Fun Stuff: Fold a Paper Macintosh for Christmas.
Need a last minute gift for that special creative pro? How about a new computer? Some assembly (and a good exacto knife) will be required.
For this year’s holiday tip, your friendly left-brain team at CreativeTechs has spent more time than we can justify tracking down templates for a wide variety of cut-out Macintosh computers. Browse through the list of available computers below. Each link will download a PDF template. Print out on card stock for best results.
Enjoy.
Papercraft Macs: MacBook Air
Our first Macintosh papercraft project is fun, simple to build, and comes complete with it’s own parody TV ad.
We present the MacBook Paper: Truly, the world’s thinnest notebook.
Link: MacBook Paper PDF
Papercraft Macs: Mac Pro Workstation.
We modified an existing template for a PowerMac G5 to create a papercraft template for Apple’s high-end Mac Pro workstation. This template is a bit more involved to build, but it is satisfying. The side access door folds down to reveal the Mac Pro drive bays and interior.
Link: Mac Pro Template PDF
Papercraft Macs: iMac Intel
I hunted a long time for a papercraft template featuring Apple’s newest iMac. I ultimately found one, but I don’t know where it originally came from. It is credited to “ErwinM” and was found on a MediaFire upload.
Have a better iMac template, or know who the mysterious ErwinM is? Leave us a note in the comments for this post.
Link: iMac Intel Template PDF
Papercraft Cellphone: Fold an iPhone
We discovered this gem early last year, when the Apple iPhone was still several months away from being available. The price has dropped since then, but the appeal of being able to print and fold your own personal iPhone remains.
Link: iPhone Template PDF
Papercraft CEO: Fold Your Own Steve Jobs.
You can have a tiny paper Steve Jobs on your desk in a matter of minutes. Steve won’t be presenting at January’s Macworld Expo, but you can easily rectify that by holding your own personal keynote. Just swap out the picture of the iPhone in Steve’s hand for your fantasy Apple product announcement.
Link: Steve Jobs Paper Toy PDF
Source: Toy-A-Day Blog via Gizmodo.
Papercraft Macs: Mac Models circa 2005.
Three years ago we started our collection of papercraft Macs, and at the time these were the current Macs in Apple’s product line.
Link: Power Mac G5
Link: iMac Flat Panel
Link: eMac
Link: PowerBook G4
Papercraft MP3 Players: Apple’s line of classic iPods.
Apple has shipped over 150 million iPods worldwide since the first one was released in October 2001. That’s a lot of MP3 players out there with the Apple logo on them. Here is a short collection of papercraft templates covering the evolution of the iPod:
Link: iPod Video
Link: iPod (click wheel version)
Link: iPod (original)
Link: iPod Mini
Link: iPod Shuffle
Link: iPod Stand (Works)
Papercraft Macs: A Collection of Legacy Mac Desktops.
If you’ve scrolled this far through our collection of papercraft Macs, you may be the type of fanatic to remember some of these classic Macs from years gone by. What was the first Mac you ever owned? Find it in the list and print a tiny replica of that early memory:
Mac Plus (1986)
Mac SE/30 (1989)
Mac IIci (1989)
Mac Classic II (1991)
Mac LC II (1992)
Mac Color Classic (1993)
Mac LC 520 (1993)
Mac Quadra 840av (1993)
Power Mac 6100 (1994)
Performa 5200 (1995)
Performa 5420 Black Case (1996)
Power Mac 7600 (1996)
Performa 6400 (1996)
…plus a couple monitors to hook up to your paper Macs:
16-inch RGB Display (1996)
AppleVision 1710AV (1997)
Papercraft Macs: Legacy PowerBook Laptops.
Adding to our collection of classic paper Macs, we have a small collection of legacy Mac laptops. My personal favorite is the PowerBook Duo 250, which comes complete with a DuoDock.
PowerBook 100 (1991)
PowerBook Duo 250 w/ DuoDock (1993)
PowerBook 550c (1995)
Christmas Decoration: Paper Mac Christmas Ornaments.
Finally, we have an old collection of papercraft Christmas ornaments we collected years ago.
Simple Mac Ornaments:
red, silver, green, gold, blue, black
Other Themes:
Faux Fur Mac
Mandelbrot Mac
Jellybean Mac
Banksy Mac
Warhol Mac
Postsecret Mac
TW Mac
Warning: The URL listed on these PDFs is no longer safe for work (quite offensive). For a historical look at what these Christmas orniments looked like years ago, visit an archive using the Internet Wayback Machine.
Video: Paper Mac Startup Screen
As an ending point for this collection, we offer this short video, showing what the operating system might look like on these paper Macs if you could get them to boot.
Source: These templates were compiled over many nights of Google searching over the years, and updated with further searching this month. Several of the sites originally hosting these files are no longer available. We’ve compiled this collection from a wide variety of sources. Most PDFs include the creator’s name in the layout. We apologize for any people not properly credited.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Soooo cute, and geeky too.
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:52 am
Hnnnn…. Mac, i would make a aeroplane form MAC book and fly becoz its like paper.
June 26th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Gotta love that new iPhone 3G s, might get one if I can find a good AT&T plan with it
September 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I know erwinM, he used to browse the fxconsole forums from time to time. I have a better mac intel, too.
http://z15.invisionfree.com/Fx_Console_Modelling/index.php?showtopic=1907&hl=
October 12th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
@bunjie: uhh, your “better” mac intel papercraft template didn’t work out well!!! First of all, the mouse was IMPOSSIBLE to make. And Last, the main cpu was a bit out of order!!.
So I put it in photoshop and edited it a little! Now it looks better and I might post it!
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
This is sooooo cool! I wanted an iPhone ornament for my Mom, and this is so recession-friendly. Thanks!
March 19th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Hi guys, if you’re encountering problems with the page loading, it might not just be your browser. Make sure you delete your cookies and try to reload the webpage. That might make it work better.
April 4th, 2010 at 3:36 am
I can’t hold back until the actual ipad is out in the united kingdom, i’ve seen some reviews online coming from All of us consumers and it looks amazing. I’ve seen several awesome components ^ around the corner too! apple ipad PWNS!
April 6th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Nice work buddy! Some of these are classics!
April 24th, 2010 at 7:19 am
I really think an effective link building campaign is crucial for the optimisation of your website. Infact I rekon that a good link building campaign is more important for your rankings than optimize your site itself…..
May 13th, 2010 at 7:49 am
hi,really great Ipad,do you know where i can find that nice.thanks,Vox
May 27th, 2010 at 3:21 am
Great info on the new apple ipad I will definitely link back here for the good info!
July 3rd, 2010 at 3:59 am
now i can make a mini apple store like the shoebox apple store on youtube
July 3rd, 2010 at 4:00 am
thanks so so so much
i love apple
July 4th, 2010 at 1:34 am
please make cinema display quickly
July 11th, 2010 at 1:28 am
cool! i made a macbook air papercraft
July 11th, 2010 at 9:39 am
i have a question
how do i make the mac pro workstation