PowerBook G3 to M1 MacBook Pro - We sure have come a long way!

[MisterAndrew]

I would like it a lot if Apple came out with a new laptop that was rugged like the PowerBook G3.

 

[Bluetoot-]

This is going to turn into an Aqua thread lol.
I think the last version that had a certain “weight” and gravitas to is was Tiger. Aqua has a certain “reality” to it that’s hard to describe. It’s so jarring even when you come from something like Windows 10.

 

[Bluetoot-]

that OS X GUI was so beautiful 20 years later they still use same looking icons and its still beautiful. Windows 10 GUI looks like a GUI for a manufacturing plant machines. Look at this horror show.

I love how they preinstall those horrible games and apps. What a slap in the face.

Though honestly I loved Metro for Windows Phone 7. That was a very unique experience; the OS felt very “lightweight”. A shame it became the Start menu no one uses

 

[colday]

This is going to turn into an Aqua thread lol.
I think the last version that had a certain “weight” and gravitas to is was Tiger. Aqua has a certain “reality” to it that’s hard to describe. It’s so jarring even when you come from something like Windows 10.

Many years ago I was a solid PC guy, then Apple came along with Aqua. I fell in love with the look, but I held strong to my PCness. I had an app for the PC called StarDock, which would let a person radically change the look of WinXP, well one of the mods was Aqua. I was in love!

Around February of 2004, I caved. Within 2 weeks, I sold everything PC I had and went Mac, starting out with the iBook, then when the G5 iMac came out I bought one.

Although I've run Windows in Boot Camp & Parallels, my usage makes me wonder why I bother. But then I have AmigaOS in emulation also.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Any electrician will tell you that you don't need to cover live wires. Just paint 'em over.

That's just a phone line anyway.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

I'm afraid that whenI buy an M1 MacBook I'll NEVER get off the pot.

A bit of tape on the camera and Zoom calls will be a non-issue, aside from the slight echo. But I can minimize that by cracking the door open.

 

[Mr. Dee]

This is going to turn into an Aqua thread lol.
I think the last version that had a certain “weight” and gravitas to is was Tiger. Aqua has a certain “reality” to it that’s hard to describe. It’s so jarring even when you come from something like Windows 10.

Tiger was a very polished release of OS X. Its basically when OS X became a mainstream alternative to Windows; and the transition to Intel further solidified that. The only thing I didn't like about Tigers UI was the brushed metal Finder and it was so strange, because iTunes 5.0 which came out the same year as Tiger had the right texture. I remember the rumors around 2005/2006 about codename 'Marble' UI coming in 10.5. It was basically the iTunes 5.0 UI systemwide.

If I were to choose the best OS X designs over the years I would say:

Mac OS 10.10 - introduced the best of every OS X release with the classic Dock with rounded edges and Leopard Finder.
Mac OS 10.4 - mainstream release, it really brought OS X to the masses and completed the transition from Classic. It had the most fit and finish after 5 years of relentless development.
Mac OS 10.2 - even though it was in its infancy, based on my test on a PowerBook Ti G4, it pretty much had all the elements for a modern, usable earlier adopter release. Pretty much all the popular software titles were fully supported such as Office X, Adobe Photoshop, Indesign (even though Quark was dragging its feet). Apple started toning down the pinstripes in this release, its still there, but it feels subtle.

Technically decent releases:
10.6 - under the hood solid release, this is probably the best Intel release for a long time, its basically Apples 'Windows 7'
10.1 - If you couldn't wait any longer because of Aqua, you had the fundamentals - Office support, DVD playback etc.
10.12 - Just a solid release, I ran this to the point my third party apps were begging me to upgrade. I was fearful of switching to APFS for fear of the unknown and potentially breaking my app.

My now old Early 2015 MacBook Pro is still High Sierra which no longer supported by Microsoft Office. So, I might upgrade it to Mojave next week.

As for Big Sur, it actually feels just right, its a clean design, very out of your way, but I miss my skeuomorphic icons. ?

Some of the icons are nice, for instance, the Messages apps bubble has a nice depth to it. I have heard others complain how it looks out place, but for the Mac, I think the homage to macOS design philosophy really should not become lost in iOS. I hope over the next 5 years Apple finds balance between the two that feels natural.

Ok, this is a real nostalgia thread. For someone who has been mostly Windows centric, I sure do know a lot about OS X.

I guess we'll be talking about kernel extensions next. ?

 

[Darth Tulhu]

The first Mac I ever bought was the original 17" PowerBook G4 1 GHz in 2001. At the time, it was my third computer, after a Compaq and a Spaniard PC I bought when stationed there (running the AWFUL Windows ME).

I saw OS X at some store, and that was it. Hooked for life.

This thread brought me back!

I've owned (besides countless iPods, a few iPads, and an iPhone 4s):
Powerbook G4 17"
G4 Cube with the clear CRT and ball speakers
G5 Power Mac with the 20" Aluminum Cinema Display and separate iSight Camera (still miss that cool setup)
iMac G5 20" (the white/clear one)
iBook (white)
MacBook (original white one)
Several 27" iMacs
Several 13", 15" and 17" Unibody MBPs (tried smaller but kept going back to the 17", where I started).


2012 brought my purchases to a grinding halt due to the beginning of the solder/sealed era with the Retina MBPs, Yosemite, and iOS 7, NONE of which I wanted. I call these the "dark years".

The last laptop Mac I ever bought was a refurb 2012 CMBP 15" hi-res matte (I never use...my kids do).

My 2011 17" MacBook Pro (I'm typing this on right now) is my daily driver, even if it's on it's last legs (graphics card is shot).

So it looks like it'll be 10 years until I give Apple some (real) computer money. Perfect timing, I say!

Now the setup will be a (redesigned) MBA, iPad Pro 12.9, and Pencil. All bases covered for perhaps another 10 years (these things are powerful).

 

[doolar]

I miss my Pismo. The first good laptop I ever had. Nice comparison!

 

[Frantisekj]

Yeah, it was great machine, Unfortunately died, even twice. First processor card, later logic board. Honestly majority of my Apple laptops died compare to desktops that lasted.

 

[dmccloud]

The first Mac I owned was a Powerbook 145B, I thought it was awesome at the time because it had a dialup modem. Compared to this M1 Pro, it was a paperweight. It's crazy to think that a heavy laptop with a black & white display and a trackball was once considered a high end machine, especially when it cost more used than this MBP did new...

 

[Frantisekj]

The first Mac I ever bought was the original 17" PowerBook G4 1 GHz in 2001. At the time, it was my third computer, after a Compaq and a Spaniard PC I bought when stationed there (running the AWFUL Windows ME).

I saw OS X at some store, and that was it. Hooked for life.

This thread brought me back!

I've owned (besides countless iPods, a few iPads, and an iPhone 4s):
Powerbook G4 17"
G4 Cube with the clear CRT and ball speakers
G5 Power Mac with the 20" Aluminum Cinema Display and separate iSight Camera (still miss that cool setup)
iMac G5 20" (the white/clear one)
iBook (white)
MacBook (original white one)
Several 27" iMacs
Several 13", 15" and 17" Unibody MBPs (tried smaller but kept going back to the 17", where I started).

I got hooked when my friend took me to only Apple reseller in country in 1992 that was apparently just 10 min walk from our University. I do not remember all machines but first one was Macintosh LC II....

 

[DeepIn2U]

WTF is that?

View attachment 1691376

Something related to the electrical socket (a transformer or ?) I guess.

I’m more appalled of the ‘Dell’ on the left when this article is comparing the Wallstreet PB to the M1 MacBook Pro! Eikka!

Nice comparison, not sure why this gets highlighted on front page or on twitter by macrumors but it’s nice.

Some of us recall going to use Puma right after public debut and using it on PowerMac G4’s or G3’s and hearing that warm ‘hum’ sound the internal speakers would emit. I found it critically important that although both G3/G4 PM desktops used IDE hard-drives, I never heard the electrostatic grind of reads/writes on the disk themselves from the PM vs any Windows PC I used back then.

Now my primaray machine is not a Mac ... it’s an iPad Pro 11” ‘18 and despite all the push-back I actually love it!
For me I always invisioned the progress of the Mac into a tablet with Siri (or AI) like the Apple Navigator concept and the 2018 iPad Pro and the 2020 and future models pretty much does EXACTLY that! No doubt I’ll purchase another MacBook Pro ... but I’ll want 16GB RAM base/32GB RAM option, 256GB base with 1/2TB storage option and a much faster M processor and I’m hoping 14” with matte-black! IF that occurs I’d be sleeping with my Mac for the first 2mths! Not kidding!

Personally of all the PowerBooks, the Lombard was the nicest of the old generation and the TiBook G4 was The Ultimate of the expression.

 

[mxrider88]

Nice pairing!

I did my "desktop transitions" series when my M1 mini arrived:

View attachment 1674635


Selective memory. There were a few specific OS versions that were very stable - but there was a *LOT* of instability in the Mac OS 8.5 -> 9.2.1 range, and in the Mac OS X 10.0.0 -> 10.2 range.

9.2.2 was generally rock solid (thankfully, as the final release,) as were the later 10.2.x releases. But 8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1 all had SUPER buggy releases; the whole of 10.0.x, and most of 10.1.x as well.

I was referring to OSX not 9 to be honest.. in particular tiger and snow leopard, the best and most solid OS Apple has ever made. From lion onwards a catastrophe in my opinion

 

[k2k koos]

I had a wallstreet G3 also, be it that I had the base 233MHz version with that horrific display...But it served me well.

 

[armoured]

Something related to the electrical socket (a transformer or ?) I guess.

I am guessing a bit but possibly a doorbell connection or something similar - hopefully something low voltage anyway.

Oh, or possibly an old thermostat for previous furnace/boiler.

 

[armoured]

I will play it and see if I like it, but after more than two decades on Office, its gonna be hard to switch. But even before I do switch, I will use up my MSDN sub get that free copy out of it before it expires next year.

Certainly max out your usage of the existing sub, why not.

But I think you'll find that Libreoffice is the easiest office-like program to switch to/use in place of office. The 'mental model' of how it works is overall quite similar, and e.g. formulas in the spreadsheet module are almost identical. Obviously if you're super into more advanced functions of office and esp complicated macros/add-ons, less so.

And it translates between them/plays nicely with Office file types, in fact, I think you can set it up to use msoffice file formats as default. (Personally I've got comfortable enough with the libreoffice native file formats, and I think all relatively recent office versions will read them with no problem, so no inconvenience emailing/sharing with the office addicted).

 

[Jonathan Leclerc]

The Aqua interface is not only timeless, but it still looks impressive to this day. I find Apple really dropped the ball with Big Sur with the vertical and center-aligned dialogue windows (the "drop down" dialogue windows of Aqua were pure genius, why trash it?) and all the other 'modern' flatness nonsense and neon color palet. Also, the Aqua controls were so much more gorgeous; I mean, look at what they've done to the freakin' progress bar! Now it looks like something straight out of Windows 3.1, while the Aqua version was not only scrumptious, but also in line with Mac OS design elements (i.e. the barbershop sign effect) going back to early days. I really feel Apple is loosing me with Big Sur, and I pray for a big change in UI direction in the coming years...

 

[russell_314]

Its the old App Store! LOL! No, I think its an old phone line, probably something the Wallstreet knows about very well.

Wow I feel old. I don't think he was trying to be funny about not knowing what landline phone connections looked like back in the day ?

 

[ghboard2010]

WTF is that?

View attachment 1691376

It's a wall mount for a telephone. In my day a telephone was a telephone. If ya' wanted to watch a movie ya' had a television in the living room, or go out to a movie theatre.

 

[InuNacho]

I got hooked when my friend took me to only Apple reseller in country in 1992 that was apparently just 10 min walk from our University. I do not remember all machines but first one was Macintosh LC II....

I remember my LC II, it was my dad's computer until he upgraded to a Peforma 6400/200. He dropped in an aftermarket 040 card in the II before he gave it to me.

One night I accidentally left it on and was woken up by the smell of smoke. That poor underpowered PSU was being eaten alive by the 040.

 

[ghanwani]

You don’t have to worry about what’s in store for the next 20 years because the new machine won’t last that long.

 

[Populus]

The real question is when are the PowerBook G5’s gonna arrive...

I would say this new M1 MacBooks are the new Powerbooks. Ok, they are not Power PC, but it is based on a RISC CPU as well. And it eats Intel laptops for breakfast!!

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Nice pairing!

I did my "desktop transitions" series when my M1 mini arrived:

View attachment 1674635


Selective memory. There were a few specific OS versions that were very stable - but there was a *LOT* of instability in the Mac OS 8.5 -> 9.2.1 range, and in the Mac OS X 10.0.0 -> 10.2 range.

9.2.2 was generally rock solid (thankfully, as the final release,) as were the later 10.2.x releases. But 8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1 all had SUPER buggy releases; the whole of 10.0.x, and most of 10.1.x as well.

That table lamp iMac... That was the one.

When I first saw OS X and got my mind blown, it was on one of those. I honestly cannot remember if it was the Mac or the OS that blew my mind.

I wish I had not gotten rid of my old Macs now; that is a nice collection my friend.

 

[colday]

Years ago I bought a very used iMac G4, cleaned it up, installed more RAM & new HD. It came with everything including the box, but not the install disks. Trying to find the correct install disk cost me greatly, but I found them!

I'm triple booting, Tiger, Panther, and Leopard.

I love this thing!