The focus of the Arena’s Antiques site was usability, when creating it I knew the majority of it’s audience would be less tech savvy. Being a designer I was confronted with a classic dilemma, I needed to make it beautiful, and functional. The site features a photo gallery of the owners antique collection as well as a fully integrated ebay store. check it out and let me know what you think.
First On Published January 24, 2009 At Equal Tech News.
When the first computers launched they were meant as tools for business users. With little to no Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) they were hard to use and if you could use one, you couldn’t do much. That all changed on January 24, 1984, when Apple Computer announced it’s “Computer for the rest of us”, the Macintosh. A year earlier in 1983 Apple released “Lisa” which shared many aspects of the Macintosh like a pointer called the mouse. However,this computer cost over $10,000 which made it unappealing to most people. However, the Macintosh was priced at a mere $2,500 which was a price consumers could afford. Itʼs small (even in todayʼs standard) beige case featured a 9” black and white screen, an 8 MHz Motorola 68000, and 128k of RAM. Since 1984 we have seen over 100 different different iterations of the Macintosh, as it would be nearly impossible to cover them all in a single article I have chosen the most monumental Macintosh’s. Also note I have left out Mac’s from when Steve Jobs was not CEO of Apple because there were at least 50 and they were all run of the mill products at the time and are not notable enough for this article.
For a while the Macintosh lost it’s innovation and “cool factor” when Steve Jobs, Apple’s Founder, was kicked out. During the so called “Apple Drought” Microsoft released Windows, which became the dominant Operating System. By the time Steve Jobs became CEO again in 1998 most people thought that the company was doomed. Jobs took on the seemingly impossible task of turning the company around. The interim-CEO was able to accomplish his mission and then some, by implementing some new, and innovative ideas for the Company. He stopped allowing people to use the Mac Operating System on computers that were not made by Apple. Jobs knew that that alone was not enough to save Apple, so he got rid of the board of directors and picked a new one. With the new Board Jobs created the iMac. Much like the Macintosh 128k it featured an all-in-one design.
The iMac came in only the “Bondi Blue” color originally but, later they added five colors like “Lime” and “Grape”. This began Apple’s road to beautiful computers. Now that Apple was back on track from the release of the iMac they were set to release their next new product the iBook, released July 21, 1999, much like the iMac it featured a variety of colors including “Tangerine” and “Blueberry”. Also similar to the iMac the iBook was powered by a G3 Processor. After the iBook was released Apple gained it’s reputation as “The Cool Company”. Mac’s were now a status symbol for “creative” people. Whether you were a musician or a photographer, Mac’s were you’re multimedia solution. Mac’s were not only popular for “creative” people, students also found great value in their virus free interface and beautiful design.
Now that Mac’s had found their niche Apple released a whole host of products in 2001 including the Powerbook G4 which set a whole new standard for design with it’s metal case. In 2006 Apple discontinued it’s Powerbook and iBook lines in favor of the Macbook and Macbook Pro, respectively. In addition to notebooks Apple also released the Mac Mini and iMac with Intel Processors. Finally in 2007 Apple released the Macbook Air, the worlds thinnest notebook.
Today Apple’s lineup includes the Aluminum, unibody Macbook and Macbook Pro. In terms of desktops Apple’s lineup contains the Mac Mini, Mac Pro,and the iMac. Whether you love them or hate them, 25 years later the Macintosh is by far one of the most beautiful and functional lines of computers in the world. With it’s integration of Mac OS X and iLife, if you can afford the steep price, Apple’s line of computers in definitely worth a look.