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Today, January 24 marks the 40th anniversary of the unveiling of the first Macintosh computer, the first truly successful mass-marketed computer that used a graphical interface.
From Apple’s original Macintosh press release in 1984:
CUPERTINO, Calif., January 24, 1984–Apple Computer today unveiled its much-anticipated Macintosh computer, a sophisticated, affordably priced personal computer designed for business people, professionals and students in a broad range of fields. Macintosh is available in all dealerships now. Based on the advanced, 32-bit architecture developed for Apple’s Lisa computer, Macintosh combines extraordinary computing power with exceptional ease of use–in a unit that is smaller and lighter than most transportable computers. The suggested retail price for Macintosh is $2,495, which during the introductory period also includes a word-processing program and graphics package.
The original Macintosh boasted a mouse in addition to the traditional keyboard controls used by computers at the time. The mouse allowed users to control an on-screen pointer, which could be used to open apps and documents, control the position of text and graphical items in documents, copy files, and more.
From the 1984 press release:
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.
“We believe that Lisa Technology represents the future direction of all personal computers,” said Steven P. Jobs, Chairman of the Board of Apple. “Macintosh makes this technology available for the first time to a broad audience–at a price and size unavailable from any other manufacturer. By virtue of the large amount of software written for them, the Apple II and the IBM PC became the personal computer industry’s first two standards. We expect Macintosh to become the third industry standard.”
The base price of the original Macintosh started at $2,495, which equals more than $7,000 today. The first Macintosh boasted an 8 MHz processor, 128 KB of RAM, a 400 KB floppy disk drive for storage, and serial ports for connecting a printer and other accessories. This was all cutting-edge tech back in 1984.
To read Apple’s full press release for the Macintosh, visit the Stanford University’s website.
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