Apple Prototype Articles Thread

[gkarris]

Place to post articles about Apple Prototypes.

I found this one:

http://fudder.de/artikel/2007/07/17/origin-of-the-iphone/

So way cool...

My favorites from that site:

 

[velocityg4]

Great find

This phone is sweet


WTF!? Imagine typing on that.



I wonder if this was an alternative to the portable or a protoype powerbook. Perhaps it was an actual Apple laptop and not a Macintosh.

Edit: if those are the pictures years listed in their hyperlinks then these designs were way ahead of their time and most are indeed Macs/Protomacs I just wished that 80's iMac was used instead of the 128K/Classic/SE designs.

 

[iHerzeleid]

The last one looks like the \\c with the lcd thing add on majig

 

[velocityg4]

The last one looks like the \\c with the lcd thing add on majig

That's what I thought but if you look closely at the screen their is a finder menu. What is so amazing to me is that any laptops in that time (looking at the hyperlink 1985) would have been 16+ lbs monsters and that portable does not look very big. Although I do not know if laptops existed yet or if they came a couple of years later. However what I do not understand is if that was from 1985 then why did Apple not make something like that rather than the Apple Portable in 1989?

 

[ClassicMac247]

Theres this one website I found with almost every Mac prototype ever created, even designs that never made it off the drawing boards. I can't remember the name but I'm sure a quick search on google would result in finding it, good luck, and I myself love apple prototypes, especially the newer designs from early 2000's-present that didn't make the cut.

 

[ihabime]

That's what I thought but if you look closely at the screen their is a finder menu. What is so amazing to me is that any laptops in that time (looking at the hyperlink 1985) would have been 16+ lbs monsters and that portable does not look very big. Although I do not know if laptops existed yet or if they came a couple of years later. However what I do not understand is if that was from 1985 then why did Apple not make something like that rather than the Apple Portable in 1989?

I think the photos are more like mockups than prototypes, so they're not as constrained by reality. Nice find though.

 

[jodelli]

^^^ GUIs were adapted for 8 bit computers by the late 80s so a IIc could conceivably have a finder, although as you say just painting a look-alike on the screen would be easier.
The base unit looks like a IIc+, with a different keyboard and a 3 1/2 drive hidden away on the right side. The screen doesn't look like anything I remember, the IIc LCD being a squat little thing mounted partway down near the top of the keyboard instead of hinged at the back of the unit.

 

[eyemacg5]

Beautiful.

 

[kbfr08]

^^^ GUIs were adapted for 8 bit computers by the late 80s so a IIc could conceivably have a finder, although as you say just painting a look-alike on the screen would be easier.
The base unit looks like a IIc+, with a different keyboard and a 3 1/2 drive hidden away on the right side. The screen doesn't look like anything I remember, the IIc LCD being a squat little thing mounted partway down near the top of the keyboard instead of hinged at the back of the unit.

Actually, the mac team got a finder working on an apple II, with the mouse card.

http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.p...pple_II_Mouse_Card.txt&sortOrder=Sort by Date

 

[ihabime]

Beautiful.

That design was called the babymac, sort of an original mac in a case similar to the //c monitor. The keyboard is the cassie(snow white) forerunner of the IIGS keyboard. I love how minimal it is, no sides just keys.

There's a bit more info here :
http://www.applefritter.com/node/294

 

[jodelli]

Actually, the mac team got a finder working on an apple II, with the mouse card.

http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.p...pple_II_Mouse_Card.txt&sortOrder=Sort by Date

I started reading it, realized this had to be an early insider, then scrolled back up to see who the author was.

Author: Andy Hertzfeld

Beaut. A piece of Apple history from one of the best.

Thank you for that link!

 

[gkarris]

That design was called the babymac, sort of an original mac in a case similar to the //c monitor. The keyboard is the cassie(snow white) forerunner of the IIGS keyboard. I love how minimal it is, no sides just keys.

There's a bit more info here :
http://www.applefritter.com/node/294

(drools...)

I've always admired the beauty of Apple Keyboards...

 

[mucup]

That design was called the babymac, sort of an original mac in a case similar to the //c monitor. The keyboard is the cassie(snow white) forerunner of the IIGS keyboard. I love how minimal it is, no sides just keys.

There's a bit more info here :
http://www.applefritter.com/node/294

This is the most beautiful machine in the world. If they made them today I would most assuredly buy one. It 'just works' which is one of many amazing aspects about it.