The Macintosh Color Classic (aka Performa 250) had same footprint as the original Macintosh. It was the first mac using a 10" (9" viewable) colour monitor (Sony CRT) and the last of the original all-in-one Macintosh line to be sold in the US market.
Its main board had the same design as the Mac LC II, featuring a 16 MHz 68030 CPU. Sadly, its address bus was limited to 16 bit and allowed only 10 MB of maximum RAM.
The Color Classic could emulate the Apple II thank to an expansion card inserted into its PDS slot.
An improved version, called Color Classic II (aka Performa 275) was launched in late 1993 in Canada then in Japan. It had the same motherboard as the LC/Performa 550 with a 33 MHz CPU, a 32-bit bus and up to 36 MB of available RAM.
Some people call the LC/Performa 550 the "Fat Color Classic II" because of the wider monitor.
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Jeremy Dilatush adds:
This machine's color graphics were *slow* so I usually ran mine in black and white mode. Yes, it made a major difference.
Gwion Mainwaring reports:
There are PPC Upgrades available and this will make your Color Classic a lot faster so you could run Mac OS 8 or 9. OS9 would be a bit slow. But i think you can only run OS 9 on a Color Classic II.
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system,
please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.
Please consider donating your old computer / videogame system to Old-Computers.com or one of our partners from anywhere in the world (Europe, America, Asia, etc.).
Special thanks to Jane Richardson who donated us this computer !
I worked in Educational Sales at Lexington Computer Store. The entire sales staff got Color Classics as our main workstations (this would have been around 1994). We use FileMaker Pro databases to help us run quotes for clients. We would often $ to B$W mode because it was so much faster than color mode.
Monday 2nd February 2015
Andy (Kentucky USA)
I've said that my School ones are in good shape, but now they're gone. My elemtary school is being torn down and replaced with a new one after 87 years in town.
So sad, Of the computer's.....I will never know their fate.
Wednesday 20th June 2007
Chris (Michigan)
This was my favorite computer I ever owned. I traded it for a PowerPC and I regreted it. This was not a fast computer but it had heart. The footprint was wonderful and for a 10" screen it had lots of work area because the display was so crisp. After more than 10 years away from Macs I am back to using a new iMac Intel. It is a great machine but sometimes I miss my little color classic.
Thursday 31st August 2006
William Burnett (USA)
NAME
Macintosh Color Classic
MANUFACTURER
Apple
TYPE
Professional Computer
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
February 1993
END OF PRODUCTION
May 1994
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
None
KEYBOARD
Typewriter type 82 key with numeric keypad and arrow keys
CPU
Motorola 68030
SPEED
16 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR
Socket for an optional 68882 math coprocessor
RAM
4 MB up to 10 MB (although 12 MB could sit in the slots)
VRAM
256 KB up to 512 KB (specific SIMM secket)
ROM
1 MB
TEXT MODES
No text mode. Bit mapped characters
GRAPHIC MODES
512 x 384 dots. Could be expanded to 640 x 480 with significant hardware modifications.
COLORS
256
SOUND
Mono 16-bit - Built-in speaker - sound output jack
Special thanks to Jane Richardson who donated us this computer !
