The CNET Networks site TechRepublic runs a regular series called "Cracking Open" in which it takes a look inside a variety of gadgets. ZDNet.com.au is publishing this excerpt of a photo gallery.

The Apple Mac is one of the most famous and easily recognisable personal computers ever manufactured. In this photo gallery, we examine just what went into a Mac Classic -- and what technology was like in 1991.

The Apple Mac Classic is laid out efficiently. Of course, there are limitations when much of your computer is really a black and white television.

In TechRepublic's Dinosaur Sighting Gallery, we wondered about the yellow sticky stuff leaking out the back. You can see a pool of it on this case. The unit must have been sitting on its backside for a long time.

The hard drive sits in the Mac Classic upside down. Notice the standard ribbon cable and Molex power connector.

The RAM for the Apple Mac Classic sits on a daughter board. It just slides right out of its socket.

Our mystery goop looks to have flowed down the SCSI cable toward our hard drive.

A first look at what constitutes the motherboard for the Apple Macintosh Classic.

The upper half of the motherboard.

Perhaps someone could help us out -- what function did each of the VLSI chips perform in our Mac?

Where the brains are.

There are almost as many chips on the hard drive as there are on the motherboard. It is sort of mind-boggling to think about how many of these separate chips are not located on a single chip.

The Apple Macintosh Classic has a fan and ventilation system to dissipate heat. This makes sense because CRTs do get rather warm during operation.

A CRT display requires more power than you might think. We are looking at capacitors with ratings of 250 and 220 volts. Discharging either one of those would hurt.