Apple Macintosh

Apple Macintosh

Developer	Apple Inc.
Type	Personal computer
CPU	Various, initially Motorola 68000

The Apple Macintosh, commonly known as the Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc. since January 1984. The Macintosh was introduced to the market with the release of the original Macintosh 128K, which was notable for its innovative graphical user interface (GUI) that was user-friendly compared to the command-line interfaces used by many other computers at the time.

History

The development of the Macintosh began in the late 1970s with a team led by Jef Raskin, and later, Steve Jobs took over as the project lead. The Macintosh was designed to be a low-cost, easy-to-use computer accessible to consumers. It was officially unveiled on January 24, 1984, during an Apple shareholders meeting, with the famous "1984" television commercial directed by Ridley Scott airing during the Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984.

Features

The original Macintosh featured a 9-inch black-and-white CRT monitor, 128 KB of RAM, and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. It was one of the first personal computers to offer a graphical user interface in a market dominated by text-based systems. Over the years, the Macintosh has undergone significant changes and improvements. It transitioned from Motorola's 68000 series processors to PowerPC processors and then to Intel processors in 2006. In 2020, Apple announced another transition for the Macintosh to its custom-designed Apple Silicon processors.

Impact

The introduction of the Macintosh revolutionized the personal computer industry by popularizing the graphical user interface. The Mac's user-friendly interface has been credited with helping to expand the personal computer market to non-technical users. Apple's emphasis on design and aesthetics also set the Macintosh apart from other computers, influencing product design standards across the industry.

Product Line

The Macintosh product line has expanded significantly since its inception, now including both desktop and laptop models such as the MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac Mini. Each model targets different segments of the consumer market.

Legacy

The Macintosh remains an influential series in the history of computing, known for its innovation in GUI development and its role in making computers more accessible and user-friendly. The continued popularity of the Macintosh has helped Apple Inc. become one of the world's most valuable companies.

See also

• Apple Lisa
• Steve Jobs
• History of Apple Inc.
• List of Macintosh models by case type