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Apple Macintosh 128K

Apple Macintosh 128K

Image creditSailko
CC BY 3.0

Apple Macintosh 128K

Year
1984
Creator
Steve Jobs, Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson, Burrell Smith, Jef Raskin
Company
Apple Computer, Inc.
Location
Cupertino, California

Description

The Macintosh is an all-in-one computer with a built-in screen, a mouse, a Motorola 68000 processor, and 128 KB of memory. Apple released it on January 24, 1984, for $2,495, with the MacPaint and MacWrite programs.

Importance

The Macintosh was the first commercially successful computer with a mouse and a graphical user interface, ideas that Apple saw at Xerox PARC. It followed the Apple Lisa, which cost $9,995 and sold poorly. With the Apple LaserWriter and Adobe PostScript, the Macintosh became the base of desktop publishing.

Interesting fact

The advertising agency Chiat/Day ran the 1984 Macintosh commercial on KMVT, a small Idaho station, before the Super Bowl to qualify it for awards.

See the Steve Jobs timeline for more about Steve Jobs.

Sources

  1. This Day in History: Apple Macintosh is releasedComputer History Museum · 1984-01-24
  2. 1984 | Timeline of Computer HistoryComputer History Museum
  3. This Day in History: Apple Computer Launches the MacintoshComputer History Museum · 1984-01-22
  4. The Lisa: Apple's Most Influential FailureComputer History Museum (Hansen Hsu) · 2023-01-19
  5. 1984Folklore.org (Andy Hertzfeld) · 2004