open up

[unpakwon]

What does "open up" in the following mean? Boot up?

By contrast, the Lisa was designed with ten times more memory. Ignoring the lesson Wozniak had tried to teach by including expansion slots for the Apple 2, Jobs made the Macintosh so difficult to open up that only determined tech geeks could figure out how to add more memory.

Thank you.

[emsr2d2]

What does "open up" in the following mean? Boot up?

By contrast, the Lisa was designed with ten times more memory. Ignoring the lesson Wozniak had tried to teach by including expansion slots for the Apple 2, Jobs made the Macintosh so difficult to open up that only determined tech geeks could figure out how to add more memory.

Thank you.

No, I think it means that it's very difficult for people to get into the background operating system (or something similar). It's not difficult for people to start the machine, it's difficult for anyone without very good technical knowledge to make changes to the memory of the Apple 2.

With PCs, it was quite easy for non-technically minded people to add memory to the computer, they didn't need much technical knowledge. With the Apple 2, you need to be a "determined tech geek" in order to get into the inner workings (the computer code side, not the actual physical parts of a computer) to make changes.

[unpakwon]

I get it.

Thank you for the kind explanation.

[Tdol]

I think it could mean to open the machine physically in order to add new memory.

[Gillnetter]

I think it could mean to open the machine physically in order to add new memory.

I believe that you are right. If I remember correctly they were essentially sealed units.

[emsr2d2]

Despite what I said earlier, I think you're right too. The mention of expansion slots suggests they're talking about a physical component of the machine that it's hard to get into.