Apple's Macintosh Turns 41 Today

Apple announced the Macintosh 41 years ago today, introducing the first widely successful personal computer with a graphical user interface.

Classic Mac 41 Years Old Feature

The Macintosh revolutionized personal computing by popularizing the use of a mouse to control an on-screen pointer. At the time, this point-and-click navigation method was unfamiliar to most, as personal computers primarily relied on text-based command-line interfaces operated with a keyboard. An excerpt from Apple's press release in 1984:

Users tell Macintosh what to do simply by moving a "mouse" — a small pointing device — to select among functions listed in menus and represented by pictorial symbols on the screen. Users are no longer forced to memorize the numerous and confusing keyboard commands of conventional computers. The result is radical ease of use and a significant reduction in learning time. In effect, the Macintosh is a desk-top appliance offering users increased utility and creativity with simplicity.

Apple claimed the Macintosh required "only a few hours to learn" and introduced features that are now fundamental, such as a desktop with icons, multitasking in windows, drop-down menus, and copy-and-paste functionality.

Macintosh easily fits on a desk, both in terms of its style of operation and its physical design. It takes up about the same amount of desk space as a piece of paper. With Macintosh, the computer is an aid to spontaneity and originality, not an obstacle. It allows ideas and relationships to be viewed in new ways. Macintosh enhances not just productivity, but also creativity.

The Macintosh was priced starting at $2,495, equivalent to over $7,000 today. It featured an 8 MHz Motorola 68000 processor paired with 128 KB of RAM (upgradeable to 512 KB), a 400 KB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, a 9-inch black-and-white CRT display with a resolution of 512x342 pixels, and two serial ports to attach peripherals like the Apple ImageWriter printer or external modems.

It included software such as MacPaint, which allowed users to draw detailed black-and-white graphics with features like pattern fills and brushes that were revolutionary for the time, and MacWrite, a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processing application with real-time editing, proportional fonts, and drag-and-drop functionality.

The Macintosh launch was accompanied by one of the most iconic marketing campaigns in history, including the legendary "1984" Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott. The ad positioned the Macintosh as a revolutionary product that would challenge the conformity of the computing industry, dominated by IBM at the time.

Over 40 years later, the Mac continues to be an essential product for Apple and retains many of the same software features as the original model. Apple's full press release for the original Macintosh is available on Stanford University's website.

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Top Rated Comments

mcilwraith Avatar
10 weeks ago
happy birthday Mac! we love you!
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gpat Avatar
10 weeks ago
Quite a number of inconsistencies in the article.
The 128K RAM was NOT upgradeable to 512K without a complete motherboard swap, and features did NOT include multitasking, at least not at launch time.
Also the machine in the picture is from 1990.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
davegoody Avatar
10 weeks ago
Nice montage image, though that's NOT the first Macintosh., that's the Macintosh Classic which was released around 6 years later......
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tubular Avatar
10 weeks ago

Any significance to 41?
It's a prime number, meaning that the Mac is still in its prime.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrJR Avatar
10 weeks ago

I remember going to a local computer store to see one, and even though I was awed by it, I was stunned by the price. The car I drove there cost me $800USD. I couldn't imagine spending $2495USD for a computer.
Yes, I remember when the Mac dropped and I remember a few years later dad shelling out $3000 for his first computer for the business, and it became my first computer: 8088 16mhz processor. I put a modem in it and dialed into BBS's back when the internet was more like HAM radio...... I miss those days. People were polite!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
attila Avatar
10 weeks ago
My father was looking for a desktop publishing computer at the time. He went to Hewlett Packard, as he had trust in that brand for various reasons. The salesperson recommended a Macintosh. My dad went and purchased the Macintosh 128K.

We've had Macs in the family ever since :D
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)