February 10, 1993: Apple launches the Macintosh Color Classic, the company’s first compact Mac with a color screen.

As the first all-in-one Mac with an integrated color display, and the last U.S. Mac to offer the compact form factor, this model represents a landmark in the evolution of the Macintosh. A Color Classic unit also happens to become the 10 millionth Macintosh that Apple shipped.

Mac Color Classic II: The first color Mac

From today’s perspective, it seems amazing that the Mac Color Classic wowed us in this department. But it did.

The 10-inch Sony Trinitron color display measured a whole inch larger than the screens previous compact Macs relied upon. Meanwhile, its 256 colors (upgradeable to thousands with the “Mystic” 68040 upgrade) looked astonishingly sharp on the 512×384-pixel monitor (again, upgradeable to 640×480).

Both of these upgrades reveal something cool about the Color Classic: It was one of the most modified and modifiable Macs in history. While early Macs sealed off their users from upgrading them (a strategy that certainly sounds familiar to modern Apple users), the Color Classic could be easily modified.

This allowed for upgrades like swapping out the 10MB of RAM and 32-bit 68030 CPU to extend the machine’s life. Adding to this user-friendly aspect of the Color Classic was the fact that it allowed for Apple IIe emulation, courtesy of a PDS card.

While the modular Macintosh II offered an optional color screen in 1987, the Macintosh Color Classic finally fulfilled the product line’s promise.

“In many ways, the Color Classic is the compact Mac everyone’s been waiting for since, well, since 1984,” said MacUser magazine in April 1993.

Color Classic II perfects the Macintosh formula

The Color Classic got even better six months later when Apple introduced the Color Classic II. This proved frustrating for early adopters, but good for the rest of us.

The Mac Color Classic II doubled the CPU speed and RAM capacity of the original, making it a far beefier machine. That meant it would last longer before you would need to break out your upgrade tools.

Sadly, this great sequel never went on sale in the United States. However, if you fancy picking up a Color Classic today, this is the one to look for.

Do you remember the Macintosh Color Classic? Leave your comments and recollections below.