30 years ago was just the beginning

A new banner on Apple Computer's main page states that the first 30 years were just the beginning. "Welcome to 2007," it tells us. We at TUAW like to look backwards as well as forwards. Here's a nostalgic peek back to 1976, to the Apple-1. (Click the advertisement image to enlarge.)

It's been a long trip indeed from the Apple-1, which was priced at an easy-to-remember $666.66. Compare and contrast today's widescreen displays with the support (not monitor, just support) for 24 line x 40 character per line video output. The motherboard shipped with 4 Kbytes of RAM, and you could put up to 8 KB of RAM on that baby, not to mention its support for FAST 1 Kilobaud cassette tape storage (really, just about everything was an optional extra). And Apple Basic was FREE! Oh, and did I mention that you had to build the kit yourself? More than "some assembly" required.

It's hard to believe that my iPod and Mac Mini come from the same company as the Apple-1, separated by only thirty years.

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Source: http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=aI

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Retro Mac Blast From the Past

A new banner on Apple Computer's main page states that the first 30 years were just the beginning. "Welcome to 2007," it tells us. We at...

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tom

I wonder why they chose 'The Number Of The Devil' for the price tag? Heh.
My favourite bit is "32K Bytes on-board RAM!!"

January 13 2007 at 8:04 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Warren Anderson

With a typo in the first line of text...

January 08 2007 at 9:12 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lerxst

It is easier to believe that the company that brought us the Apple I is the same that created the iPod and Mac Mini if you consider the following:

- Apple I was the first personal computer to support a keyboard, all the previous attemps used switches instead;
- Apple I was the first personal computer that could be attached to a normal TV set, instead of using lights in a panel or an expensive terminal;
- Apple I was the first personal computer to support casette tapes, instead of making the user enter the same code on every boot.

So, since their first product Apple showed that they were very user-oriented, while most companies at the time (and still now) are usually technology-for-the-sake-of-technology-oriented.

January 08 2007 at 9:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

mikko

Well, you didn't actually have to build it - it came assebled unlike other computers at the time. In other computers (or computer kits actually) you had to mount the microprocessor and everything else to the board. With Apple I you just had to build your own (usually wooden) case for it and of course connect the different devices such as monitor and tape drive.

Pretty much different from the way it is today, though.

January 08 2007 at 8:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply