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Today's AppleVision is a bargain in comparison! š
Apple's Macintosh Turns 41 Today
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switz
macrumors 6502a
My IIfx with 32K ram, 80 MB hard drive, dual 3.5" floppy drives, Radius video card and 21" Color CRT cost around $15,000 in 1990. My M1 Ultra Mac Studio (129GB Ram and 8TB SSD) plus two 27" Studio Displays were just under $10,000 when acquired in 2022. What a quantum leap in performance between the top models of their day and a huge cost difference.
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tonywalker23
macrumors 6502a
For all the poking fun about Siri being dumb, or Podcasts for years refusing to stay in sync...
When I bought my first Mac in the early 2000s (12ā PowerBook G4), it changed my life. It became a hobby and computers were fun, not just a tool. I used it to make videos of our wedding rehearsal and little things like that. I worked 3rd shift during that time while also going to college, and that little machine in that big bulky Brenthaven case was like a friend to me.
And personally, it changed my ministry. (Though I wish I could go back and tweak what I said and how I said it sometimes in my zealous youth), I was a kid in his early 20s with a $50 microphone, SoundStudio from FeltTip, with no experience in anything digital. Yet, I figured out what an xml files was, recording some 15 minute local radio shows and turned them into podcasts, submitted them to Podcast Alley (before iTunes was ready for the format), and a few dozen people around the world listened and let me know how I said what they needed to hear at just the right time.
For many reasons, I miss those years. Just like the Mac, Iām entering midlife. But when I was about 21 and Mac was about 21, it reminds of the song, āThose were the best years of my life."
Happy birthday, Mac. I canāt imagine my life and ministry without you.
When I bought my first Mac in the early 2000s (12ā PowerBook G4), it changed my life. It became a hobby and computers were fun, not just a tool. I used it to make videos of our wedding rehearsal and little things like that. I worked 3rd shift during that time while also going to college, and that little machine in that big bulky Brenthaven case was like a friend to me.
And personally, it changed my ministry. (Though I wish I could go back and tweak what I said and how I said it sometimes in my zealous youth), I was a kid in his early 20s with a $50 microphone, SoundStudio from FeltTip, with no experience in anything digital. Yet, I figured out what an xml files was, recording some 15 minute local radio shows and turned them into podcasts, submitted them to Podcast Alley (before iTunes was ready for the format), and a few dozen people around the world listened and let me know how I said what they needed to hear at just the right time.
For many reasons, I miss those years. Just like the Mac, Iām entering midlife. But when I was about 21 and Mac was about 21, it reminds of the song, āThose were the best years of my life."
Happy birthday, Mac. I canāt imagine my life and ministry without you.
JitteryJimmy
macrumors 6502
Yeah, I remember using extra software, "Switcher", to switch between apps. That was around October 1985, as I remember exactly where I was when I first used it. Note that apps were often run from a floppy way back then, so running several apps from memory was pretty rare unless you had the deep pockets for a HDD.
It wasn't really multitasking as we know today. In my opinion, robust Multitasking, as a modern & core Mac OS feature, really only came about with OS X.
My Mac 512kE was an upgraded Mac128 with a new logic board, ROMs, and an 800k drive. Sold it in 1990 or so. Not my first Apple product, but it was my first Mac.
The original Macs were rubbish and did nothing to keep Apple afloat. It was the Apple 2 which was the cash cow for Apple til it sank in the early 90s. That's why Apple tanked in the 90s and it was only Steve who saved it. The Mac didn't really become a 'thing' until OS X solidified in the early 2000s. So half the lifetime of the Mac was as a boat anchor for Apple financials. Just a friendly historical reality check.
StoneJack
macrumors 68040
It was a thing in 90# already
The Mac was a compelling platform starting with the Plus (1986) all the way until it was sank from Windows 3.0 first, and Windows 95 for the coup de grace.
Steve returning to Apple was brilliant but the products from the 2000s were held back because he had to deal with PowerPC processors, adopting them after 68k has been a massive mistake.
StrollerEd
macrumors 65816
I fear you miss the point of much of this discussion, although granted that the Macs did not provide a cash cow for the company.
With a user interface which was fun and forgiving, it opened up use of computers for individuals whose expertise was not in programming as part of a client/server shift.
Due to poor sales, however, pricing did start to come down fairly quickly through discounts and eventual retail price reductions. The next generation Lisa 2 and its variants launched with much lower retail prices as did the re-branded Lisa marketed as the Macintosh XL.
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Although they didn't sell as well as the various Apple II models, I certainly wouldn't call the original Macs "rubbish." I imagine the Macintosh helped drive a lot of Apple II sales as people were drawn in to see the more intriguing Macintosh, may have balked at the price, and left the store with a comparatively cheap Apple II model instead.
Realityck
macrumors G5
Perhaps the first more practical Mac was the MacSE with a graphical interface added internally to drive a larger external display for businesses. The much larger early Macs just too huge for peopleās desks.
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Realityck
macrumors G5
Not if you saw the prices you paid back then. 128k was $2499.
Phoneless
macrumors newbie
I knew nothing about computers until that day in September 1984 when my younger brother invited me to tag along to see something he was very excited about. I don't think I had even heard of Apple Computer until the day I first laid eyes on the original Macintosh and fell in love. I couldn't afford one but my brother bought his first, and as it turned out his last, Mac that day. To this day he holds Apple in contempt because he feels he was ripped off by the Apple "Tax" he was forced to pay just to get the latest tech.
My brother added an ImageWriter and from that day I constantly dreamed of getting my own Macintosh. I so wanted an IIfx but had to settle for a Macintosh Plus (w/ 4MB of RAM) in 1990. In subsequent years I went from the Mac Plus to a PowerBook Duo 210 (1993) to a Power Macintosh 7500 (1995) to a Power Macintosh G3 (2000) to a G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) (2003) to a G5 (2005) to a Mac Pro (2008) to a 15in MacBook Pro (Retina 2012) to a 27in iMac (2017). My current machine is a Mac Studio M1 Max I purchased in 2022 to gain access to the wonderful world of Apple Silicon.
I think when Apple shuts out M1 machines from Mac OS I'll get my final Mac. Could be a M6 or M7 or even a M9. I no longer pine to be on the cutting edge of technology.
My brother added an ImageWriter and from that day I constantly dreamed of getting my own Macintosh. I so wanted an IIfx but had to settle for a Macintosh Plus (w/ 4MB of RAM) in 1990. In subsequent years I went from the Mac Plus to a PowerBook Duo 210 (1993) to a Power Macintosh 7500 (1995) to a Power Macintosh G3 (2000) to a G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) (2003) to a G5 (2005) to a Mac Pro (2008) to a 15in MacBook Pro (Retina 2012) to a 27in iMac (2017). My current machine is a Mac Studio M1 Max I purchased in 2022 to gain access to the wonderful world of Apple Silicon.
I think when Apple shuts out M1 machines from Mac OS I'll get my final Mac. Could be a M6 or M7 or even a M9. I no longer pine to be on the cutting edge of technology.
theluggage
macrumors G3
It depends what you compare it with - it was prohibitive for a home/enthusiast's computer but, at the time, the same was true of "professional" PCs - a half-decent IBM PC system would have set you back a couple of thousand, the eruption of cheap PC clones at "home computer" prices hadn't really happened at that point. Home computers at the time were mainly 8-bit until the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST a year or so after the Mac - they did make the Mac look a bit pricey - but the ST - while beloved - had very clearly been built down to a price (I had one for a while). The Amiga.. probably never matched the "polish" of the Mac but was technically superior in many ways...
iMac The Knife
macrumors 6502a
I have a museum quality original 1984 128K Macintosh in my office at home. It was the first computer I ever saw in my life. I'll never forget it. I still fire it up from time to time to play Oregon Trail. Next to it is an Apple IIc, the first computer I ever used. Happy birthday Macintosh!! 
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Thereās an old joke that goes, āI have George Washingtonās axe, the one he chopped down the cherry tree with. Of course over the years itās gotten two new heads and four new handles, butā¦ā
We are using computers with a completely different operating system, on completely different hardware, to for the most part do completely different things, that were designed by completely different people, in a company run by completely different management.
It is a computer made by Apple but is it still a Macintosh anymore? They donāt even call it that, itās the Mac. They donāt even call the company Apple Computer anymore.
We are using computers with a completely different operating system, on completely different hardware, to for the most part do completely different things, that were designed by completely different people, in a company run by completely different management.
It is a computer made by Apple but is it still a Macintosh anymore? They donāt even call it that, itās the Mac. They donāt even call the company Apple Computer anymore.
cjboffoli97
macrumors regular
We had the original 128K Mac at home and it was such a game-changer. After tinkering with BASIC on the Apple II (which I found more frustrating than fun), the Mac's GUI felt magical. I spent endless hours drawing and writing on that thing.
Yeah, the people here on MR posting stuff aren't journalists. Most likely hipsters, who think Apple is the best there is. Without any knowledge on the history of Apple, or the capacity to do some research and write good articles.
It's mostly copy paste what they read on other sites, and post as quickly as possible.