The first cable-ready Macintosh! No, not ready for a cable modem – ready for cable TV.

More or less a black LC 520 (complete with a black mouse and black keyboard), Macintosh TV lets you watch 16-bit TV or use 8-bit computer graphics. (Assuming you were in the US, Canada, or some other country using NTSC video. Mac TV doesn’t support any other broadcast standard.)

This was perhaps the oddest Macintosh ever. It was the last desktop Mac with a 68030 processor, the first with a built-in TV tuner, the first black desktop Mac, and the first Mac to ship with a remote control. It is the only model in the “500 Series” that doesn’t have an available PDS (Processor Direct Slot) – that gave way to the TV tuner. The built-in 14″ Trinitron monitor displays 16-bit TV images, but only 8-bit computer graphics. Software allows it to capture a single TV frame as a PICT file.

Specs (via Low End Mac)

• Cpu: 32 MHz 68030
• Fpu: none, not even as an option
• Performance: 7.0 MIPS
• Ram: 5 MB from factory (4 MB on motherboard, expandable to 8 MB using a single 100ns 72-pin SIMM; can use 1 MB or 4 MB SIMM)
• Rom: 1 MB
• L2 Cache: none
• Hard Drive: 60 MB
• Video: 512 KB VRAM; supports 640 x 480 at 8-bits
• Addressing: 32-bit
• Gestalt Id: 88
• Adb: 2 ports for keyboard and mouse
• Scsi: DB-25 connector on back of computer
• Serial: 2 DIN-8 RS-422 ports on back of computer
• Pram Battery: 3.6V half-AA
• Weight: 40.5 lb.
• Cd-Rom: 2x
• See: Online resources and links for the Mac TV