May 25, 1981: The Mac Gets a Mass Produced Circuit Board

The first Mac was a hand wired prototype made by Burrell Smith out of items he found lying around the Apple facility. The design worked, so others began making copies of the prototype so that the architects behind the Mac would have something to work with.

Hand wiring boards is a laborious and time-consuming process. Now that there were multiple prototypes running it was time to have printed circuit boards produced. Burrell Smith pirated an Apple II tech, Collette Askeland, Burrell Smithand Collette began the intense process of laying out a functional circuit board. Satisfied with their design, they then released the board to fabrication.

When the samples came back Burrel worked feverishly to get one of the samples running. When completely assembled the board did, indeed, work and the first Mac with a printed circuit board sprang to life this month in 1981.