Greatest Mac in History

[iRed]

I think that the Dual G4 has most influence.

 

G4/1.25 GHz dual 512/120/SuperDrive/Radeon 9000 Pro.

[Alessandro17]

However, now I say the new Mac Pro is the greatest Mac because it represents the beginning of new era for Apple: more expandable and competitively priced Macs.

 

Very true. I hope however that once the Nehalems are available, they don't wait too long before they catch up.

Otherwise they'll find themselves very soon in a situation like the first Mac Pro: great value for money once released, poor value later on, before the new version.

[SDRacer48]

I would have to say they OSx86 box.

 

I mean, yes Apple did run Mac OS X on the x86 architecture first, but you do not really think they don't monitor this website do you? They must have used some of our information to create new ideas for using new hardware, discovering new issues and bugs, and all sorts of other things.

 

Clearly, the switch to the x86 architecture is one of the biggest factors of the increasing popularity of Apple (along with the iPod of course). I don't really think we, as the OSx86 community, have gone unnoticed.

 

So I say, every OSx86 box that has ran Mac OS and contributed to this forum in someway or another is the GREATEST MAC IN HISTORY. Yep, that's right, your computer may be a collector's piece one day...

 

[Alessandro17]

So I say, every OSx86 box that has ran Mac OS and contributed to this forum in someway or another is the GREATEST MAC IN HISTORY. Yep, that's right, your computer may be a collector's piece one day...

 

 

A very nice thought

Never crossed my mind before.

[(MoC)]

Same here....

[Special-K]

Greatest Mac In History is the one I own.

(I=the reader)

[fatshitcat]

Well I would still say the Santa Rosa MBP

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

Since I've owned one of just about every Mac model ever made, it's pretty hard to choose. I think my top three would be:

1. IIci with Portrait Display (I never have understood why most computer monitors are wider than they are tall, when almost everything I've ever produced had to be printed on 8.5x11" paper at some point.)
   

Human vision is "wide screen", per se. That, and not all of us are into print

 

Actually, you could just buy an LCD monitor and flip the screen 90 degrees...

[aquanutz]

12 inch Powerbook. Nothing has come close in terms of design and beauty.

[superstition]

Lisa.

 

Wasn't a Mac and had features that should never have been abandoned, like protected memory. A Lisa can even isolate individual memory chips that are bad and use the rest of the board. Most current desktop machines force users to use archaic testing programs, hope for stability, and play games to figure out which board is bad.

 

Lisa was light years ahead of the Mac OS in many respects, and Apple should be ashamed that it wasted its market advantage by making some really bone-headed errors (like clocking the 68000 at 5 MHz, using Twiggy drives, and allowing Sculley to overprice it.) The worst error of all was not getting enough 3rd party developers to release software for it while confusing the product line with the Mac.

 

The Lisa should have come out with dual 400k microfloppies, an 8-10 MHz 68000, a graphics co-processor to make scrolling and other drawing faster, sound, 1.8 amp PSU, more assembly code for the OS, and a lower price tag. Apple should have never had two independent development teams. The people who made the Mac should have been working on the Lisa, so that it would have been better.

 

---------

 

The best actual Mac models (for their time) are:

 

1. Flat-panel iMacs (lamp design). They are not powerful in the graphics and CPU department, but they were outstanding for ergonomics and excellent for general computing. It's sad that Apple has chosen to orphan the 700 and 800 MHz models because they run Leopard just fine speed-wise. All they need is enough RAM and if Apple would fix the chipset driver, they would be able to sleep. They have the excellent optical mouse, a good keyboard, etc. They are an excellent design.

 

2. I would have nominated the Powerbook G3 (especially the Pismo), but since PRAM battery replacement required a complete disassembly, I have to give a thumbs down. The Apple Store, a few years ago, refused to replace a battery, saying the machines are too old. This was true for a Wallstreet model. Perhaps later models are better?

 

3. I would have nominated the Mac Plus, but since it came with an anemic power supply and inadequate cooling, it won't make the cut.

 

4. I would have nominated the G4 iBook, but its case isn't solid enough to prevent motherboard bending and thus failure due to transport stress.

[martiniman]

I would say the MacMini G4 1.5 Ghz 64MB vram

As the MacMini is the most perfect puzzle of compactness

Very low poweruse, even less than the Intel versions

Relative easy to open (much harder with the Intels)

Dedicated graphics

All included: BT, Wifi, FW

 

OR

 

The Quadra 605

The predesessor to the Mac Mini. This Computer was the cleanest looking INSIDE and therefore very accessible. Those ceramic CPU's without heatsinks were great to look at. Also one of the first reasonable equiped low budget Macintosh with relative high res/high colour modes.

 

The next great Mac will be the new end-2008 EEE laptop. 10 inch screen, 1.5 Ghz duocore 300$ laptop.

[superstition]

I still give the tilt arm iMac the edge because it has a 3.5" 7200 rpm hard drive, not a slow laptop drive like the Mini. It's also an all-in-one ergonomic design with no clunky brick and cables.

[QckSlvrGuyInKC]

It's not really the greatest mac in history, but I would have a list of what I consider the greatest Apple products in history...

 

1) The Apple //, //+, and //e - If you didn't go to elementary school with one of these machines, then I feel sorry for you. I list all three of them together, since they were an evolution of the same basic machine. (The //c and IIc+ get honerable mention

 

2) The Apple IIGS - In 1986, this was the most powerful multimedia computer available for the price. Sure, the 2.8 MHz 65c816 processor was slow when compared to Intel's 80286, but at the same time, the IIGS made up for it with graphics and sound capabilities that wouldn't be matched by PCs (and even Macintosh) for years, including a Ensoniq wavetable synthesizer (that Apple neutered the capabilities of...)

 

3) The Mac 128k, 512k, Plus, and SE - proof that a computer could be both powerful and fit in a small space at the same time. Plus and SE also had SCSI.

 

4) The Power Mac G4 Cube - it was the most powerful desktop computer, per cubic inch, at the time it was sold. Fully upgradable (user-swappable CD, 3.5" hard drive, video card, processor, RAM, and the PMU board) and extremely stylish. And, without the hard drive spinning, silent.

 

5) The Lampshade iMac G4 - The only mistake Apple made with this computer is making it difficult for end users to upgrade the hard drive, optical drive, and the internal stick of RAM.

 

6) Tie - the 8600/9600/Beige G3 cases and the El Capitan G3/G4 cases -

 

6a) The case for the 8600, 9600, and beige G3 Macs was revolutionary in the fact that you could pop off the side panel with one hand, and open the case by flipping two levers open. This made it easy to replace and upgrade these machines, much more so than the previous "pro" towers (going back to the Quadra 800 series).

 

6b) While the El Capitan case (Blue and White G3, all G4 towers) made it rediculously easy to work on the logic board and add and remove hard drives, it's downfall was adding and removing the optical drives. The handles were a nice touch too, since it made the machine easy to move from place to place.

 

7) The original PowerBook computers - While not amazingly powerful by any stretch of the imagination, they were the first laptops ever that managed to get the design right for size and usability. (Remember the Kareem Abdul-Jabar ads? "Well, at least his hands will be comfortable.")

 

8) Wallstreet, Lombard, and Pismo Powerbook G3s. Easy to work on, easy to upgrade, easy to take care of, nearly impossible to break, extremely expandable, and all were extremely stable hardware as well. While the Wallstreet had some issues the Lombard and Pismo didn't have, I'm still grouping it with the other two. The Pismo did have one advantage the Lombard and Wallstreet didn't have, however - you could put an internal AirPort wireless card into this machine.

 

9) Any 500/5000 series all in one machines, Centris/Quadra/Performa 630, Power Macintosh/Performa 6200/6300/6400/6500 - Upgrades were as easy as pulling the motherboard out, adding in what you wanted (ethernet, RAM, Video in/out, etc) and putting it back in. Or, if you wanted to upgrade from a slower motherboard to a faster one, you could swap out with no issues. The best part is that the motherboard connected to the case (power, SCSI CD-ROM, ATA HD) through a single-edge connector that was generic between every model of this design. I personally had a Mac TV case (the first black-cased all-in-one that Apple made) with a 6500/300's motherboard in it.

 

10) The iMac G5/Intel - The aluminum cases make the design better, but being able to fit a powerful computer in something not much bigger than a flat-panel monitor made for one of the best industrial designs ever.

[superstition]

The Apple //, //+, and //e - If you didn't go to elementary school with one of these machines, then I feel sorry for you. I list all three of them together, since they were an evolution of the same basic machine. (The //c and IIc+ get honerable mention

As far as I know, the original Apple II didn't have the ability to use lowercase letters. I consider that unacceptable. The IIe was nice, but it was seriously overpriced given its paltry 1 MHz processor and mediocre graphics/sound.

The Apple IIGS - In 1986, this was the most powerful multimedia computer available for the price. Sure, the 2.8 MHz 65c816 processor was slow when compared to Intel's 80286, but at the same time, the IIGS made up for it with graphics and sound capabilities that wouldn't be matched by PCs (and even Macintosh) for years, including a Ensoniq wavetable synthesizer (that Apple neutered the capabilities of...)

The IIgs was seriously overpriced. The processor was described as a "toy" in comparison with the Mac/Lisa 68000. The graphics weren't so good. The original Mac, for instance, offered a higher resolution display.

The Mac 128k, 512k, Plus, and SE - proof that a computer could be both powerful and fit in a small space at the same time. Plus and SE also had SCSI.

The Mac 128k is likely one of Apple's worst products because:

 

1. It didn't have nearly enough RAM. 2. It couldn't handle a hard disk. 3. It wasn't expandable at all. 4. Its operating system was buggy. 5. Jobs sold the public on the Mac by using a 512k model during the demo which was able to do speech synthesis. 6. It was quickly orphaned - replaced by the 512k. 7. It lacked basic things the Lisa already had, like protected memory and multitasking, leading to decades of unnecessary system instability for end users (bombs/freezes) and the rise of Windows. 8. Finally, the screen was too small, there was no numeric keypad so businesses scoffed, and it couldn't even do greyscale.

 

What did the Mac have going for it?

 

1. It was a cute and clean design, both hardware and software.

The Power Mac G4 Cube - it was the most powerful desktop computer, per cubic inch, at the time it was sold. Fully upgradable (user-swappable CD, 3.5" hard drive, video card, processor, RAM, and the PMU board) and extremely stylish. And, without the hard drive spinning, silent.

The Cube, again, was overpriced. It was priced out of its niche. Other than that, it was quite nice.

The Lampshade iMac G4 - The only mistake Apple made with this computer is making it difficult for end users to upgrade the hard drive, optical drive, and the internal stick of RAM.

Not that difficult, really. All one needs is the right screwdriver. Compare to a Powerbook G3 where replacing a PRAM battery required completely dismantling the machine. I gave up and so did my friend, after taking most of the thing apart.

7) The original PowerBook computers - While not amazingly powerful by any stretch of the imagination, they were the first laptops ever that managed to get the design right for size and usability. (Remember the Kareem Abdul-Jabar ads? "Well, at least his hands will be comfortable.")

Only the 170. I'm not a fan of "supertwist" (non active) LCDs. Active matrix was extremely expensive in those days, but worth it.

Wallstreet, Lombard, and Pismo Powerbook G3s. Easy to work on, easy to upgrade, easy to take care of

Try replacing the PRAM battery. It's insanity.

5000 series all in one machines...Power Macintosh/Performa 6200/6300/6400/6500

The Performa 5200/6200 type Macs were horrible. First of all, my mother's 5200 came with only 8 MB of RAM. Try running PPC software, including Netscape, with that. The monitors tended to turn purple for no reason. The motherboard was a recycled 68k motherboard that didn't even have handshaking for modems. It had stability problems. The modem was horrible. Not only was it 14.4, it wasn't even a full modem. The processor's performance was degraded by the 68k motherboard so much that the 68040 seemed faster.

I personally had a Mac TV case (the first black-cased all-in-one that Apple made) with a 6500/300's motherboard in it.

As far as I know, that Mac was really bizarre because it only had a maximum of 8 MB of RAM.

The iMac G5/Intel - The aluminum cases make the design better, but being able to fit a powerful computer in something not much bigger than a flat-panel monitor made for one of the best industrial designs ever.

The iMac G5 is bad... Too much heat from the processor. My friend's sounds like a hair dryer. The design works, however, with the Core Duos.

[jjduro]

The G4 Pismo.

 

The most beautifull and best of all laptops... WTF is all that white and aluminium stuff???

[turly]

The Mac II. And Dark Castle / Beyond Dark Castle for the best Mac games :-)

[404 Not Found]

PowerMac G4 (Graphite and Up)

 

Reason #1: The Case, No Doubt, Possibly the easiest Computer to upgrade in history (in my opinion)

All you do is pull the ring, and everything you'd need is right there.

 

Reason #2: Huge Expandability, including up to 1.5GiB of RAM (which is more than enough for most things) and Dual 1.25GHz G4 Processors.

 

Reason #3: The Design still fits in most places, Even if it's Just next to a Dorm Fridge with the monitor on top. (Guilty!)

 

Reason #4: The G4 is a relatively powerful processor, mine is a 733mHz with 512MB of RAM, and boots up with OSX Tiger 10.4.11 in less than 25 Seconds.

 

Uh Oh, Cons!

 

Con #1: The PSU fried on mine (Graphite) and was a pretty big pain in the ass to replace.

 

Con #2: It seems it only accepts PC133 RAM, which is Outdated by now.

 

2nd Place for me is the Power Mac G3 B&W (The Case!)

3rd is the Mac Pro and iMac Intel (tie)

4th is the lampshade iMac G4, i have yet to find one in good condition that's for sale though.

[(MoC)]

At the end there will only be one laptop and desktop. They will rule victoriously and rock the ground like never before. Good things come to those who wait and read TUAW! lmao

[QuietOC]

The expandability is ridicoulous.

I always thought the 12 DIMM slots in the Power Mac 9500 was pretty ridiculous. To think they only have 8 DIMM slots in the new Mac Pros! The case on the new Mac Pros is pretty neat, but I'd hardly call the Mac Pro very expandable.

 

I haven't really liked any of the Macs I've had to use. Generally they felt slow and unreliable. I liked the G3/G4 cases. My Intel iMac is neat for a simple machine, but solely lacking in a few areas (memory amount/speed, very un-expandable.) Mac Pros just seem so illogical for most people.

 

OSX on generic hardware just might redeem the whole Apple experience for me. The whole software activation/DRM thing is getting pretty annoying (Microsoft, Adobe, Hollywood, etc).

[QckSlvrGuyInKC]

I always thought the 12 DIMM slots in the Power Mac 9500 was pretty ridiculous. To think they only have 8 DIMM slots in the new Mac Pros! The case on the new Mac Pros is pretty neat, but I'd hardly call the Mac Pro very expandable.

 

I haven't really liked any of the Macs I've had to use. Generally they felt slow and unreliable. I liked the G3/G4 cases. My Intel iMac is neat for a simple machine, but solely lacking in a few areas (memory amount/speed, very un-expandable.) Mac Pros just seem so illogical for most people.

 

OSX on generic hardware just might redeem the whole Apple experience for me. The whole software activation/DRM thing is getting pretty annoying (Microsoft, Adobe, Hollywood, etc).

 

It's not the 12 dimm slots that got me with the 9500 (and the 9600, for that matter), but how rediculously hard it was to get into the 9500 (and the 800/8000 series towers, for that matter). However, the 9500 (and 9600) were both extremely expandible and fast, being able to hold 1.5 GiB of RAM with 6 PCI slots and onboard SCSI. In fact, the 9600 was re-released after the original Beige G3 came out, simply because it had 6 PCI slots (still unmatched in Apple hardware) and could handle 1.5 GiB of RAM (it would take the Digital Audio G4 to match this capability).

[semi-fly]

The Macintosh LC, probably the first Apple macintosh I ever used. I still remember playing Oregon Trail, Word/Number Munchers ... all great educational games for the time.

[superstition]

The Macintosh LC, probably the first Apple macintosh I ever used. I still remember playing Oregon Trail, Word/Number Munchers ... all great educational games for the time.

The LC, sadly, was purposely crippled. Not only did Apple go backward to the 68020 after having abandoned it, but it put the chip on a 16-bit bus and limited its RAM expansion. But, it was very popular nonetheless.

[(MoC)]

I miss the PPC generation. It used to be what made the difference between a mac and something else.

[Macdiehard]

For the greatest hardware and software of them all, a bit of great history.

 

Breakthrough tech is measured by its world impact. And this was/is a tremendous impact.

 

The Mac OS X line of graphical operating systems, is the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. Unlike its predecessors, Mac OS X is a Unix-based operating system built on technology developed at NeXT through the second half of the 1980s until Apple purchased the company in early 1997.

 

The NeXT Computer and NeXTcube were high-end workstation computers developed, manufactured and sold by NeXT from 1988 until 1993. They ran the NeXTSTEP operating system. The NeXT Computer (often informally referred to as "the Cube") was released as a 1-foot (305 mm) die-cast magnesium cube.

 

The NeXT Computer achieved a degree of notability for being used by Tim Berners-Lee as the world's first web server, and also to write the first web browser, WorldWideWeb, firstly coded in HyperTalk, at CERN.

 

Check here

And, there was Hypercard, originally a free application program from Apple Computer, among the first successful hypermedia systems before the World Wide Web. It combined database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable approach. Hypercard was a huge hit almost instantly.

 

Hypercard included HyperTalk, a powerful and relatively easy to learn programming language, to manipulate data and the user interface. Users often used it as a programming system for Rapid Application Development of different kinds of applications, database and otherwise.

 

HyperCard had a significant impact on the web as it inspired the creation of both HTTP itself and JavaScript (through its influence on Tim Berners-Lee's colleague Robert Cailliau). It was also a key inspiration for ViolaWWW, an early web browser. Originally released with System Software 6 in 1987 it was finally withdrawn from sale in March 2004, although by then it had not been updated for many years. HyperCard runs natively only in Mac OS versions 9 or earlier, but it can still be used in Mac OS X's Classic mode or in the Basilisk II emulator.

 

More info

[sarahbau]

Best mac in history was an Amiga 3000 with a 50mhz 68060 running system 6 with shape shifter. no real mac could touch it until the power macs arrived.

Considering PowerMacs were shipping in March 1994, and the 68060 wasn't shipping until some time in 1994 (I don't know what month), it doesn't seem like it had a very long reign (<2.5 months if it was released January 1st).

 

the 9600 ... could handle 1.5 GiB of RAM (it would take the Digital Audio G4 to match this capability).

Actually, the PowerMac G4 AGP, two generations before the Digital Audio, could take 2GB (as well as the Gigabit Ethernet model after that). As far as PCI slots go, the older Macs really needed more than the current ones. Without USB or FireWire, there were limited ways to connect things. Many professional audio/video programs needed special PCI cards, which have now often been replaced with USB and FireWire.