The Rise and Fall of Gil Amelio at Apple 
Featured Articles
A Used TAM for 7499.00
by Tom Willits
September 17, 2011
Another Brand New Tam
by Tom Willits
September 1st, 2011
A Brand New Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (Is it Worth the Bother?)
by Tom Willits
April 1st, 2011
__________________________________________________________
The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh
A Brief History
The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, also known as simply TAM or by its design code name "Spartacus", was a limited-run, all-in-one home computer system produced by Apple Computer, Inc. in 1997 in celebration of its 20th anniversary of Apple (not Macintosh like its name heralds). It became a classic example of form over function and was met with poor sales in its late-spring release in 1997.
Initially priced out-of-the-market at a whopping 7,499 (originally thought to be as much as 10,000), sales lumbered along until finally being sold at drastic discount prices below 5,000 and finally at fire sale prices of 1999.00 in early 1998. The option of a direct-to-door concierge service was offered in the early release though being dropped after the prices were cut.
According to sources Apple only manufactured 12,000 units, keeping 399 for parts while the remaining units would be sold in the USA, Japan, France, Germany and the UK. Only ten units were shipped to Australia. Because the TAM was a limited-run computer Apple only offered repair services in three locations worldwide.
Design of the TAM would be drastically different from other computers of the time, boasting a 12.1 active matrix LCD and powered by a 250 MHz PowerPc 603e processor. 2MB of VRAM was fed to the display via an ATI Rage II vdeo card displaying 16 bit color at 800x600 or 640x480 resolution. A cd player was vertically mounted to the front spinning at 4x with a side-mounted floppy Superdirve. Other components not commonly found in PC's were a TV/FM tuner, an S-Video card and a custom-designed Bose sound system with integrated speakers and a separate subwoofer that also housed the power supply. Apple would reuse this design that allows for lower internal heat in the head unit in later computers like the Cube and the Mac Mini.
A special keyboard was furnished sporting leather palm-rests and a trackpad instead of a mouse. A unique feature of the keyboard was the removable trackpad that could be placed to the side of the keyboard and a leather pad filler would go in trackpad's place. No numeric pad would be used like in portables and later wireless keyboards.
Other adjustable buttons were available on the front like brightness, changing the channels, volume and an eject for the cd player. A remote that came standard with the FM/TV tuner was included, being the same remote used in the Powermac and Performa models they can be swapped. A special foot was designed from die-cast metal to support the TAM and allow for the head unit to be adjusted and tilted to the operator's desire. The foot could also be used as a handle to carry the TAM when it was folded up flat.
A unique startup chime was used in the TAM that hadn't been used before or later on any other Macintosh's.
The TAM's pre-installed Operating System was OS 7.6.1 but could be further updated to OS 9.1 and 9.2.2, the latter with an OS 9 helper application. Upgrading the TAM is limited due to its 603e architecture but there are various add-ons that can be purchased though they are becoming increasingly difficult to find like replacement parts for the TAM as well as the TAM unit itself.
Some of the upgrades are G3 L2 cards made available by Sonnet that increase the performance significantly. The final cards to be released were the 400 and 500 MHz G3 cards. The TAM came with a slimback and a Fatback, when upgrading, the Fatback replaced the slim cover to allow for the taller cards. Ethernet cards were available in the PCI and Comm II slots. USB and Firewire cards were also available, though only USB 1.1 will work with the TAM.
Some have been successful in loading Mac OS X though it is not recommended and can damage the TAM permanently. There have been some that have revived them after letting them sit for a few days and pulling components and resetting the PRam. Some owners have modified their TAM heavily, removing the original logic board and replacing it with one from a Mac Mini. Touch screens were also used in some modified TAMs.
Due to its limited run and now vastly disappearing working units the TAM has become a collector's piece and still demands a fair price for acquiring a good working unit complete with boxes and accessories. Prices have gone on Ebay for as little as 300.00 to as much as 2000.00 years after the TAM was discontinued in March of 1998. Average prices have gone between 600 and 1200 USD. Location plays a big part in acquiring a TAM as most of the units are in the US and Europe. Places like Australia, the prices far exceed those in the US due to shipping costs and sellers not wanting to ship over seas.
The TAM was built as a design for the future and it can be said that perhaps the later iMacs were conceived from the TAM as well as integrated speakers and the externally-positioned power supply found in the Mac Mini. The TAM can be seen in the final season of Seinfeld, Friends, The Pretender, Batman and Robin (1997) and Children of Men (2006).
| Provided by website-hit-counters.com site. |
Watch the 1983 Apple Commercial featuring Kevin Costner in 