Welcome to Macintosh

25 Years: The Macintosh Legacy

- 2009.01.23

Bong! . . . :-) . . . Welcome to Macintosh!

1984 adOn January 24, 1984, the world said hello to a computer for the ages - a revolution known as Macintosh. During Super Bowl XVIII, two days prior, the world would find out why 1984 wouldn't be like 1984. On that day the Macintosh 128K was first introduced to millions.

The Apple Macintosh and the legendary status that would follow was forever ingrained in the computer industry - and in the hearts and minds of a people who believed this machine would change the world. Macintosh changed the way people worked with and thought about computers.

The original Macintosh
The original Macintosh.

It also had its critics. Geeks chastised the little putty box with its 9" screen, calling it a toy. A "real man" wouldn't be caught dead using newfangled technology that employed the use of windows, menus, and - gasp - a mouse! For the geeks, the idea that a computer existed that didn't have a command line was blasphemy and utterly atrocious. Heaven forbid a computer be released that didn't use arcane commands and was actually easy to use by the masses!

Clearly, Macintosh wasn't aimed at tech savvy people, and in the end, history proved the geeks were wrong in their original assessment that a GUI-based computer would never catch on.

Just who was Macintosh aimed at? Macintosh was originally meant to be "the computer for the rest of us." Macintosh held true to the late 90s Apple slogan, Think Different. Macintosh was an attempt to turn the computer into an appliance that you turned on and used without much effort.

In large part, the Macintosh succeeded in this endeavor.

The Macintosh 128K wasn't without its problems. One of the more common problems was too little memory for the for the operating system, an application, and your documents. Another problem, which would be the Macintosh 128K's Achilles heel, was a lack of software in comparison to the IBM PC - and even Apple's vastly successful Apple II line.

Macintosh also had its share of hardware problems. Specifically power supply issues, due to the lack of a fan, and undervalued components such as capacitors that didn't have the sufficient juice to stand up to years of use.

Despite these flaws, the Macintosh 128K set the standard that all other computers, regardless of platform, would embody. Although its wasn't the computer that pioneered the GUI, it was the first to bring it to the mass market.

Bondi iMacThe legacy of Macintosh was built higher and more powerful as years went by. The original design with its 9" black & white screen lasted all the way until 1993, when the last Macintosh Classic II rolled off the assembly line. The iMac would eventually bring back the all-in-one concept, albeit in a more colorful fashion.

There's can be no doubt: Macintosh has left an indelible mark and a lasting legacy that will forever be stamped upon our memories. 25 years later, although Macintosh has evolved and is now called the Mac, a little piece of the original lingers on.

I close by saying happy 25th birthday to a true American original, the Apple Macintosh!

Be sure to send me your thoughts and share your Mac memories at thomas (at) lowendmac (dot) com. LEM

Join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Google+, or subscribe to our RSS news feed

Today's Links

Recent Content

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

This article copyright ©2009 by Tommy Thomas. Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all.
  Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2016 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
  Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Page not found | Low End Mac

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Try looking in the monthly archives. :)

Tags

802.11g 802.11n 68030 68040 Apple April Fools clamshell iBook Classic Mac OS FireWire FireWire 400 G3 humor iBook iMac iMac G3 Intel iOS iPad iPhone LaserWriter Linux Mac MacBook Air Mac clones Mac mini Mac OS 9 macOS Sierra Mac OS X Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Microsoft OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard OS X 10.7 Lion OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion OS X 10.9 Mavericks OS X 10.10 Yosemite OS X 10.11 El Capitan Performa PowerBook PowerPC Rodney O. Lain SCSI Thunderbolt USB 1.1 USB 2.0
Page not found | Low End Mac

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Try looking in the monthly archives. :)

Tags

802.11g 802.11n 68030 68040 Apple April Fools clamshell iBook Classic Mac OS FireWire FireWire 400 G3 humor iBook iMac iMac G3 Intel iOS iPad iPhone LaserWriter Linux Mac MacBook Air Mac clones Mac mini Mac OS 9 macOS Sierra Mac OS X Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Microsoft OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard OS X 10.7 Lion OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion OS X 10.9 Mavericks OS X 10.10 Yosemite OS X 10.11 El Capitan Performa PowerBook PowerPC Rodney O. Lain SCSI Thunderbolt USB 1.1 USB 2.0

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
The Vintage Mac Museum
Deal Brothers
DealMac
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Macgo Blu-ray Player
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact Page not found | Low End Mac

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Archives

Try looking in the monthly archives. :)

Tags

802.11g 802.11n 68030 68040 Apple April Fools clamshell iBook Classic Mac OS FireWire FireWire 400 G3 humor iBook iMac iMac G3 Intel iOS iPad iPhone LaserWriter Linux Mac MacBook Air Mac clones Mac mini Mac OS 9 macOS Sierra Mac OS X Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Microsoft OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard OS X 10.7 Lion OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion OS X 10.9 Mavericks OS X 10.10 Yosemite OS X 10.11 El Capitan Performa PowerBook PowerPC Rodney O. Lain SCSI Thunderbolt USB 1.1 USB 2.0
at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link