When was the Macintosh computer first introduced?

Answer 1

If you go strictly by Internet articles, the original Macintosh was introduced in January of 1984. I actually purchased my first Macintosh 128K in December of 1983. I was originally drawn to personal computers to facilitate my writing. I had paid a tidy sum to an office service with a dedicated WordStar word processor to enter and print out a story I was trying to market. I experimented with a Timex Sinclair for a week, and then bought a Commodore VIC-20. Word processing on the VIC-20 was primitive at best. I exchanged my VIC-20 for a Commodore 64 when it came out ($300 in 1983), but its word processing capability was not up to my specifications. I wanted a computer with a professional-quality word processor application. At that time, what seemed like the best choice, an IBM PC 64K, sold for over $1,300. So, I got a job at a computer store as a salesman.

Competition for an affordable office computer was intense in those days. In addition to IBM PCs and XTs, our store sold Epson computers and Apple IIe systems.

When the first Mac 128K units arrived in December of 1983, the little toaster-looking machines put me off. The very business-like IBM PC 64K was our best seller at that time. I used the BASIC programming language to write an order-entry program for the store on an IBM PC 64K machine. I had learned BASIC on my Commodore 64.

I followed news about the Apple Lisa computer ($9,995 in 1983) and was fascinated by the development of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) destined to replace the existing totally text-based command-line interface. Apple’s Steve Jobs led Apple to introduce the Lisa, which used the GUI pioneered by computer engineers at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

I was compelled by store management to attend an Apple training event gearing up for the introduction of the Macintosh the following month. At that session, I became a Mac convert. Using the Mac’s GUI, I was able to accomplish with the Multiplan spreadsheet for Mac a task that had taken me hours to complete with Lotus 1-2-3 on an IBM PC 64K. I wrote a check for my first Mac that day.

Today, I have a Mac Pro 64GB tower specifically configured for editing with DaVinci Resolve. I have it set up to boot from a 1TB SSD. There are five hard disks installed: two for my media and three that back up the system every day. I also have a MacBook Pro that I use for teaching and working on location.