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Apple's Macintosh Turns 25 Years Old Today

still mod

Interesting how clarity and sophistication of design shows through so clearly in a product so low-tech by today's standards.

I so wanted one of these in 1980, but started with a 7200 with then-amazing 17in display, then G3, 2 G4s, very first $3k/30in. cinema display, G4 Powerbook, G5 2core, G5 8core, latest iMac, not to mention 4 iPods, 2 iPhone, apple TV. I need a new MacBook Pro... I'm broke!
 
Eric S. said:
A lot of us CLI types weren't exactly sold right off the bat. I was working for a small company that was doing one of the first Unix ports to a microprocessor-based system when someone brought in one of the original Macs. [...]
Click to expand...

Yeah, I worked for a large aerospace firm at the time (doing development on a CDC 7600) and an Apple rep came by and did a demo. Folks weren't really all that impressed, or didn't really know what to make of it. I think there was some grousing about the 128K, and in general folks were pretty skeptical about the thing.

I remember being intrigued by what I saw, but the B&W screen was disappointing... especially given the colorful Apple logo :)
 
Thank you for providing an excellent OS and not releasing an OS like Windows 7 which is resetting the security registers. Thank you for creating 1000000 of jobs, Steve. They have cleverly left the OS wide open like g0atse's bottom. I mean designed. OS X was never like this either....--
 
PCMacUser said:
Yep, you're totally right about the first 'laptop'. But re-read my post. I said 'notebook'. :) The revolutionary lightweight design that created the basic modern shape that now features in everything from a Dell to a Macbook.
Click to expand...

Although clunkier looking (in part due to the full travel keys), the TRS-80 model 200 came 4 years before the NEC Ultralite, and only weighed 4.25 pounds (ran on 4 AA batteries!)... of course it didn't have a hard drive, but then neither did the NEC.

I will grant you that the NEC is probably the first laptop that looks "modern"...
 
Congrats and happy 25th anniversary Apple Macintosh!

And I only started with Mac last year.
 
happy birthday, little fella!

another apple][-timer here. my first encounter with a personal computer was the apple][+, and my first home machine was the //e. times of youth's awe and amazement.

in my mind, apple has always stood for the pleasure and fun in personal computing (no, i never had a commodore, atari or spectrum as a kid).

BeOS managed to keep me satisfied with a PC for quite some time (glorious desktop os too, hopefully it will return one day), but after the demise of Be inc my only refuge was the mac.

there's nothing as rewarding as 'stretching your feet' sitting at your comfy mac desktop at home after a long working day of struggling with windows and linuxes ; )
 
The first time I ever used a computer was around '90/91 or so when I was in grade 1, it was an Apple II, the school couldn't afford new computers so we got the highschool's handmedowns, I remember being in Grade 3 or so and my teacher had a Mac Classic, that was the first teacher to have one at her desk. Time has gone by so fast since.

I remember when we got internet at the school around.. '95/96, it was not that stable at all, but it was something we've never seen in our lives. We were using a mixture of Quadras and Macintosh LC's, the school still uses some Macintosh LC's to THIS VERY DAY!
 
BRLawyer said:
Hail to the BEST! In my case, I had the following:

- Apple //e clone (TK3000//e from Brazil), 128Kb RAM, green phosphor monitor, one floppy drive (5 1/4");
[...]
Click to expand...

That's an odd one, not sure I remember that.
Since us old farts can't seem to help recollecting our Apple ][ days, anyone else remember to old Bell & Howell "black Apples"? We actually had a few in my junior high computer lab.
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/appleII-bell-and-howell/index.html
 
I was a Commodore 128 user until I got my first Mac Plus. From there I got a Quadra 800 which I turned into a powerhouse with 4 hard drives, dual external CD-ROM drives and ZIP100. From there I got a Powermac 7100/80 which was replaced by a 7500/120. Finally I got a B&W G3 which was my main Mac for several years, then a G4 Mac Mini, and now a 2007 MacBook Pro. Many others have come in and out of my collection over the years, but these were the computers that were my main system. I still have all of them except the Mac Plus and Mini.
 
Congrats to Mac!

I was in first grade in 1984. I was in the first school in Oregon to receive Macintosh's. I am one of the first that can really say that I grew up with the Mac. Great machine and any-time I see one, at a garage sale, at a school etc, it is always working. I can't remember ever seeing one that didn't work.
Thanks Apple and Congrats again on 25 years of the Macintosh. Thanks for being the option in the crap-dominated PC world, and thanks for my two 24'' iMacs, my iPhone and my son's Cube. :)
 
Happy BirthDay Mac and a big thanks to Steve and all at Apple.
The first computer I ever used was a Apple II in 3rd grade. I think I finaly got to use the Macintosh in 4th or 5th grade. Still think the design is just so beautiful and unique. Just like the imac g4.
 
"My" first Mac was in 1988. Actually, my brother started Drexel University that year and one of its requirements for students was to get a Mac. So, my first Mac was the Macintosh SE. It was the cheaper model that came with 2 floppy drives and NO hard drive. :(
 
How many people here still have an one of these old Macs, that still works. I've got two. Last I checked they booted up OK. I think actually the ones I have are called "512K Macs". That was half a megabyte.

I remember the first time I saw a computer that had a full megabyte installed. Wow was that an impressive sight. In was 1972 (I think) and the memory was in a large cabinet that was roughly a cube 8 feet on a side. It was part of an IBM System 360. 15 or so years later when a desktop machine could have that much RAM I remember how impressed I was at how far the cost had come down. When the Mac and others finally.
 
I thought the thing so radical back then, that I didn't think it would last. So I snapped-up every issue of MacWorld and ...

I have every issue going back 25 years. :apple: Only a few issues aren't in mint condition. :cool:
 
What was the Apple III?

"After the failure of the Apple III..."

Could someone point me to a link about the "Apple III"?
 
Steve Jobs launches over the years via video presentations (YouTube):

http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/24/25-years-ago-apples-macintosh-says-hello/

I still don't like the concept of iBook in hindsight.

edit: Watching the redesigned iMac w/ flat screen [January, 2002; 3rd from last video], he recognizes the future, his customers' demands and builds for it. But he sure sings a different tune when it comes to Blu-ray! :(
 
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