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112-428: The Power Mac G4 Cube is a Mac personal computer sold by Apple Computer, Inc. between July 2000 and 2001. The Cube was conceived as a miniaturized but powerful computer by Apple chief executive officer ( CEO ) Steve Jobs and designed by Jony Ive . Apple developed new technologies and manufacturing methods for the product—a 7.7-inch (20 cm) cubic computer housed in clear acrylic glass . Apple positioned it in

224-636: A Mach kernel and BSD foundations, a virtualization layer for old Mac OS apps (codenamed Blue Box), and an implementation of NeXTSTEP APIs called OpenStep (codenamed Yellow Box). Apple open-sourced the core of Rhapsody as the Darwin operating system. After several developer previews, Apple also introduced the Carbon API, which provided a way for developers to more easily make their apps native to Mac OS X without rewriting them in Yellow Box. Mac OS X

336-517: A Primetime Emmy . In the 2000s, Apple continued to use successful marketing campaigns to promote the Mac line, including the Switch and Get a Mac campaigns. Apple's focus on design and build quality has helped establish the Mac as a high-end, premium brand. The company's emphasis on creating iconic and visually appealing designs for its computers has given them a "human face" and made them stand out in

448-520: A store-within-a-store that would better showcase Macs and their software and peripherals. According to Apple, the Mac's share of computer sales in those stores went from 3% to 14%. In November, the online Apple Store launched with built-to-order Mac configurations without a middleman. When Tim Cook was hired as chief operations officer in March 1998, he closed Apple's inefficient factories and outsourced Mac production to Taiwan. Within months, he rolled out

560-554: A "Black Box"—dense, miniaturized computers hidden within a pleasing shell hiding the "magic" of its technology. As the Cube has no fan, the design started with the heat sink . The power button that turned on with a wave or touch was accomplished via the use of capacitive sensing . The proprietary plastics formula for the housing took Apple six months to develop. Effort spent developing the Cube would pioneer new uses and processes for materials at Apple that benefitted later products. Because of

672-522: A "masterpiece." Before the Macintosh, high-tech marketing catered to industry insiders rather than consumers, so journalists covered technology like the "steel or automobiles" industries, with articles written for a highly technical audience. The Macintosh launch event pioneered event marketing techniques that have since become "widely emulated" in Silicon Valley , by creating a mystique about

784-458: A $ 90   million shortfall in revenue targets. The Cube counted for 29,000 of the Macs Apple shipped in the quarter, compared to 308,000 iMacs. Retailers had excess product, leaving Apple with a large amount of unsold inventory heading into 2001 it had expected to last until March. The computer appealed to high-end customers who wanted a small and sleek design, but Jobs admitted that audience

896-460: A Mac program, HyperCard , whose cards store any information—text, image, audio, video—with the memex -like ability to semantically link cards together. HyperCard was released in 1987 and bundled with every Macintosh. In the late 1980s, Jean-Louis Gassée , a Sculley protégé who had succeeded Jobs as head of the Macintosh division, made the Mac more expandable and powerful to appeal to tech enthusiasts and enterprise customers. This strategy led to

1008-558: A crowded market. Apple has long made product placements in high-profile movies and television shows to showcase Mac computers, like Mission: Impossible , Legally Blonde , and Sex and the City . Apple is known for not allowing producers to show villains using Apple products. Its own shows produced for the Apple TV+ streaming service feature prominent use of MacBooks. The Mac is known for its highly loyal customer base. In 2022,

1120-463: A cutting-edge product. The design was a point of praise and of jokes, compared to a Borg cube, toasters, or a box of Kleenex tissues. Others compared it to the NeXTcube . Ive and the design team were so amused by the comparison to a tissue box that they used spare Cube shells for that purpose in their studio. Reviews were generally positive. Peter H. Lewis, writing for The New York Times , called

1232-454: A dedicated group of fans years after it was discontinued was a testament to its vision. After its discontinuation the product fetched high prices from resellers, and a cottage industry developed selling upgrades and modifications to make the machine run faster or cooler. John Gruber wrote 20 years after its introduction that the Cube was a "worthy failure [...] Powerful computers needed to get smaller, quieter, and more attractive. The Cube pushed

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1344-569: A display cutout incorporating a 1080p webcam. The Mac Studio with M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips and the Mac Pro with M2 Ultra chip was unveiled at WWDC 2023, and the Intel-based Mac Pro was discontinued on the same day, completing the Mac transition to Apple silicon chips. The Mac Studio was received positively as a modest upgrade over the previous generation, albeit similarly priced PCs could be equipped with faster GPUs. However,

1456-458: A grille at the top of the case. The base model shipped with a 450 MHz PowerPC G4 processor, 64 MB of random-access memory (RAM), 20 GB hard drive , and an ATI Rage 128 Pro video card. A higher-end model with a 500 MHz processor, double the RAM, and a 30 GB hard drive was sold only through Apple's online store. The Cube's small size does not feature expansion slots; it has

1568-454: A last-ditch attempt to fend off Windows, Apple yielded and started a Macintosh clone program, which allowed other manufacturers to make System 7 computers. However, this only cannibalized the sales of Apple's higher-margin machines. Meanwhile, Windows 95 was an instant hit with customers. Apple was struggling financially as its attempts to produce a System 7 successor had all failed with Taligent, Star Trek , and Copland , and its hardware

1680-402: A magnetic latch that secures the lid elegantly. The design language of consumer Macs shifted again from colored plastics to white polycarbonate with the introduction of the 2001 Dual USB "Ice" iBook . To increase the iBook's durability, it eliminated doors and handles, and gained a more minimalistic exterior. Ive attempted to go beyond the quadrant with Power Mac G4 Cube , an innovation beyond

1792-813: A merger of NeXTSTEP and Mac OS as the foundation of Apple's new operating system strategy. At the time, Jobs only served as advisor, and Amelio was released in July 1997. Jobs was formally appointed interim CEO in September, and permanent CEO in January 2000. To continue turning the company around, Jobs streamlined Apple's operations and began layoffs. He negotiated a deal with Bill Gates in which Microsoft committed to releasing new versions of Office for Mac for five years, investing $ 150 million in Apple, and settling an ongoing lawsuit in which Apple alleged that Windows had copied

1904-415: A miniaturized design with a glossy dark gray cylindrical body and internal components organized around a central cooling system. Tech reviewers praised the 2013 Mac Pro for its power and futuristic design; however, it was poorly received by professional users, who criticized its lack of upgradability and the removal of expansion slots. The iMac was refreshed with a 5K Retina display in 2014, making it

2016-508: A new ERP system and implemented just-in-time manufacturing principles. This practically eliminated Apple's costly unsold inventory, and within one year, Apple had the industry's most efficient inventory turnover. Jobs's top priority was "to ship a great new product". The first is the iMac G3 , an all-in-one computer that was meant to make the Internet intuitive and easy to access. While PCs came in functional beige boxes, Jony Ive gave

2128-745: A new standardized computing platform, which led to the creation of the PowerPC processor architecture, and the Taligent operating system. In 1992, Apple introduced the Macintosh Performa line, which "grew like ivy" into a disorienting number of barely differentiated models in an attempt to gain market share. This backfired by confusing customers, but the same strategy soon afflicted the PowerBook line. Michael Spindler continued this approach when he succeeded Sculley as CEO in 1993. He oversaw

2240-511: A problem with stuck keys and letters being skipped or repeated. iFixit attributed this to the ingress of dust or food crumbs under the keys, jamming them. Since the Butterfly keyboard was riveted into the laptop's case, it could only be serviced at an Apple Store or authorized service center . Apple settled a $ 50m class-action lawsuit over these keyboards in 2022. These same models were afflicted by "flexgate": when users closed and opened

2352-509: A program to repair affected keyboards free of charge. Higher-end models of the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro faced another issue where the Core i9 processor reached unusually high temperatures, resulting in reduced CPU performance from thermal throttling. Apple issued a patch to address this issue via a macOS supplemental update, blaming a "missing digital key" in the thermal management firmware. The 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro and 2020 MacBook Air replaced

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2464-484: A strengthened hinge instead of a mechanical latch to keep it closed, ports on the sides rather than on the back, and the first laptop with built-in Wi-Fi . It became the best selling laptop in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 1999. The professional-oriented Titanium PowerBook G4 was released in 2001, becoming the lightest and thinnest laptop in its class, and the first laptop with a wide-screen display; it also debuted

2576-480: A thinner "Butterfly" keyboard, and replaced function keys with the Touch Bar . The Touch Bar was criticized for making it harder to use the function keys by feel, as it offered no tactile feedback. Many users were also frustrated by the need to buy dongles , particularly professional users who relied on traditional USB-A devices, SD cards , and HDMI for video output. A few months after its release, users reported

2688-475: A video card in a standard Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) slot, but cannot fit a full-length card. The power supply is located externally to save space, and the Cube features no audio jacks. Instead, the Cube shipped with round Harman Kardon speakers and digital amplifier, attached via Universal Serial Bus (USB). Despite its size, the Cube fits three RAM slots, two FireWire 400 ports, and two USB 1.1 ports for connecting peripherals in its frame. These ports and

2800-408: A website that continues his coverage of technology and Apple products. He owns and operates the award-winning podcast network, The Incomparable , focused on panel discussions of a broad range of pop-culture, as well as offering a dedicated game-show podcast. Snell grew up in the small town of Sonora , California, graduating from Sonora Union High School in 1988. He attended Revelle College at

2912-717: A weekly panel show discussing science-fiction, fantasy, and more general geek-culture television shows, movies, comic books, and book. The show soon expanded into an eponymous network which now hosts more than twenty shows from a variety of contributors. The Incomparable won the Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Fan or News Podcast in 2012, 2015, and 2016. Snell also co-hosts the Relay FM podcasts Liftoff , Upgrade , and Downstream . He lives in Mill Valley, California , with his wife. He has two children. From

3024-578: Is free of toxic chemicals like mercury , bromide , and PVC , and with smaller packaging. The enclosures of the iMac and unibody MacBook Pro were redesigned with the more recyclable aluminum and glass. On February 24, 2011, the MacBook Pro became the first computer to support Intel's new Thunderbolt connector, with two-way transfer speeds of 10 Gbit/s, and backward compatibility with Mini DisplayPort . Due to deteriorating health, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO on August 24, 2011, and Tim Cook

3136-415: Is intended to give the impression that the computer is floating. The enclosure houses the computer's vital functions, including a slot-loading optical disc drive. The Cube requires a separate monitor with either an Apple Display Connector (ADC) or a Video Graphics Array (VGA) connection. The machine has no fan to move air and heat through the case. Instead, it is passively cooled, with heat dissipated via

3248-472: The Mac transition to Intel processors , because the operating system had been developed for both architectures since the beginning. PowerPC apps run using transparent Rosetta emulation, and Windows boots natively using Boot Camp . This transition helped contribute to a few years of growth in Mac sales. After the iPhone 's 2007 release, Apple began a multi-year effort to bring many iPhone innovations "back to

3360-462: The Macintosh 512K with improved performance and an external floppy drive. The Macintosh is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface, Jobs's fascination with typography gave it an unprecedented variety of fonts and type styles like italics, bold, shadow, and outline. It is the first WYSIWYG computer, and due in large part to PageMaker and Apple's LaserWriter printer, it ignited

3472-533: The Rosetta 2 translation layer, and iOS and iPadOS apps distributed via the App Store . These Mac models come equipped with high-speed Thunderbolt 4 or USB 4 connectivity, with speeds up to 40 Gbit/s. Apple silicon Macs have custom integrated graphics rather than graphics cards. MacBooks are recharged with either USB-C or MagSafe connectors, depending on the model. Apple sells accessories for

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3584-643: The SD card slot. On March 8, 2022, the Mac Studio was unveiled, also featuring the M1 Max chip and the new M1 Ultra chip in a similar form factor to the Mac Mini. It drew highly positive reviews for its flexibility and wide range of available ports. Its performance was deemed "impressive", beating the highest-end Mac Pro with a 28-core Intel Xeon chip, while being significantly more power efficient and compact. It

3696-533: The StyleWriter printer and the Newton PDA. These changes were meant to refocus Apple's engineering, marketing, and manufacturing efforts so that more care could be dedicated to each product. Jobs also stopped licensing Mac OS to clone manufacturers, which had cost Apple ten times more in lost sales than it received in licensing fees. Jobs made a deal with the largest computer reseller, CompUSA , to carry

3808-750: The University of California, San Diego , working for three years on the staff of the UCSD Guardian newspaper. In 1991, while at UCSD, Snell founded InterText , an early Internet-based magazine, which was originally distributed via FTP and e-mail in plain-text and PostScript formats. (InterText was preceded by several groundbreaking Internet fiction magazines, including David 'Orny' Liscomb's FSFNet ; Jim McCabe's Athene ; and Daniel K. Appelquist's science-fiction magazine Quanta .) InterText published hundreds of short stories in various genres until it ceased publication in 2004. (Snell later served on

3920-457: The computer tower in a professional desktop far smaller than the Power Mac. The Cube failed in the market and was withdrawn from sale after one year. However, Ive considered it beneficial, because it helped Apple gain experience in complex machining and miniaturization. The development of a successor to the old Mac OS was well underway. Rhapsody had been previewed at WWDC 1997, featuring

4032-418: The desktop publishing market, turning the Macintosh from an early let-down into a notable success. Levy called desktop publishing the Mac's "Trojan horse" in the enterprise market, as colleagues and executives tried these Macs and were seduced into requesting one for themselves. PageMaker creator Paul Brainerd said: "You would see the pattern. A large corporation would buy PageMaker and a couple of Macs to do

4144-470: The iMac and Power Mac G4 , saying, "I wanted the [flat-panel] Cinema Display but I don't need the features of the Power Mac". Jobs's minimalist aesthetic influenced the core components of the design, from the lack of a mechanical power button, to the trayless optical drive and quiet fanless operation. The design team at Apple, led by Jonathan Ive , shrunk a powerful desktop form factor, seeing traditional desktop tower computers as lazily designed around what

4256-463: The iPhone 4 . iPhone-like multi-touch technology was progressively added to all MacBook trackpads, and to desktop Macs through the Magic Mouse , and Magic Trackpad . The 2010 MacBook Air added an iPad-inspired standby mode, "instant-on" wake from sleep, and flash memory storage. After criticism by Greenpeace, Apple improved the ecological performance of its products. The 2008 MacBook Air

4368-405: The iTunes Store , iPod , iPhone , iPad , and the 2007 renaming from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. By January 2007, the iPod was half of Apple's revenues. New Macs include the white "Sunflower" iMac G4 . Ive designed a display to swivel with one finger, so that it "appear[ed] to defy gravity". In 2003, Apple released the aluminum 12-inch and 17-inch PowerBook G4 , proclaiming the "Year of

4480-595: The iWork office suite. Serlet and Tevanian were both initiating the secret project asked by Steve Jobs to propose to Sony executives, in 2001, to sell Mac OS X on Vaio laptops. They showed them a demonstration at a golf party in Hawaii , with the most expensive Vaio laptop they could have acquired. But due to bad timing, Sony refused, arguing their Vaio sales just started to grow after years of difficulties. With PowerPC chips falling behind in performance, price, and efficiency, Steve Jobs announced in 2005

4592-429: The macOS operating system, which is not licensed to other manufacturers and exclusively bundled with Mac computers. Jef Raskin conceived the Macintosh project in 1979, which was usurped and redefined by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1981. The original Macintosh was launched in January 1984, after Apple's "1984" advertisement during Super Bowl XVIII . A series of incrementally improved models followed, sharing

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4704-553: The 2013 and 2019 versions of the Mac Pro . Mac (computer) Mac is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to a type of apple called McIntosh . The current product lineup includes the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, and the iMac , Mac Mini , Mac Studio , and Mac Pro desktops. Macs are sold with

4816-561: The Afterburner card for faster video encoding. Almost every part of the new Mac Pro is user-replaceable, with iFixit praising its high user-repairability. It received positive reviews, with reviewers praising its power, modularity, quiet cooling, and Apple's increased focus on professional workflows. In April 2018, Bloomberg reported Apple's plan to replace Intel chips with ARM processors similar to those in its phones, causing Intel's shares to drop by 9.2%. The Verge commented on

4928-805: The American Customer Satisfaction Index gave the Mac the highest customer satisfaction score of any personal computer, at 82 out of 100. In that year, Apple was the fourth largest vendor of personal computers, with a market share of 8.9%. Apple outsources the production of its hardware to Asian manufacturers like Foxconn and Pegatron . As a highly vertically integrated company developing its own operating system and chips, it has tight control over all aspects of its products and deep integration between hardware and software. All Macs in production use ARM -based Apple silicon processors and have been praised for their performance and power efficiency. They can run Intel apps through

5040-737: The Apple II. In response, Apple introduced the Lisa in 1983. The Lisa's graphical user interface was inspired by strategically licensed demonstrations of the Xerox Star . Lisa surpassed the Star with intuitive direct manipulation , like the ability to drag and drop files, double-click to launch applications, and move or resize windows by clicking and dragging instead of going through a menu. However, hampered by its high price of $ 9,995 (equivalent to $ 33,000 in 2023) and lack of available software,

5152-400: The Apple silicon-based Mac Pro was criticized for several regressions, including memory capacity and a complete lack of CPU or GPU expansion options. A 15-inch MacBook Air was also introduced, and is the largest display included on a consumer-level Apple laptop. The MacBook Pro was updated on October 30, 2023, with updated M3 Pro and M3 Max chips using a 3 nm process node, as well as

5264-427: The Cube a "blip" in Apple's history, according to Segall—a quickly forgotten failure among other successful innovations. Though Apple CEO Tim Cook called the Cube "a spectacular failure" and the product sold only 150,000 units before being discontinued, it became highly popular with a small but enthusiastic group of fans. Macworld ' s Benj Edwards wrote that the Cube was a product ahead of its time; its appeal to

5376-425: The Cube as "an underpowered, over-expensive toy or [...] an emotionally inaccessible, ultra-geometric gray box suspended in an untouchable glass prison". The lack of internal expansion and reliance on less-common USB and FireWire peripherals also hurt the computer's chances of success. Jobs clearly loved the computer, but was quick to discontinue the underperforming product. On July 3, 2001, an Apple press release made

5488-417: The Cube failed commercially, it influenced future Apple products. The efforts at miniaturizing computer components would benefit future computers like the flatscreen iMac G4 , while the efforts Apple spent learning how to precision machine parts of the Cube would be integral to the design of aluminum MacBooks . The Mac mini fit an entire computer in a shell one-fifth the size of the Cube and retained some of

5600-552: The Cube's design philosophies. In comparison to the high price of the Cube, the Mini retailed for $ 499 and became a successful product that remains part of Apple's lineup. The translucent cube shape would return with the design for the flagship Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City . Capacitive touch would reappear in the iPod and iPhone lines, and the Cube's vertical thermal design and lattice grille pattern were echoed by

5712-557: The Internet's appeal to consumers, 32% of iMac buyers had never used a computer before, and 12% were switching from PCs. The iMac reestablished the Mac's reputation as a trendsetter: for the next few years, translucent plastic became the dominant design trend in numerous consumer products. Apple knew it had lost its chance to compete in the Windows-dominated enterprise market, so it prioritized design and ease of use to make

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5824-574: The Lisa was commercially unsuccessful. Parallel to the Lisa's development, a skunkworks team at Apple was working on the Macintosh project. Conceived in 1979 by Jef Raskin , Macintosh was envisioned as an affordable, easy-to-use computer for the masses. Raskin named the computer after his favorite type of apple, the McIntosh . The initial team consisted of Raskin, hardware engineer Burrell Smith , and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak . In 1981, Steve Jobs

5936-418: The Mac Pro, Apple executives admitted in 2017 that the 2013 Mac Pro had not met expectations, and said that the company had designed themselves into a "thermal corner", preventing them from releasing a planned dual-GPU successor. Apple also unveiled their future product roadmap for professional products, including plans for an iMac Pro as a stopgap and an expandable Mac Pro to be released later. The iMac Pro

6048-519: The Mac became a "digital hub" and centerpiece with several new applications. In October 1999, the iMac DV gained FireWire ports, allowing users to connect camcorders and easily create movies with iMovie ; the iMac gained a CD burner and iTunes , allowing users to rip CDs, make playlists, and burn them to blank discs. Other applications include iPhoto for organizing and editing photos, and GarageBand for creating and mixing music and other audio. The digital lifestyle strategy entered other markets, with

6160-420: The Mac more appealing to average consumers, and even teens. The "Apple New Product Process" was launched as a more collaborative product development process for the Mac, with concurrent engineering principles. From then, product development was no longer driven primarily by engineering and with design as an afterthought. Instead, Ive and Jobs first defined a new product's "soul", before it was jointly developed by

6272-512: The Mac", including multi-touch gesture support, instant wake from sleep, and fast flash storage . At Macworld 2008, Jobs introduced the first MacBook Air by taking it out of a manila envelope, touting it as the "world's thinnest notebook". The MacBook Air favors wireless technologies over physical ports, and lacks FireWire , an optical drive , or a replaceable battery. The Remote Disc feature accesses discs in other networked computers. A decade after its launch, journalist Tom Warren wrote that

6384-499: The Mac's interface. In exchange, Apple made Internet Explorer the default Mac browser. The deal was closed hours before Jobs announced it at the August 1997 Macworld. Jobs returned focus to Apple. The Mac lineup had been incomprehensible, with dozens of hard-to-distinguish models. He streamlined it into four quadrants, a laptop and a desktop each for consumers and professionals. Apple also discontinued several Mac accessories, including

6496-492: The Mac's transition from Motorola 68000 series to PowerPC and the release of Apple's first PowerPC machine, the well-received Power Macintosh . Many new Macintoshes suffered from inventory and quality control problems. The 1995 PowerBook 5300 was plagued with quality problems, with several recalls as some units even caught fire. Pessimistic about Apple's future, Spindler repeatedly attempted to sell Apple to other companies, including IBM, Kodak, AT&T, Sun, and Philips. In

6608-729: The Mac, including the Studio Display and Pro Display XDR external monitors, the AirPods line of wireless headphones, and keyboards and mice such as the Magic Keyboard , Magic Trackpad , and Magic Mouse . Macs run the macOS operating system, which is the second most widely used desktop OS according to StatCounter . Macs can also run Windows , Linux , or other operating systems through virtualization , emulation, or multi-booting . Jason Snell (writer) In 2014 Snell left Macworld and created Six Colors,

6720-519: The Mac, the Apple M1 , and a series of Macs that would ship with the M1: the MacBook Air , Mac Mini , and the 13-inch MacBook Pro . These new Macs received highly positive reviews, with reviewers highlighting significant improvements in battery life, performance, and heat management compared to previous generations. The iMac Pro was discontinued on March 6, 2021. On April 20, 2021, a new 24-inch iMac

6832-472: The MacBook Air had "immediately changed the future of laptops", starting the ultrabook trend. OS X Lion added new software features first introduced with the iPad , such as FaceTime , full-screen apps, document autosaving and versioning, and a bundled Mac App Store to replace software install discs with online downloads. It gained support for Retina displays , which had been introduced earlier with

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6944-483: The Macintosh to lose its chance at becoming the dominant personal computer platform. Though senior management demanded high-margin products, a few employees disobeyed and set out to create a computer that would live up to the original Macintosh's slogan, "[a] computer for the rest of us", which the market clamored for. In a pattern typical of Apple's early era, of skunkworks projects like Macintosh and Macintosh II lacking adoption by upper management who were late to realize

7056-526: The Notebook". With the Microsoft deal expiring, Apple also replaced Internet Explorer with its new browser, Safari . The first Mac Mini was intended to be assembled in the U.S., but domestic manufacturers were slow and had insufficient quality processes, leading Apple to Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn . The affordably priced Mac Mini desktop was introduced at Macworld 2005, alongside the introduction of

7168-610: The board of the National Novel Writing Month , from 2011–2017. ) Snell graduated in 1992 with a degree in Communication. In 1994 he received a master's degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley . In 1994 Snell began working at the U.S. edition of MacUser magazine, beginning his career writing about the Macintosh computer. When MacUser

7280-565: The collections of the American Museum of Natural History and Powerhouse Museum . The introduction of the Cube did not fit with the focused product lineup Jobs had introduced since his return to Apple, leaving it without a clear audience. It was as expensive as a similarly equipped Power Mac, but without extra room for more storage or PCI slots. It was likewise much more expensive than an upgraded consumer iMac. Jobs imagined that creative professionals and designers would want one, and that

7392-410: The company newsletter. The next year you'd come back and there would be thirty Macintoshes. The year after that, three hundred." In late 1985, Bill Atkinson, one of the few remaining employees to have been on the original Macintosh team, proposed that Apple create a Dynabook , Alan Kay's concept for a tablet computer that stores and organizes knowledge. Sculley rebuffed him, so he adapted the idea into

7504-526: The company's profit margins, and Macintoshes were priced far above entry-level MS-DOS compatible computers. Steven Levy said that though Macintoshes were superior, the cheapest Mac cost almost twice as much as the cheapest IBM PC compatible. Sculley also resisted licensing the Mac OS to competing hardware vendors, who could have undercut Apple on pricing and jeopardized its hardware sales, as IBM PC compatibles had done to IBM. These early strategic steps caused

7616-569: The company, he launched the Think different ad campaign, positioning the Mac as the best computer for "creative people who believe that one person can change the world". The campaign featured black-and-white photographs of luminaries like Albert Einstein , Gandhi , and Martin Luther King Jr. , with Jobs saying: "if they ever used a computer, it would have been a Mac". The ad campaign was critically acclaimed and won several awards, including

7728-494: The computer the most attractive on the market, and that the machine, combined with Apple's displays and peripherals, created "desk sculpture". PC Magazine Australia said that after changing the look of computers with the iMac, the G4 Cube had raised the bar for competitors even further. Gore called the Cube a work of art that felt more like sculpture than a piece of technology, but noted that one had to live with compromises made in

7840-599: The decisions to switch to fragile Butterfly keyboards, to make the Mac Pro non-expandable, and to remove USB-A, HDMI and the SD card slot from the MacBook Pro were criticized. The long-standing keyboard issue on MacBook Pros, Apple's abandonment of the Aperture professional photography app, and the lack of Mac Pro upgrades led to declining sales and a widespread belief that Apple was no longer committed to professional users. After several years without any significant updates to

7952-444: The highest-resolution all-in-one desktop computer. The MacBook was reintroduced in 2015, with a completely redesigned aluminum unibody chassis, a 12-inch Retina display, a fanless low-power Intel Core M processor, a much smaller logic board, a new Butterfly keyboard, a single USB-C port, and a solid-state Force Touch trackpad with pressure sensitivity. It was praised for its portability, but criticized for its lack of performance,

8064-467: The iMac a radical and futuristic design, meant to make the product less intimidating. Its oblong case is made of translucent plastic in Bondi blue , later revised with many colors. Ive added a handle on the back to make the computer more approachable. Jobs declared the iMac would be "legacy-free", succeeding ADB and SCSI with an infrared port and cutting-edge USB ports. Though USB had industry backing, it

8176-477: The injection-molded plastic process. The idea of a design-focused product having aesthetic flaws turned into a negative public relations story for Apple, and dissuaded potential buyers for whom the design was its main appeal. The Cube's radical departure from a conventional personal computer alienated potential buyers, and exacerbated Apple's struggles in the market competing with the performance of Windows PCs. Macworld ' s Benj Edwards wrote that consumers treated

8288-469: The last. Apple acquired NeXT on December 20, 1996, returning its co-founder, Steve Jobs. NeXT had developed the mature NeXTSTEP operating system with strong multimedia and Internet capabilities. NeXTSTEP was also popular among programmers, financial firms, and academia for its object-oriented programming tools for rapid application development . In an eagerly anticipated speech at the January 1997 Macworld trade show, Steve Jobs previewed Rhapsody ,

8400-533: The line's competitiveness against commodity IBM PC compatibles . Macs transitioned to Intel x86 processors by 2006 along with new sub-product lines MacBook and Mac Pro. Since 2020, Macs have transitioned to Apple silicon chips based on ARM64 . In the late 1970s, the Apple II became one of the most popular computers, especially in education. After IBM introduced the IBM PC in 1981, its sales surpassed

8512-413: The machine's low performance, single floppy disk drive requiring frequent disk swapping, and initial lack of applications. Author Douglas Adams said: "But what I (and I think everybody else who bought the machine in the early days) fell in love with was not the machine itself, which was ridiculously slow and underpowered, but a romantic idea of the machine. And that romantic idea had to sustain me through

8624-444: The machine, they would risk progressively damaging the cable responsible for the display backlight , which was too short. The $ 6 cable was soldered to the screen, requiring a $ 700 repair. Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jony Ive continued to guide product designs towards simplicity and minimalism. Critics argued that he had begun to prioritize form over function, and was excessively focused on product thinness. His role in

8736-515: The marketing, engineering, and operations teams. The engineering team was led by the product design group, and Ive's design studio was the dominant voice throughout the development process. The next two Mac products in 1999, the Power Mac G3 (nicknamed "Blue and White") and the iBook , introduced industrial designs influenced by the iMac, incorporating colorful translucent plastic and carrying handles. The iBook introduced several innovations:

8848-490: The middle of its product range, between the consumer iMac G3 and the professional Power Mac G4 . The Cube was announced at the Macworld Expo on July 19, 2000. The Cube won awards and plaudits for its design upon release, but reviews noted its high cost compared to its power, its limited expandability, and cosmetic defects. The product was an immediate commercial failure, with only 150,000 units sold before production

8960-553: The need to use adapters to use most USB peripherals, and a high starting price of $ 1,299 (equivalent to $ 1,700 in 2023). In 2015, Apple started a service program to address a widespread GPU defect in the 15-inch 2011 MacBook Pro , which could cause graphical artifacts or prevent the machine from functioning entirely. The Touch Bar MacBook Pro was released in October 2016. It was the thinnest MacBook Pro ever made, replaced all ports with four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, gained

9072-416: The power cable are located on the underside of the machine. Access to the machine's internal components is accomplished by inverting the unit and using a pop-out handle to slide the entire internal assembly out from the shell. The Cube was an important product to Apple, and especially to Apple CEO Steve Jobs , who said the idea for the product came from his own desires as a computer user for something between

9184-427: The product and giving an inside look into its creation. Apple took a new "multiple exclusives" approach regarding the press, giving "over one hundred interviews to journalists that lasted over six hours apiece", and introduced a new "Test Drive a Macintosh" campaign. Apple's brand, which established a "heartfelt connection with consumers", is cited as one of the keys to the Mac's success. After Steve Jobs's return to

9296-443: The product was so great that it would inform buying patterns. Sales for the Cube were much lower than expected. Returning from the brink of bankruptcy, Apple had eleven profitable quarters before the Cube's announcement, but Apple's end-of-year financials for 2000 missed predicted revenues by $ 180   million. Part of the drop in profit was attributed to the Cube, with only one third as many units sold as Apple had expected, creating

9408-536: The projects' merit, this once-renegade project was actually endorsed by senior management following market pressures. In 1990 came the Macintosh LC and the more affordable Macintosh Classic , the first model under $ 1,000 (equivalent to $ 2,300 in 2023). Between 1984 and 1989, Apple had sold one million Macs, and another 10 million over the following five years. In 1991, the Macintosh Portable

9520-402: The realities of actually working on the 128K Mac." Most of the original Macintosh team left Apple, and some followed Jobs to found NeXT after he was forced out by CEO John Sculley . The first Macintosh nevertheless generated enthusiasm among buyers and some developers, who rushed to develop entirely new programs for the platform, including PageMaker , MORE , and Excel . Apple soon released

9632-514: The rumors, that such a decision made sense, as Intel was failing to make significant improvements to its processors, and could not compete with ARM chips on battery life. At WWDC 2020, Tim Cook announced that the Mac would be transitioning to Apple silicon chips, built upon an ARM architecture, over a two-year timeline. The Rosetta 2 translation layer was also introduced, enabling Apple silicon Macs to run Intel apps. On November 10, 2020, Apple announced their first system-on-a-chip designed for

9744-552: The same integrated case design. In 1987, the Macintosh II brought color graphics, but priced as a professional workstation and not a personal computer. Beginning in 1994 with the Power Macintosh , the Mac transitioned from Motorola 68000 series processors to PowerPC . Macintosh clones by other manufacturers were also briefly sold afterwards. The line was refreshed in 1998 with the launch of iMac G3 , reinvigorating

9856-477: The service of art. Walt Mossberg , writing for The Wall Street Journal , called it the "most gorgeous personal computer" that he had ever seen. Critics noted that to get easy access to plug and unplug peripherals, users must tip the entire machine—risking accidental sleep activation or dropping the smooth plastic computer entirely. Macworld found the touch-sensitive power button too sensitive and they accidentally activated sleep mode regularly. They reported that

9968-552: The standard M3 chip in a refreshed iMac and a new base model MacBook Pro. Reviewers lamented the base memory configuration of 8 GB on the standard M3 MacBook Pro. In March 2024, the MacBook Air was also updated to include the M3 chip. In October 2024, several Macs were announced with the M4 series of chips, including the iMac, a redesigned Mac Mini, and the MacBook Pro; all of which included 16 GB of memory as standard. The MacBook Air

10080-486: The state of the art forward." CNET called the machine "an iconic example of millennium-era design". Its unconventional and futuristic appearance earned it a spot as a prop in several films and television shows, including Absolutely Fabulous , The Drew Carey Show , Orange County, and 24 . Sixteen Cubes were also used to power the displays of the computer consoles in Star Trek: Enterprise . Although

10192-400: The stock 5400-rpm hard drive and 64 MB of RAM on the base model slowed the system considerably. The Cube won several international design awards on release, and PC Magazine ' s best desktop computer for its Technical Innovation Awards. The G4 Cube and its peripherals were acquired and showcased by The Museum of Modern Art alongside other Apple products, and a Cube is also held in

10304-490: The successful 1989 release of the Macintosh II , which appealed to power users and gave the lineup momentum. However, Gassée's "no-compromise" approach foiled Apple's first laptop , the Macintosh Portable , which has many uncommon power user features, but is almost as heavy as the original Macintosh at twice its price. Soon after its launch, Gassée was fired. Since the Mac's debut, Sculley had opposed lowering

10416-448: The technology included in the Cube, Apple's engineers had a tough time keeping the total cost low. Advertising director Ken Segall recalled that Jobs learned of the product's price shortly before an ad agency meeting, and was left "visibly shaken" by the news, realizing that the high price might cause the product's failure. Rumors of a cube-shaped Apple computer leaked weeks in advance, and some sites posted purported pictures. The G4 Cube

10528-586: The unreliable Butterfly keyboard with a redesigned scissor-switch Magic Keyboard. On the MacBook Pros, the Touch Bar and Touch ID were made standard, and the Esc key was detached from the Touch Bar and returned to being a physical key. At WWDC 2019, Apple unveiled a new Mac Pro with a larger case design that allows for hardware expandability, and introduced a new expansion module system (MPX) for modules such as

10640-405: The unusual statement that the computer—rather than being canceled or discontinued—was having its production "suspended indefinitely", due to low demand. Apple did not rule out an upgraded Cube model in the future, but considered it unlikely. Business journalist Karen Blumenthal called the Cube the first big failure by Jobs since his return to Apple. Jobs's ability to quickly move on the mistake left

10752-581: The world of Macintosh computing. After multiple rounds of layoffs during a downturn in tech publishing, Snell departed the company in 2014. In 1996, he co-founded Internet humor and commentary site TeeVee.org, which lives on through a podcast of the same name. Following Snell's 2014 departure from Macworld and IDG, he created and launched Six Colors, a members-supported editorial website where he and his former Macworld colleague Dan Moren write about technology, Apple products, and podcasting. In 2010 Snell began host and producing The Incomparable podcast,

10864-406: Was also upgraded with 16 GB for the same price. The original Macintosh was marketed at Super Bowl XVIII with the highly acclaimed "1984" ad, directed by Ridley Scott . The ad alluded to George Orwell 's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four , and symbolized Apple's desire to "rescue" humanity from the conformity of computer industry giant IBM . The ad is now considered a "watershed event" and

10976-541: Was announced at Macworld Expo on July 19, 2000, as an end-of-show " one more thing ". Jobs touted it as combining the power of the Power Mac G4 with a sleek design and miniaturization Apple learned from producing the iMac. Alongside the Cube, Apple introduced a new mouse, keyboard, and displays to complement the machine. The machine's size and looks were immediately divisive, which Macworld editor Andrew Gore took as an indication that Apple had succeeded in creating

11088-468: Was bought and absorbed into Macworld in 1997, Snell moved with the magazine and became a significant Macworld staff member. Within a few years, he became the lead editor of Macworld, and eventually was promoted to a senior vice president at the magazine's publisher IDG . During this period, in 2006, the MDJ Power 25 , a poll of Mac-industry-watchers, named him the 6th most powerful/influential person in

11200-418: Was easiest for engineers. The Cube represented an internal shift in Apple, as the designers held increasing sway over product design. The New York Times called the Cube "pure [...] industrial design" harkening to Bauhaus concepts. The Cube represented an effort by Apple to simplify the computer to its barest essentials. Journalist Jason Snell called the machine an example of Jobs and Ive's obsession with

11312-415: Was introduced alongside the Studio Display , and was meant to replace the 27-inch iMac, which was discontinued on the same day. At WWDC 2022 , Apple announced an updated MacBook Air based on a new M2 chip. It incorporates several changes from the 14-inch MacBook Pro, such as a flat, slab-shaped design, full-sized function keys, MagSafe charging, and a Liquid Retina display, with rounded corners and

11424-583: Was named as his successor. Cook's first keynote address launched iCloud , moving the digital hub from the Mac to the cloud. In 2012, the MacBook Pro was refreshed with a Retina display, and the iMac was slimmed and lost its SuperDrive . During Cook's first few years as CEO, Apple fought media criticisms that it could no longer innovate without Jobs. In 2013, Apple introduced a new cylindrical Mac Pro , with marketing chief Phil Schiller exclaiming "Can't innovate anymore, my ass!". The new model had

11536-507: Was publicly unveiled in January 2000, introducing the modern Aqua graphical user interface, and a far more stable Unix foundation, with memory protection and preemptive multitasking . Blue Box became the Classic environment , and Yellow Box was renamed Cocoa . Following a public beta , the first version of Mac OS X, version 10.0 Cheetah , was released in March 2001. In 1999, Apple launched its new "digital lifestyle" strategy of which

11648-450: Was ready to abandon Microsoft Office for Mac, which would have slashed any remaining business appeal the Mac had. Gil Amelio , Spindler's successor, failed to negotiate a deal with Gates. In 1996, Spindler was succeeded by Amelio, who searched for an established operating system to acquire or license for the foundation of a new Macintosh operating system. He considered BeOS , Solaris, Windows NT, and NeXT's NeXTSTEP , eventually choosing

11760-470: Was removed from the Lisa team and joined Macintosh, and was able to gradually take control of the project due to Wozniak's temporary absence after an airplane crash . Under Jobs, the Mac grew to resemble the Lisa, with a mouse and a more intuitive graphical interface, at a quarter of the Lisa's price. Upon its January 1984 launch, the first Macintosh was described as "revolutionary" by The New York Times . Sales initially met projections, but dropped due to

11872-459: Was replaced with the smaller and lighter PowerBook 100 , the first laptop with a palm rest and trackball in front of the keyboard. The PowerBook brought $ 1 billion of revenue within one year, and became a status symbol. By then, the Macintosh represented 10% to 15% of the personal computer market. Fearing a decline in market share, Sculley co-founded the AIM alliance with IBM and Motorola to create

11984-529: Was revealed at WWDC 2017, featuring updated Intel Xeon W processors and Radeon Pro Vega graphics. In 2018, Apple released a redesigned MacBook Air with a Retina display, Butterfly keyboard, Force Touch trackpad, and Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports. The Butterfly keyboard went through three revisions, incorporating silicone gaskets in the key mechanism to prevent keys from being jammed by dust or other particles. However, many users continued to experience reliability issues with these keyboards, leading Apple to launch

12096-452: Was revealed, featuring the M1 chip, seven new colors, thinner white bezels, a higher-resolution 1080p webcam, and an enclosure made entirely from recycled aluminum. On October 18, 2021, Apple announced new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros , featuring the more powerful M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, a bezel-less mini-LED 120 Hz ProMotion display, and the return of MagSafe and HDMI ports, and

12208-464: Was smaller than expected. In February 2001, Apple lowered the price on the 500 MHz model and added new memory, hard drive, and graphics options. These updates made little difference, and sales continued to decline. In the first quarter of 2001, only 12,000   units were sold, representing just 1.6% of the company's total computer sales. In addition to the product's high price, the Cube suffered cosmetic issues. Early buyers noticed cracks caused by

12320-479: Was stagnant. The Mac was no longer competitive, and its sales entered a tailspin. Corporations abandoned Macintosh in droves, replacing it with cheaper and more technically sophisticated Windows NT machines for which far more applications and peripherals existed. Even some Apple loyalists saw no future for the Macintosh. Once the world's second largest computer vendor after IBM, Apple's market share declined precipitously from 9.4% in 1993 to 3.1% in 1997. Bill Gates

12432-466: Was still absent from most PCs and USB 1.1 was only standardized one month after the iMac's release. He also controversially removed the floppy disk drive and replaced it with a CD drive. The iMac was unveiled in May 1998, and released in August. It was an immediate commercial success and became the fastest-selling computer in Apple's history, with 800,000 units sold before the year ended. Vindicating Jobs on

12544-520: Was suspended within one year of its announcement. The Cube is one of the rare failures for the company under Jobs, after having avoided bankruptcy. However, it influenced future Apple products, from the iPod to the Mac Mini . The Museum of Modern Art and other museums hold Cubes in their collections. The Power Mac G4 Cube is a small cubic computer, suspended in a 7.7×7.7×9.8 in (20×20×25 cm) acrylic glass enclosure. The transparent plastic

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