Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh

On January 7, 1997 Apple unveiled the limited edition Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh at the MacWorld Expo, San Francisco. The computer was a celebration of 20 years of Apple Computer Inc., and was heralded with the following preamble from then CEO, Gil Amelio:

For twenty years, Apple design engineers have been building bridges between what people dream about and the amazing new technologies that can take them beyond those dreams.

It's our magnificent obsession.

It's about working and playing and listening and learning and creating and communicating - sometimes all at the same time.

It's about the delight of doing things faster and better and easier.

It's about turning your back on conventional wisdom and finding new ways.

Now, it's about celebrating the last twenty years, and heralding the next twenty.

It's about the most beautiful thing we've ever built.

It's the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh.

The machine itself deviated drastically from any before seen personal desktop computer. It used an LCD display and vertically mounted logic board and media drives to produce a slimline form factor a mere 2.5” deep. Although most of the inside components were off-the-shelf (with the exception of a custom logic board), the exterior was designed to represent a state-of-the-art futuristic vision, which still impresses today, more than a decade after its inception.

At the Expo, the TAM (as it is frequently abbreviated to and known by) was predicted to have a US$9,000 price tag. Upon its official release in March, that price had been revised to US$7,499. The TAM featured a 250 MHz 603e processor, 12.1" active matrix LCD powered by an ATI 3D Rage II video chipset, with 2MB of VRAM capable of displaying up to 16bit color at 800x600 or 640x480 pixels, a 4x vertically mounted SCSI CD-ROM, 2GB ATA hard drive, vertically mounted Apple Floppy SuperDrive, as well as a TV/FM tuner, S-Video card, and a custom-made Bose sound system, including 2 “Jewel” speakers and a subwoofer built into the externally located power supply "base unit".

Finally the TAM came with a special 75 key ADB keyboard which featured leather palm-rests and a trackpad instead of a mouse. The trackpad could be detached from the keyboard if desired, with a small leather insert found underneath the keyboard ready to fill the gap. Due to its size (and its origins) the keyboard does not feature a numeric keypad. When not required, the keyboard could slide under the TAM’s head unit, leaving the trackpad exposed for continued access.

The TAM came with a remote control (standard with the Apple TV/FM Tuner card), but also featured buttons on the front panel that could control sound levels, CD playback, brightness, contrast, and TV mode. The pre-installed operating system was System 7.6.1 (requiring the TAM’s special CD for installation), but this could be upgraded as far as Mac OS 9.1.

The TAM cannot run Mac OS X, and attempting such an installation will result in the apparent "bricking" of the computer. For those who have attempted this, one can revive the computer by removing the PRAM battery overnight. If this fails, one can still revive it by resetting the Open Firmware on the TAM to its default settings, via a serial link (using a terminal program) from another Mac computer.

In order to accommodate further features, the TAM came with a tight-fitting 7 inch PCI slot and also a CSII for the addition of Ethernet. Later G3 upgrade options offered by Sonnet and NewerTechnologies make use of the TAM’s Level II Cache slot, which allow the computer to reach speeds of up to 500MHz. All of these options come at the price of the TAM’s slim profile. The back panel must be removed, and replaced with an (included) “hunchback” cover that adds several extra inches to the depth of the machine.

By moving the power supply into an external Dalekesque enclosure (together with Bose’s subwoofer), heat issues in the head-unit were avoided. This technique was later used again by Apple in the Power Mac G4 Cube and later by the Mac Mini. Joining the base-unit to the head-unit was a thick umbilical cord. The reason for the cord's thickness reflects back to design elements that were ultimately scrapped. Due to the rushed release of the model, the thick cable remained as legacy to those unused plans.

One last unique feature of the TAM greeted owners upon turning the computer on – a special unique startup chime. Although it is possible to hear the chime using applications such as MacTracker, unless heard through the TAM’s Bose speakers, it is very much not the same.

As noted, the technologies used inside the TAM were not new. The LCD display was out of the current line of PowerBooks. The keyboard and trackpad borrowed from the PowerBook 3400. The TV/FM tuner was an optional extra available to several lines of Macintoshes, including the Power Macintosh 5500 and 6500. The logic board had similarities also to that of the 5500 and 6500 series, though it was in fact a custom board. The hard drive was not particularly large for the time, nor the processor the top of the line. Considering the price of the unit, it is surprising they did not opt for a faster processor, such as the 604e chip used in the Power Macintosh 9600, however it is possible that heat issues had a deciding factor. But this machine was not about its specifications – it was about its style, its design, and its statement.

Limited Production

Apple only manufactured 12,000 TAMs, and then literally broke the moulds. Whilst 399 were held for spare parts, the remaining 11,601 were sold in only 5 countries around the world - USA, Japan, France, Germany, and the UK.

Ten TAMs were sent to Apple Australia, and whilst 2 were given away as prizes to the public, and 1 put on display in Apple's Sydney HQ, the remainder went to Apple Australia executives. One possible reason why TAMs were not sold in Australia was due to the fact that a number of TAMs would have needed to be destroyed by Australian authorities in order to conform with safety standards.

Both of Apple's founders, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, received a TAM. When Woz allowed people to see into his office via webcam in the late 1990s, you could see his TAM on his desk.

Due to the scarcity of scale, rather than training all Apple authorized technicians in repairing the TAM, Apple opted to ship faulty units to three central locations worldwide - one per continent. The US location was in/near the Kodak Building in Rochester, New York. Apple’s Service Source CD, containing information for authorized technicians in the repair of Apple computers, lists the TAM as a “closed unit”, repairable only by Apple themselves. It does not contain a “take apart” guide for the TAM.

Dropping Prices

Upon unveiling, the TAM was predicted to cost US$9,000, which would include a concierge delivery service to your door. Upon release, it was $7,499. In the middle of its sales’ lifespan it dropped further to around US$3,500, and finally upon its discontinuation in March 1998 the price was set to a low US$1,995 – either at, or below, the cost of production.

The simple reason behind these price drops was that despite an award winning advertising campaign, the TAM was simply overpriced for what it was. In comparison with a similarly spec’d Power Macintosh 6500, retailing for US2,999, the TAM was priced out of the market. Once the lowest price point was reached, the Apple enthusiasts who had envied those rich executives who had afforded the TAM previously, devoured the remaining (US) stock within 14 days. The firesale did not necessarily include the other 4 countries in which the TAM was sold.

At each step in the price reductions, angry customers who had already purchased the TAM at full price were placated by gifts from Apple in the form of high end PowerBook computers.

Despite its poor sales, the TAM remains a popular collector's item among dedicated Macintosh collectors.

The "Buzz"

Some Twentieth Anniversary Macintoshes experience what has become known as "the buzz" - a static noise that plays through the TAM's speakers, even when the sound level is muted. Some people reported that even after sending their TAM back to Apple for repairs, the buzz would later return. It took some time for Apple, together with Bose, to confirm a problem existed, and devise a lasting fix.

TAMs that appear for sale now will often claim to be "Buzz free". There are numerous suggested DIY repair options for the buzz. Although well known amongst TAM owners, in context of the limited production run, the buzz has likely affected only a very small percentage of TAMs.

Future Echoes

Although it is reported that Steve Jobs hated the TAM (as the last mark of his predecessor's reign?)Fact|date=July 2008, designer Jonathan Ive clearly borrowed from the TAM's sleek lines when creating the LCD iMac lines. As noted, external power supplies have been used in several later Apple computers. Joint efforts with speaker manufacturers (originally Bose, but later Harmon Kardon) have become common for several Apple computers.

Film and television appearances

Over the years, especially soon after its release, the TAM made a number of film and television appearances. These included Batman & Robin, The Pretender, Seinfeld, Sabrina, and Boy Meets World. It also appears in the anime Serial Experiments Lain, but is red and is referred to as a Navi.

Jerry Seinfeld owns/owned a TAM, possibly the one used on set of his sitcom during the final season.

External links

* [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30182 Apple TAM Detailed Tech Spec page]
* [http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112418 Apple TAM Tech Spec page]
* [http://tam.axon.net The Official TAM Website (site is unmaintained)]
* [http://www.mactivist.com/wacky_mac/twentieth_anniversary_macintosh 20th Anniversary Macintosh overview, specs, and gallery]
* [http://www.mir.com.my/lb/mpug/Mac-Profile/20thCenturyMac/index.htm 20th Anniversary Apple Macintosh gallery]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaOyJ5FUjSw 20th Anniversary Macintosh Unboxing video by Alfred Diblasi]