My Favorite Apple Products From the Last 50 Years

My first apple product was the ipod, have a 2011 macbook pro, first iphone was the 4, several iphones and writing this comment with an ipad 13 pro with magic keyboard

I worked for the incumbent Telecoms Co in the UK. The UK network digitisation programme started early 1980's. I remember Mac SE's rolling in for project management purposes - lots of them. I think we even got Apple liveried rucksacks so they could be taken home. Should have kept hold of one!

I still have an se. I had your book and wondering if I still do. I was fond of my blueberry iMac …. It was elegant as well as functional ….. still have that also.

From my first 512Ke every single Mac was painfully expensive - more than I wanted to pay - and every single one had a manufacturing flaw, recall, or simply failed. In the case of the 512 the high voltage connector to the CRT was never pushed home and the second locking tab engaged. So it arced for years, burning the connector. But what was that definition of insanity again?

Your rare unproductive video is more entertaining than Cook’s WSG one.

Thanks for sharing. So neat to see your favorites

A refurbished iMac five years ago began my “descent” into the Apple ecosystem 😉 Since retiring four years ago, I haven’t touched a non-Apple product.

I loved your take on Apple history as it related to you. Good job, Gary.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I bought my first Apple product, the Apple IIe, the 5.25" floppy disk drive and a 9" B&W monitor in 1978 or 79. I got the 80 column card and a 16K RAM expansion card! Used VisiCalc, Magic Window, and later, Appleworks on that computer for about a decade! Bought many of the other Apple products through the decades and about to purchase a MacBook Neo, soon! Long live Apple, hopefully for another 50 years!

I have a theory about three things that were almost subliminal, but at the same time super-significant in Apple’s appeal — at least for me.
1. The original Macintosh having text displayed black on a white background instead of typical at the time green or amber on black, creating a welcoming instead of intimidating impression.
2. The iPhone having an unheard of at the time glass display — after years of using Newtons and Pocket PCs with their soft, pressure sensitive and delicate displays, this was a revelation to me.
3. The Retina display at once meant no more jagged fonts or shapes. One look at the iPhone 4 display and my thought was, “There’s no going back. When will the Mac that I want, also have such a display?

Happy Birthday to Apple Computer Company.

I was never all in and tried Apple here and there, even had a bit of bias against Apple, but now that the M processors are out it's surprising how much of a value Apple products have become. I have an M4 Mac Mini which when I was mini PC shopping and researching I came to the conclusion it's actually the best value. I've also enjoyed learning MacOS and learn a lot from your videos.

My first was a Mac Classic ... I really love that format and would gladly use an SE or SE/30 even today. Been using Macs since 1990 and have owned/used multiple Macs over the years. My favourite was the 27" iMac and I'm not happy that Apple discontinued that beautiful format. At one time I ran a listserver, webserver and mailserver -- all off separate SE/30's and in my basement!! Those were fun days. Thanks for reminding me of this journey, Gary.

I’m old and had my first hands-on experience with computers way back in 1974 when I wrote a Fortran program on a PDP 11 as a school project. And I’ve had continuous hands-on experience with personal computers since 1980 when I was in community college.

However, I didn’t become an Apple fan until many years later. My first computer was a Commodore 64, which was followed by a Commodore 128, and then an Amiga 500. I also owned a DOS and Windows 3.1 laptop during that period. When Commodore went belly up in the mid ‘90s I used Windows computers exclusively for the next decade.

What changed everything for me was the iPod. Like you, I love music and owned hundreds of CDs and LPs. Everything about the iPod, particularly its UI, was so much better than everything else out there. And as I increasingly got frustrated with Windows, particularly Vista, I decided to take the plunge and buy my first Mac in 2008, which was a white polycarbonate MacBook. And I’ve been an Apple fan ever since and now own an M4 Pro Mac Mini, iPhone SE2, 11G (A16) iPad, and a Series 11 Watch. 🍎

About twenty years older than you, Gary,. so computers were not a part of my schooling. But, after using a PC with MS-Dos, and then Win95, I got sick of that world and bought my first Mac. It was a G4 Cube with he 15" display. It came with OS-9. I loved it, and still have it. Had a number of iMacs, still have them too. For me though, it was not the iPod alone, it's what it brought with it. iTunes, and then the ITMS. Turned the music industry on its head. I wish Eddy had left it alone though.
iPhone was probably the biggest tech gamechanger in my lifetime. Simply brilliant.
I would love my Airpods if they could truly function as hearing aids. I expect they will one day, but for now they don't.

My Apple-ness started in 2007 or so w/ the 2nd gen Nano. I'd tried for a year to get a mp3 player to actually work with my XP Dell at the time. Finally I just went iTunes for Windows with the nano and I was sold! The 'it just works' wasn't a mantra for me, it was the reality after having tried Windows Media and about three 'baaad' mp3 players with my XP. .... Many Apple devices later, and 2 macs, and I'm still here. Happy Birthday, Apple!!

Apple IIc followed by a Macintosh 512. My first job out of college was doing Tech Support for Mac PageMaker 3.

Holy crap. I used to own that iPad book.

Thank you for telling us your fab Apple story, I also started with a Mac SE a SE2/20 two meg of ram and a 20megabite hard disk in 1989 one of my favourite computers of all time. I still have it, though I haven't started it for many years. I started with finder and then Apple brought out the amazing Multi-finder where you could run more than one program at the same time!
I used it to run my sign company using Adobe Illustrator 88 and a fab, still working! Huston Instruments Cutter Plotter, that means it's worked for 37 years.

I remember in 1979 driving 60 miles to a store called “Memory banks” to buy an Apple II+ with a huge 64k of RAM. I learned so much from that machine. I waited an agonizing 3 years after the Mac was introduced before I could justify the cost. Now, 46 years after the II+ I have a M1 MacBook Pro with a monitor in my office, a Mac Mini in the living room, an iPad and an iPhone. I would have AirPods but my ears need hearing aids these days. I love almost everything Apple makes - with the exception of Siri - and MacMost helps me to get the most out of them. Thanks for these memories Gary.

I’m 26 so started using the more recent Apple products starting with iPhone 3GS when I was 9 then iPhone 4, 5C, 6, X, 11, 13, 14 and 16 (my current) for iPad I used my mum’s iPad 2 a lot before getting my own Air 2 now Air 4. I had the 11in MacBook Air, 2017 MacBook Pro 13in and now M4 Mac Mini. I’ve also had 2 AirPods (currently 4th gen) the 1st watch and finally Air tag.

Thanks for sharing.

I was introduced to the Mac in my high school graphics lab in 1996. I liked them but was hesitant. Later the iMac came out and I was sold. I bought my first Mac in 1999. Also until a year ago I had been using a 2010 Mac Pro until I replaced it with a Studio. Thats 15 years of non-stop use!

We must be similar age ad I started with a Sinclair ZX and then got my Apple IIe and then the latptop version. I also had the chance to work on Next computer (not apple but Steve Job) that was the inspiration for the MacOS

In the 80's, I always wanted an Apple IIe. The closest I ever got was a friend who had an Apple clone, which I think was called "The Franklin?"

My first ever computer was the Mac Colour Classic! I bought it my self and used it in my studies to become a parish minister/pastor!

I enjoyed working and playing on non-Apple OS’ but spent too many hours updating, building, re-building and configuring on each chip generation to say I wanted that to be perpetual. I went iPad Pro first and when Win 10 was the replaced by a “secure-chipped” 11, then the expiry on my 17” laptop was gradual until M1 iMac arrived. The seamless operator only-life I now have means my focus is not on will it work rather it’s what do I do next? and getting on with that. Congratulations, and here’s to the next 50 years of technology; at which I’ll be past my sell by date and satisfied I made that Apple change.

I don't go as far back as you do... I had other early computers, but not Macs.
My first Apple experience was the iphone. I think we take it for granted. Even people who use Android or other phones need to pay respect to Apple because they completely reimagined what a cell phone could be and revolutionized it. Other companies have put out great phones afterwards, but all heavily influenced by what Apple did.

My experience with the iphone led to the iPad and then the Mac and MacBooks... all of which have been upgraded and replaced numerous times over the years. It was that phone that captured my heart and I have never considered going back.

Happy Birthday Apple 🍏🎉🥳

My first computer, Apple or otherwise, was an Apple IIe my parents bought me and my brother in 1983. The first place I worked out of college had me using what is called the "Macintosh Classic" today. Between those two, I was an Apple fan for life.

My first was the Atari "Mega"; graphic interface/mouse like a Mac, but priced like a PC, and it had MIDI ports. 8 years and the dot-matrix print head wore out, couldn't find an inkjet driver for Atari, so advanced to the G3 (I was working nuclear weapon safety for TRW at the time, and they used Macs (!), so I went with Apple). Currently on an M1 Studio/Display, MBP, and I LOVE my AppleTV.

The college computer science lab had various personal type computers including a few Apple 2s. This was around 1978 or so. I used them a little but I can’t say I used them a lot. When the Macintosh came out, a friend bought one and I showed it to my parents. Then two other friends wrote a C compiler for the Mac (Megamax C). I wrote the debugger for the compiler.

I got married and bought my wife a Macintosh Duo and later bought myself a Quadra. She was a graphic artist and I used mine for programming and bookkeeping. I’ve never really used Windows except when forced to. I’ve had iPods, iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watch. Oh!!! And the Newton. I thought the Newton was great but was considerably underpowered for what it was trying to do.

Loved this walk down memory lane,pry lane. My first computer was an Apple 2c in college.

Your history with Apple is somewhat similar to mine except I started with the Atari 800 because it had better graphics, was more affordable, and didn't look so much like a hobbyist computer with all this ribbon cables trailing out the back.
This led to the Atari ST "Jackintosh" which introduced me to a crisp mouse and icon desktop. There was even a cartridge available that you could put Macintosh ROMS into to make it work just like a Macintosh.
Then my second wife and I started a desktop publishing/graphic design company out of our home when that was still a thing.
Macintosh was the only way to go in those days.
Yes. We used our PowerMac G4 dual 450 (gigabit ethernet) for more than ten years. You just don't do that with a PC.

My first computer: Apple lle with an 80 column card.
My first Macintosh: The Macintosh 128k before they were released to the public. My Dad worked for a computer store that sold the Macintosh and all sales reps were given an opportunity to pre-bye one in order to learn it and be able to demonstrate it easily when they were released to the public.

I now have my Dad’s Macintosh.

Still using my I Pod

Ive only had Apple stuff since Windows 11 killed my pc because it's expensive. To be fair though now im used to it i wouldnt go back. Great vid Gary

How much did the
SE cost.

Fascinating video, Gary. As always.

I was saddened when Apple discontinued the iPod. I realize the iPhone is essentially the same, but I like having a dedicated music player.

I still have my iPod touch - 6th generation. It still works great.