3 ms·

There were hints of it even back in the Apple II and Apple III era, both of which released with inadaquate cooling.

FabHK 7y ago
Interesting point. However, there was also the famous Steve quote where he was adamant that design is about function, and not about how pretty it looks.
- FabHK 7y ago
  Found it: > “Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs
rbanffy 7y ago
The only 8-bit Apple that suffered from inadequate cooling was the III. An average II would never overheat. You could, of course, load your II to a limit it'd fail, but my //e was fairly loaded (320k of RAM, SSC, Grappler, Microsoft Softcard (1 MHz Z-80), AE clock, Disk II and a PAL-M board). The II+ had mostly the same configs, with 64K and a Videx 80-column card in dual-head configuration. Both ran warm-ish for about a decade before going into storage. Both ran perfectly silent.
- ddingus 7y ago
  This was my general experience as well. Having pulled a //e out of storage, that's all still true, FWIW. (I need to recap that machine one day soon.)
- liability 7y ago
  Actually you're mistaken. Initial Apple II's had poor cooling due to Steve Jobs' opposition to vents on aesthetic grounds. A few months later the case was revised, but the lesson didn't sink in, as evidenced by the infamous Apple III. > The first production Apple IIs had hand-molded cases; these had visible bubbles and other lumps in them from the imperfect plastic molding process, which was soon switched to machine molding. In addition, the initial case design had no vent openings, causing high heat buildup from the PCB and resulting in the plastic softening and sagging. Apple added vent holes to the case within three months of production; customers with the original case could have them replaced at no charge.
  - rbanffy 7y ago
    Indeed, but that initial error was quickly corrected and those cases are unbelievably rare these days.
    - liability 7y ago
      Right, I never meant to imply it was a widespread issue, only that both were released that way. The condition of the Apple III was more egregious than normally thought when you consider the lesson should have been learnt with the first revision cases of the Apple II.

Interesting point. However, there was also the famous Steve quote where he was adamant that design is about function, and not about how pretty it looks.

FabHK 7y ago
Found it: > “Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs

rbanffy 7y ago

The only 8-bit Apple that suffered from inadequate cooling was the III. An average II would never overheat. You could, of course, load your II to a limit it'd fail, but my //e was fairly loaded (320k of RAM, SSC, Grappler, Microsoft Softcard (1 MHz Z-80), AE clock, Disk II and a PAL-M board). The II+ had mostly the same configs, with 64K and a Videx 80-column card in dual-head configuration. Both ran warm-ish for about a decade before going into storage. Both ran perfectly silent.

ddingus 7y ago
This was my general experience as well. Having pulled a //e out of storage, that's all still true, FWIW. (I need to recap that machine one day soon.)
liability 7y ago
Actually you're mistaken. Initial Apple II's had poor cooling due to Steve Jobs' opposition to vents on aesthetic grounds. A few months later the case was revised, but the lesson didn't sink in, as evidenced by the infamous Apple III. > The first production Apple IIs had hand-molded cases; these had visible bubbles and other lumps in them from the imperfect plastic molding process, which was soon switched to machine molding. In addition, the initial case design had no vent openings, causing high heat buildup from the PCB and resulting in the plastic softening and sagging. Apple added vent holes to the case within three months of production; customers with the original case could have them replaced at no charge.
- rbanffy 7y ago
  Indeed, but that initial error was quickly corrected and those cases are unbelievably rare these days.
  - liability 7y ago
    Right, I never meant to imply it was a widespread issue, only that both were released that way. The condition of the Apple III was more egregious than normally thought when you consider the lesson should have been learnt with the first revision cases of the Apple II.