Macintosh SE/30 Restoration Video Series

I am in the process of creating a video series detailing the restoration process of my Macintosh SE/30. The editing of next videos is on a temporary hiatus while I wait to get a computer that can handle the computational demands of my editing software. The first part of the series is already complete, and it is embedded below. Enjoy!

History

The Macintosh SE/30 was released in January 1989 for the not-so-low price of $6500. (That’s almost $14,000 in today’s money!) It was a very powerful computer that took up little desk space. Because of its relatively powerful hardware and comprehensive expansion options, SE/30 computers are highly valued by collectors. These computers feature a Motorola 68030 processor that runs at a whopping 16MHz, anywhere from 1-128MB of RAM, a 1.44MB “Superdrive“ floppy drive, and support up to 2GB SCSI hard disks (although they only shipped with 40 to 80 MB drives originally) The Macintosh SE/30 is very versatile as it can run both early Macintosh software from the 80’s and browse the internet (albeit quite slowly).

My $30 SE/30

I was incredibly lucky to acquire my particular SE/30 for such a great price. While these machines regularly sell on eBay for 10 times the amount I paid, I was able to purchase my machine locally for far less money. Not only did I score an SE/30, but I got one that had an Ethernet card installed! These alone can go for several hundred dollars on eBay. Of course, like most vintage Macintosh computers today, everything was completely non-functional. Repairing the my new computer is where the real fun began…

Fixing the Computer, Part 1: