Macintosh Turns 35

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs unveiling the original Macintosh.

macintosh 1984
Jobs pulled the Macintosh out of a bag during Apple's annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984 at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California, grinning from ear to ear as the crowd erupted in applause.


Macintosh's very first words:

Hello, I'm Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that bag.

Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I'd like to share with you a maxim I thought of the first time I met an IBM mainframe: NEVER TRUST A COMPUTER YOU CAN'T LIFT!

Obviously, I can talk, but right now I'd like to sit back and listen. So, it is with considerable pride that I introduce a man who's been like a father to me… STEVE JOBS.

Two days earlier, Apple teased the Macintosh's introduction with its iconic "1984" ad during Super Bowl XVIII on CBS:


And here's a lesser-known video of Jobs introducing the Macintosh to the Boston Computer Society on January 30, 1984:


The original Macintosh was priced at $2,495 in the United States, equivalent to just over $6,000 today, and was a big deal because of its graphical user interface rather than command-line interface. Tech specs included an 8 MHz Motorola 68000 processor, 128 KB of RAM, and a 400 KB floppy disk drive.

Update: Apple CEO Tim Cook has tweeted in celebration of the Macintosh turning 35.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

otternonsense Avatar
84 months ago
It's Apple nowadays that needs a girl in jogging year to throw a hammer through the Infinite Loop cafeteria jumbotron.

Their entire product portfolio right now is the result of corporate groupthink and brazen nickel-and-diming.

Sad how they became everything they were standing against.

1984 was not like 1984 but 2019 is.
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigBoy2018 Avatar
84 months ago
35 years. Just about enough time for maybe 5 iterations of the Mac Pro (at the current update pace)
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
daveedjackson Avatar
84 months ago
Wouldn’t it have been a huge marketing event to launch the new MacPro today. Instead, no news, no rumours. No buzz. No interest. Professionals have been jumping ship for several years now after the joke that is the current nMp, with its custom everything, not upgradable or expandable in the slightest. Told it’s the best at launch, then when you’ve prted with your hard money Apple politely say “oops, we designed ourselves into a thermal corner” yeah no kidding. And no one thought to look at this?

I’ve been riddled with problems since day one. I’m yet to have a display which doesn’t glitch. New GFXBench cards and still glitches. Took to store to be told “we don’t have 4K displays to test”. What’s the point.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
otternonsense Avatar
84 months ago
Lmaooo what are you even talking about?

Apple products have always been more expensive than the competition. Apple has always been first to get rid of a port/drive.

The current products are great. Of course there are annoyances, but to say everything they do sucks... Thats just dumb.
Nope. It's not (just) about price. There was a time you could justify the "Apple Tax". Products were pricy but great. Before they started pushing trashy anaemic laptops with awful keyboards and gimmicky emojibars that can't connect to anything out of the box, outdated desktop Macs with default spinning drives in 2019, pre-bent iPads, €1200 phones with no fast chargers and plugs/earpieces that aren't compatible with Macs etc. Apple products had quality, elegance and interoperability other vendors could only dream of.

Not THAT long ago it wasn’t a problem to pay 399 for iPods, 499 for iPhones, 1599 for iMacs and so on. The product lines were clear and each upgrade provided immediate utility and value. Right now they are complicated, annoying and overpriced. That's exactly what got Apple nearly killed in ‘90 before Steve came back.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
meaning-matters Avatar
84 months ago
My first job was repairing them.
Was amazed by Apple employee signatures embossed inside the cover.
Seeing quality and beauty, of course I fell in love with Apple.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacFather Avatar
84 months ago
Deleted.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)