Filed under: Hardware, Apple History
Apple's original tablet
In 1979, the Apple II Plus was a badass piece of hardware, and the Apple Graphics Tablet was a flashy accessory. At $650US, it let users sketch with a wired stylus. Measuring 3/4 in x 15 1/2 in x 15 3/4 in, the Graphics Tablet was eventually discontinued when the FCC discovered that it caused radio frequency interference problems.Sure, the wired stylus is a kludge, as is the general design (don't look at the back), but remember that 1979 was 5 years before the first Macintosh was released and computer mice became ubiquitous.
Edible Apple has some additional photos and an old ad promoting the tablet and Utopia software. Go and check out an interesting piece of Apple history -- complete with vintage scotch tape!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony Ward said 11:52AM on 11-23-2009
Still nicer looking than most stuff Dell makes now....
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N900 said 12:16PM on 11-23-2009
I don't know, that Dell Mini 9 Modded tablet looks pretty neat.
Dani Reader said 12:04PM on 11-23-2009
Damn! I shouldn't have bought that wacom bamboo!
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Tony Ward said 12:19PM on 11-23-2009
Looks like you could play a kickin' game of Minesweeper with it...
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JTA said 12:45PM on 11-23-2009
Cool, but not as cool as the Koala Pad I had for my Apple IIe back in '85.
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punkassjim said 1:53PM on 11-23-2009
Dave, I'd say "kludge" is a poorly-chosen word for something that was really a spectacular piece of tech in its day. It's not as if there was any better at the time.
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Aerospeed said 2:52PM on 11-23-2009
1979?!! I can't begin to imagine how expensive that tablet must have been...
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punkassjim said 6:12PM on 11-23-2009
Fortunately for you, he stated in the article exactly what it cost.
William said 8:26PM on 11-23-2009
My favorite gadget for my Apple ][+ was the Gibson Labs Light Pen:
http://bit.ly/7rXh45
You'd draw right on the screen and it was only about half as much as the Graphics Tablet! $350.00
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Don Holmberg said 2:40AM on 11-24-2009
Isn't this the same model that Roberta Williams used to make the original Sierra On-line games? I don't think those games would have been possible without it... and look at the company it spawned.
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Domenico Bettinelli said 1:53PM on 11-28-2009
The first Apple I ever used had one of these. It was my freshman year in high school (1981) and my technical drawing teacher, Mr. Berube, had one in the class. When we finished assignments, we could use it.
Can't tell you how cool it was to draw shapes on the tablet and see them show up on screen. I recall it had both a freehand mode and a "shapes" mode, I think.
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