Our newest Great Debate really needs no introduction: What's the greatest Mac in Apple's history?

Since we want an actual debate and not just statements like "I like this one better," here's a list of possible criteria for your position:

* Most revolutionary within Apple
* Most revolutionary within industry
* Best selling
* Most technically advanced for the day
* Best industrial design
* Best reviews
* Best overall quality
* Best OS for the time

Let the debate begin!

Id have to say OSX was the biggest thing for apple, because it was the begining of the new era and the switch from system to bsd core and of course the bigest switch, the switch from ppc to x86....


and for the most revolutionary, the lisa, first consumer computer with gui, and first computer with mouse.


but for apple in general, the iPod, its the thing that brought apple to many users pockets, even pc users who would never consider apple. as you can see i dont know much else about apple history....

agree:

mac os X itself was the giant leap, olddays' G3s were become more powerful cos of it, better virtual memory management and such.

regarding hardware.. i think the very first macintosh was the true revolution of computing, the first home computer completely designed around a "GUI way of life".

the mac mini its the only intel mac without the flaws when it first came out


for the best selling i'd say the ipod just go look at the top sellers at the apple store

(not a mac but close enough )

also this shouldn't be for the greatest mac it should be for apple products. they did drop "computer" from their name

Any Intel Based Mac because when Steve Jobs switched from power pc to X86 it really made me want to own a mac because it gave the great products that apple produces the capabilty to really bridge the gap between usablity and style

I agree with all that, especially the iPod part, if it weren't for my iPod, I wouldn't be using a mac

If it was not for Finding OS X at first on Pear PC then running Native on PC via these forums id never have made the switch. Thanks, you turned me into a Mac Geek. And to Top it off I now cant Stand Windows / M$ and XBox360 Guys.. I had to get the upcoming Crisis Working on Vista just the other day even a Guy from the Dev team could not do it.... lol, all i had to do was rename a certain DX10 file to get it working, Dumb asses..

So I would be just a Little Biased if I said My MBP was the Best.. hehe.

I would say the Apple II, but it's not a Mac.

I agree that OS X is a giant leap for apple and an Excellent OS, but sticking with actual mac computers, the iMac G4

The MacBook or MacBook Pro are probably one of the most important and best-selling computers Apple has released in its current era.

i just love that imac

I'd have to say the G4 Cube. It was simply perfect!

I think any G5 tower (intel or PPC, dual or single processor).

Regardless of what G5 tower you got, you have the greatest personal computer the world has ever known.
The expandability is ridicoulous. I always preferred Apple to PC (since my 2GS when I was very young) but we've never benn so blatently ahead of the game until the G5 towers came out.

When I saw the first commercial I thought my head was going to explode. I got mine over a year ago and still have a better computer than anyone I know.

I use external harddrives and plan on increasing the RAM every year or so , but I plan to have it for a very long time. (which says a lot in this day and age)

*

Mac Pro > PowerMac G5

It's hard to say the best of the whole history of Apple... Anyway: about the OS, I would say System 7... it was the most waited and a big jump from the 6. Sure, also the OS X, but it's someway "different". Greatest Mac, probably the Plus, then the iMac series that, with the iPod, pushed again the Apple in the middle of the ring. Historically, also the newton was a great idea, maybe too much before the time. Firsts powerbooks, with the trackball under keyboard, that was adopted from every Notebook after....

I personally feel that PPC G5s are better than the MacPros. But that's debatable. I think it depends on the individuals situation. But I think a good generalization that everyone could agree on would be my prior post...- any type of G5 Tower

The Macbook. Specifically MY Macbook ;-)

but seriously I'd say the Pismo for its expandability and multitude of upgrades.

Hell, Yeah. I didn't wanna mention only what I have ...but that's why I still keep one around. That thing is a workhorse and it's shell was so damn tough. Only problem with the Pismo is the power supplies suck. Mac had a recall on certain pismo powersupplies, but not on all of them. (and they ALL suck)

I have two pismos sharing only 1 power supply because it goes bad about every 9 months.


Other than that though, I've seen a few articles saying the Pismo was the best laptop ever. (any platform)

Also, I'd like to add as many have the importance of the iPod - by far the single most important piece of Mac anything ever made.

i think that the ppc macs where the best macs. i feel that they where much more stable then the intel ones

I absolutely love the Twentieth Anniversary Mac. It may not have cutting technology etc, but in 1997 it probably was totally different the plain beige boxes. Also it was one Mac that came with a Bose subwoofer and looked more like an Home entertainment device than anything else.


Other than that I love the MacPro and the Lampshade Mac a lot too.

Definitely OS X, the iPods, the iMacs, and all the platform switches (68k to PPC, PPC to x86. Maybe the next will be x86 to ARM...)

I would have to say the Apple II, even though it's not really a Mac (But neither is Lisa, which was mentioned above). That machine was a godsend for our public school system, even years after Apple stopped selling them. It gave many kids (and myself) our first exposure to computers. It could withstand the beatings dished out by grade schoolers and could be connected to standard TVs. The insides were not difficult to work with and you could easily swap parts around if needed. If I had to pick the most influential computer of the early PC age, I would have a hard time picking between the Apple II and Commodore 64. The IBM PC and its clones were just too expensive and didn't catch on until far later. Without the II there never would have been a Mac or Lisa.

+1 for the cube!

I hear a lot of talk around these parts of the need for an expandable micro desktop. I think Apple should resurrect the cube. Think about it. It would be just like the mini but with a desktop sized hard drive and dedicated graphics card. All of which would be easily accessible to users.

I agree with you, only if they continue the line with better processors, graphic cards etc.

Yep I agree with the cube too!
It was just an amazing design, there was no noise!
If Apple would build a Cube with an Intel processor I would buy it!

I love my cube (hm ok a bit modded; Geforce 6200, 1 GB Ram, Sonnet 800 Mhz CPU) and never would give it away!!


cYa ~Neo

I'm gonna go with the G4 cube, the lamp iMac G4, and the Macbook. If Apple came out with a Conroe cube with good graphics for the price of an imac I'd buy it the next day.

add another vote for the apple G4 powermac cube!

altho there were only 148,000 that rolled off the production line, its the most beautiful apple in my eyes

i feel lucky, i got a whole bunch of them last december (2 working and 4 cases)

drop somethin like a p4 up in one of those

the project core2duo cubed teaser (link in my sig) is me dropping a 2ghz core2duo into one
much much faster than a p4

lol just a little bit..... and im still on biosmodding! lol good project though!

my last reply was way off topic, so the most influential mac...

the original iMac. The revision A iMac, Bondi Blue, 233 Mhz PowerPC 750 (G3). It gave people a cheap, powerful mac at a decent price, and it looked nice. for the first time in computer history (1999) a computer wasnt beige or black, it was semi-translucent blue and white.

the greatest... cant say. apple is always getting better, so the greatest mac is always changing.

but the (two) coolest and most classic looking i can think of: The Cube and the G4 iMacs (the one with the round white base and movable screen)

when my dad worked for a manhattan graphics firm way back when, they were the first to get cubes, and they were absolutely the coolest things i had ever seen. truly a work of technological art.

the second gen G4 iMacs are another favorite, but for no main reason. they just looked cool. (i think they introduced the "angelic" white weve all come to know and love on these models.)

the imac g4s are fun ( i played tuxracer on one last time i was supposed to be taking a french test). i would love to see apple bring back one like that. i am going to make a c2d imac g4 thing when i build up my funds again.

the best thing which Apple makes is OSX.

the greates mac for me is G4 cube - there is no analogs in the world !!

but it's not the best selling product - it's an uncommon product.
i'll be glad to have modern model like old cube.

also the best designed mac is a Job's lamp (iMac G4).

another one for the cube, i think they are super cool.
But that said im a huge fan of the Blue and White G3, it was powerful, expandable with normal pc components, that fantastic case that folded open, had firewire and usb so it holds its own even today. And runs from OS 8 through to 10.4 and 10.5 with some coaxing. truely amazing considering its from 99. mine is still going strong today. and it looked so slick compared to the market at the time.

A g4 cube is actually on display at the new york museum of modern art, it is just that good looking!

The Imac G3.... its the reason apple is still around to day we sould all worship it hehe
the lamp iMac G4 is het only mac i have never owned but its so nice i deam about owning one
the quicksilver G4 design is what i like the moost.

Personally, I like the iMac G5/C(2)D as it is just an amazing piece of engineering.
They have a huge widescreen moniter, a webcam, and a powerful computer all in such a tiny foot print

Definitely the cube. I can see how it would be hard to argue otherwise.

Poor pricing and sales, which is what did the cube in. I think Apple could re-release something similar today and it would be more in the imac price range than powermac/mac pro though. People would definitely buy it at $1000-1500 I think.

Well, pricing and sales have nothing to do with the actual computer itself, you know what I mean? It failed not because it wasn't a great computer - it was, it is by far the most cost-effective easily customizable mac that has ever been released, even today. But that's what made it so great, you know?

OSX86, because I would not be using this macbook if I never tried OSX86.

Oh I think the current Macs are best. They keep getting better and better.

Although iBooks were really good...just kidding!

The most revelutionary product (within Apple and the industry) would without a doubt be the iMac G3, because it started the one-of-a-kind designs seen with Apple products today.

Best Selling would be the iPod. Nuff' said.

The best design for an Apple product would be the Mac Pro, not only does it look cool on the outside, but it looks good on the inside as well.

Best overall quality would be the MacBook Core Duos when they first were released.
(I was kidding)

Best OS for the time would obviously be OS 10.4, and I honestly can't seem to think of a different answer coming from a mac forum.

Jonz - You're wrong about the iMac G3.

I think the most revolutionary Apple product is the Apple Mac.
















(Yes, the 128k one)

I think the Apple Cube deserves the first place of Apple design.

It is the classic synthesis of form follows function in every aspect, referenced in basic knowledge about industrial design and it ist the ONLY computer that has it's place as an exhibit in the museum of modern art.

And tomorrow, I will get one 4 free from a friend of mine

The best mac?...the hackintosh, you build your machine at your own tastes and money jeej
The second after that, the g5 quad, for his AMAZING perfomance crunching numbers

My vote goes for the iMac G4. While the thing's heavy as hell, it has an incredibly unique design.

Really difficult to say...

* Most revolutionary within Apple
The first Intel machine: revolutionary for a company that always used Motorola/IBM cpus (well, excluding the Apple II)

* Most revolutionary within industry
The first Mac, of course! In the 1984 was a dream.. and we are still dreaming! I could also say "The Lisa" but it had so little life and market

* Best selling
The iMac G3, the machine that let Apple survive and start again (it's a Jobs' product...)

* Most technically advanced for the day
The first Mac

* Best industrial design
The first Mac, the iMac G3

* Best reviews
Quite every Apple product...

* Best overall quality
Quite every Apple product... I have some 15-years old machine still working...

* Best OS for the time
In 1984 the System 1.0, then the Os X...

But the best of all will be surely... the next one!

Hmm. This is a tough one. I could go with the original Mac because of how revolutionary it was. The II for introducing expansion slots. The iMac for everything it means to the Apple of today.

But, in the end, I think I'm going to have to go with the Mac Plus. The reason I choose it over the original is that the original 128K Mac, well, it sucked. I mean, it was awesomely cool and all. But it flat out sucked to use.

As for why I chose the Plus over a later model is that, for me, it lies at the tipping point between those limited and useless 128K and 512K Macs and everything that came after (the II series, the SE and SE/30, the Quadra line, and so on).

Now, I'm sure for other people, their "tipping point" between worthless Mac and awesome Mac is going to differ from mine. But the Plus is my choice.

I believe that the iMac G3 was the best computer for the time. It blew anything else at the time out of the water. 10.3 was the best OS for the time, and 10.4 only improved upon 10.3. I believe that the iBook G3 was an amazing computer, and it looks so damn good. I've heard some bad things about the Cube, but I'd love to have one and make it a project to make an OS X box out of it. I love my MacBook Pro, and it is my personal favorite product because it is everything I could ever want in a computer. You can't really go wrong with an Apple these days.

I beleive the iMac G4 (Lamp) Flat panel was the Best Cause it revolutionize the way Flat panels are used and I beleive the G4 Cube is the best design ever, I wish the would make them both come back, bigger and improved than ever