What was your first Mac?

[ignatius345]

Mac Classic II, bought from my college bookstore along with a StyleWriter II printer. The bundle cost me a freaking fortune but it saved me from having to type up all my papers at the computer lab.

(not a picture of my actual Mac, but pretty sure it came with this keyboard and mouse)

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

My first Mac was a G4 Sawtooth Power Mac that I got for a bargain on eBay in 2006 or 7, so I could muck around with it to see what all the fuss over Apple was.

I had used Mac Classics at school, and held Apple in pretty dim view until I got a 1st gen iPod nano. I'd been reading about the resurgence of Apple in magazines, and despite my being firmly in the Windows side of the PC vs Mac religious wars after my experiences with Mac Classics, I thought I should probably get a cheap one to muck around with if I wanted to have an informed opinion.

It turned out that G4 Power Mac was a glorious machine. I'd never seen such a thoughtfully designed, well built computer. It came with System 9, but I immediately wiped that and installed OS X Jaguar. That was quickly followed by Tiger, then Leopard, as I could find them.

What started out as a curiosity to muck around with very quickly became my main computer. OS X handled multitasking so much more elegantly than Windows XP did, and once I'd gotten used to how OS X worked I quickly started losing interest in Windows and whatever flavours of Linux I was running. My PC got relegated to a glorified games console, and I enthusiastically made the switch to the Mac camp.

 

[ignatius345]

It amazes me how cheap, in relative terms, tech has become compared to 40 years ago, when I had just started playing with computers.

Later in life, when bought my first PPC Mac desktop system, it was a choice between that or a second-hand car. I bought the Mac (but I also took out a small business loan to finance it).

Now you could have enough money to buy a modest Apple setup by skipping eating out / having nights out for a short number of months. A car? Forget it.

This is why when people on these forums start complaining about Macs being expensive, I have to roll my eyes. The first one I bought was about the cost of a decent used car. My last MacBook Air cost me the equivalent of a few solid grocery trips.

 

[Mojohanna32]

1989 Macintosh 512k

 

[AlumaMac]

Quadra 800

 

[comovartia]

My 1st Mac was a 2007ish Mac Book. My 1st Apple computer was a Apple IIE

 

[wooddog]

My first experience with Apple was re-manufacturing Mac Plus machines. We replaced the flyback and replaced a few diodes. Getting bitten by the flyback wasn't a fun Experience.
I was one of the ~150 who became an Apple A.C.S.A AKA - Apple Certified Systems Administrator. The Certification never quite competed a MCSA Certification.

The First Mac I purchased was a Macintosh iivx

 

[WriteNow]

a StyleWriter II printer

A StyleWriter II was my first printer after using an ImageWriter II. I found it at Goodwill for next to nothing about 2000, and figured I could probably get it to work. I was pretty sure I had a print driver on a floppy disk someplace... The same Goodwill also had a new ink cartridge (possibly donated by the same person who donated the printer?). I met my father for dinner that night, and he asked why on earth I bought that printer? Answer: I'd long needed something better than the ImageWriter for some tasks, and I'd even been forced to (shudder) turn to a (shudder) typewriter sometimes. (Admittedly, by this point, it could be argued that a new computer system was overall a better move--but at the time, my ancient Mac was "good enough" for what I needed to do. It was hard to justify major spending at that point.)

 

[ignatius345]

A StyleWriter II was my first printer after using an ImageWriter II. I found it at Goodwill for next to nothing about 2000, and figured I could probably get it to work. I was pretty sure I had a print driver on a floppy disk someplace... The same Goodwill also had a new ink cartridge (possibly donated by the same person who donated the printer?). I met my father for dinner that night, and he asked why on earth I bought that printer? Answer: I'd long needed something better than the ImageWriter for some tasks, and I'd even been forced to (shudder) turn to a (shudder) typewriter sometimes. (Admittedly, by this point, it could be argued that a new computer system was overall a better move--but at the time, my ancient Mac was "good enough" for what I needed to do. It was hard to justify major spending at that point.)

It felt very luxurious at the time (early 90s) to be able to print at home and I did love that. It was also compact and lovely on my desk.

Objectively, though, it had all the drawbacks of an inkjet: slow, finicky about paper, often streaky. Best move I ever made was to ditch inkjets forever and get a Brother laser printer.