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  • Mike Brixius

The Apple Macintosh SE/30 (1989)

Updated: Jul 30, 2021

The Apple Macintosh SE/30 was the fastest all-in-one Black & White compact Mac ever sold. Introduced in 1989, it is a very cool little system with big system features.

I was lucky enough to find a pair of these classic Apple computers at a garage sale, and for $5 each no less. In the video above we take a look at them to see what condition they are in after sitting for a couple decades. We also look at the effects of battery leakage on one board and test the use of WD40 to neutralize the leaking material through a process called saponification.

Fortunately there is enough here to work with so the next step was to test booting the machine. In order to do that we needed a working floppy so, in the above video, we completely refurbish one.


The main-board restoration had a bit of a hiccup but, in the end, we got it working as you can view in the above video.

The video where we recap the analog board and Sony power supply covers a lot of ground. The link above is to a regular length video but you can also view an extended length version with more detail and instructions here!


Bringing the series to a close we put all the parts from the previous videos together into a very nice Macintosh SE/30 for our collection!


Classic Mac Repair Notes

classicmac2
.pdf
Download PDF • 1.11MB

There is an excellent repair guide on repair and service of all the classic Macs, including the SE/30, by Thomas H Lee that has been floating around since 2000. I followed more than a couple bad links before finding a good copy so, to save you the trouble, you can download it here (with permission).


Features and Specifications

The Mac SE/30 released in 1989 with a list price of $4400. Being a compact all-in-one it was somewhat portable and was very fast for its day.


Specifications

  • Motorola 68030 Processor running at 16MHz

  • Motorola 68882 Floating Point Unit (Math Co-Processor)

  • 256K ROM (Mixed 24 and 32 Bit)

  • 1 MB RAM Standard (Some had 4MB)

  • 8 RAM Expansion Slots (Expandable to 128MB but Required ROM Replacement)

  • 9 Inch Monochrome CRT (512x324 Resolution, 1-Bit)

  • 3.5" Floppy Drive (1.44MB Apple SuperDrive)

  • Came in 40 MB, 80 MB or No HDD versions

Ports

  • Internal SCSI for HDD

  • Internal Floppy

  • Rear Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) x2

  • Rear Floppy

  • Rear SCSI

  • Rear Printer

  • Rear Modem

  • Rear Stereo Audio

Operating System

  • Can run System 6.0.3 thru 7.5.5 Native

  • Can run System 7.6 thru 8.1 with a 32-Bit Clean ROM Upgrade

Other Features

  • Weight: 19.5 Pounds (8.8 Kg)

  • Size 9.6 x 13.6 x 10.9 Inches (WHD) (24 x 35 x 28 cm)

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