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These are the guts of the very first Apple Mac – can you spot the 128KB of RAM?

iFixit treats us to a very special gadget teardown to celebrate 30 years of the Mac

Esat Dedezade

We love a good gadget teardown, we do. There’s something rather primal about stripping a slab of tech to its bare insides, unmasking its electrical organs and blood vessel-like array of cables and connections for all the world to see.

Take the picture above for example. If you’ve got a few flecks of grey in your hair then you’ll probably recognise that as the Macintosh 128k – albeit one that’s been very carefully blown up.

These are the guts of the very first Apple Mac - can you spot the 128KB of RAM?

It was Apple’s first ever Mac, and it sparked off a chain of events and innovations which eventually formed the sleek iMac and cylindrical Mac Pro we have today.

Originally on sale in 1984 for US$2,500 (or around US$5,605 today), the Mac 128k boasted an 8MHz Motorola processor and 128KB of RAM, the latter of which was made up of 16 individual 64kb chips. Phew.

READ MORE: Apple Mac Pro preview

These are the guts of the very first Apple Mac - can you spot the 128KB of RAM?

While our electric toothbrush boasts more powerful specs, thirty years ago the Macintosh 128K blew our minds by providing us with the desktop, mouse, windows and menus – and for that we’ll forever be grateful.

Check out the full teardown on iFixit and gorge yourself on the 80s-inspired video above to see exactly how they sliced the very first Mac open with such graceful precision.

READ MORE: The Mac at 30: Apple’s 10 most memorable Macs

[iFixit]

Profile image of Esat Dedezade Esat Dedezade Contributor

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.