only use the PowerBook as a bridge machine between the LC475 and my main computer at the moment anyway so it isn't the end of the world if it's tethered to a power supply.

Here's my current setup at home:

IMG_20130823_205351.jpg

The vintage Mac gets pride of place as my distraction-free writing machine :)

 
Congrats, and welcome to the forum. I'm a big fan of the LC myself, with a similar setup. Well, I've modified it a bit, but it's still an LC.

If you're a writer, you might enjoy the Apple Extended Keyboard II. It has a nice springy, mechanical key switch for great tactile feedback. Great for typing. :)

Not to throw a wrench in the works, but there are tons of great games for the LC. |)

 
I've looked with interest at the Apple Extended Keyboard as I am a big fan of mechanical keyboards (currently rocking a Filco Majestouch 2 with cherry blue switches on my PC). My only concern is that the Apple Extended Keyboard won't leave any room for the mouse on my keyboard tray!

 
wow, that is in damn good condition!

I always loved the LC series comps aswell, got a performa 450 (aka a reboxed LCIII) on my 68k desk atm. Particularly always wanted a LC475 though

The caps are fairly easy to do, that said, if you haven't soldered much in the past i wouldn't start with good old macs. If the place in reading falls through you could always send it to me and i could do it for £10 or so.

Removing the cells is proabley a good idea as at least that will stop the cells from leaking and damaging anything

As for keyboards, the one you have there is my personal favorite, that said, i have never used the much fabled AEKII

 
Welcome to the 68kMLA! And congrats on finding an LC475! They are great machines (I have a Quadra 650, identical to the LC475 but with FEETS!), but if it has a TDK power supply the caps are known for failing, and so are the AZTEKs so watch out.

 
Well the signs will be tell tale. You will flip it on one day and it will just go click,click,click and not power up. even the dana variant has cap issues now.

The first thing that will go on the LC475/Q605/575/and performa variants, its usually sad mac if you have an ethernet card installed. Seems like those 100uf 6.3v caps right by the PDS slot are the first to go.

Or the sound will become really quiet. IF the caps get really bad the main board will just not boot at all, no video.

 
hey if you ever take that apart can you send me a decent resolution picture of the inside, maybe its a simple change i would like the ability to convert them to 220v if needed.

 
I'm pretty sure the TDKs were used worldwide, as I seem to recall them being an autoranging PSU. Most of the ones I've seen here in Australia (where we use 240V) have been TDKs, out of the ones I have, they're all TDK apart from one Delta Group or whoever it was. (can't check because its interstate) I've never seen an Astec LC PSU.

 
That's a lovely machine there! I've got the Performa 475 (same thing-just a different name) and it's also in near-mint condition.

As for keyboards, I love the keyboard which it came with (it was the same one as yours). I find it's nice in that you can rest your hands on the keys and they won't press, but when you get going at like 65 wpm (which is usual for me) then they simply collapse under your fingers when pressed which allows for high speed.

As for power supplies, I didn't know there was an issue with them. I guess that affects the Performa as well?

 
The layout of the keyboard is great - just wish the switches are mechanical! I'm on the lookout for the M0116 keyboard as apparently it uses the same switches as the Extended II, but in a more compact package. I've always preferred smaller keyboards...

 
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