What was your first Mac?

[ignatius345]

Mac Classic II, bought from my college bookstore along with a StyleWriter II printer. The bundle cost me a freaking fortune but it saved me from having to type up all my papers at the computer lab.

(not a picture of my actual Mac, but pretty sure it came with this keyboard and mouse)

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

My first Mac was a G4 Sawtooth Power Mac that I got for a bargain on eBay in 2006 or 7, so I could muck around with it to see what all the fuss over Apple was.

I had used Mac Classics at school, and held Apple in pretty dim view until I got a 1st gen iPod nano. I'd been reading about the resurgence of Apple in magazines, and despite my being firmly in the Windows side of the PC vs Mac religious wars after my experiences with Mac Classics, I thought I should probably get a cheap one to muck around with if I wanted to have an informed opinion.

It turned out that G4 Power Mac was a glorious machine. I'd never seen such a thoughtfully designed, well built computer. It came with System 9, but I immediately wiped that and installed OS X Jaguar. That was quickly followed by Tiger, then Leopard, as I could find them.

What started out as a curiosity to muck around with very quickly became my main computer. OS X handled multitasking so much more elegantly than Windows XP did, and once I'd gotten used to how OS X worked I quickly started losing interest in Windows and whatever flavours of Linux I was running. My PC got relegated to a glorified games console, and I enthusiastically made the switch to the Mac camp.

 

[ignatius345]

It amazes me how cheap, in relative terms, tech has become compared to 40 years ago, when I had just started playing with computers.

Later in life, when bought my first PPC Mac desktop system, it was a choice between that or a second-hand car. I bought the Mac (but I also took out a small business loan to finance it).

Now you could have enough money to buy a modest Apple setup by skipping eating out / having nights out for a short number of months. A car? Forget it.

This is why when people on these forums start complaining about Macs being expensive, I have to roll my eyes. The first one I bought was about the cost of a decent used car. My last MacBook Air cost me the equivalent of a few solid grocery trips.

 

[Mojohanna32]

1989 Macintosh 512k

 

[AlumaMac]

Quadra 800

 

[comovartia]

My 1st Mac was a 2007ish Mac Book. My 1st Apple computer was a Apple IIE

 

[wooddog]

My first experience with Apple was re-manufacturing Mac Plus machines. We replaced the flyback and replaced a few diodes. Getting bitten by the flyback wasn't a fun Experience.
I was one of the ~150 who became an Apple A.C.S.A AKA - Apple Certified Systems Administrator. The Certification never quite competed a MCSA Certification.

The First Mac I purchased was a Macintosh iivx

 

[WriteNow]

a StyleWriter II printer

A StyleWriter II was my first printer after using an ImageWriter II. I found it at Goodwill for next to nothing about 2000, and figured I could probably get it to work. I was pretty sure I had a print driver on a floppy disk someplace... The same Goodwill also had a new ink cartridge (possibly donated by the same person who donated the printer?). I met my father for dinner that night, and he asked why on earth I bought that printer? Answer: I'd long needed something better than the ImageWriter for some tasks, and I'd even been forced to (shudder) turn to a (shudder) typewriter sometimes. (Admittedly, by this point, it could be argued that a new computer system was overall a better move--but at the time, my ancient Mac was "good enough" for what I needed to do. It was hard to justify major spending at that point.)

 

[ignatius345]

A StyleWriter II was my first printer after using an ImageWriter II. I found it at Goodwill for next to nothing about 2000, and figured I could probably get it to work. I was pretty sure I had a print driver on a floppy disk someplace... The same Goodwill also had a new ink cartridge (possibly donated by the same person who donated the printer?). I met my father for dinner that night, and he asked why on earth I bought that printer? Answer: I'd long needed something better than the ImageWriter for some tasks, and I'd even been forced to (shudder) turn to a (shudder) typewriter sometimes. (Admittedly, by this point, it could be argued that a new computer system was overall a better move--but at the time, my ancient Mac was "good enough" for what I needed to do. It was hard to justify major spending at that point.)

It felt very luxurious at the time (early 90s) to be able to print at home and I did love that. It was also compact and lovely on my desk.

Objectively, though, it had all the drawbacks of an inkjet: slow, finicky about paper, often streaky. Best move I ever made was to ditch inkjets forever and get a Brother laser printer.

 

[AJACs3]

1991 Outbound Notebook (also sold as RealTech Travler)​

This was before Apple sold notebook Macs

Although available with fast 68030 CPUs, the use of Mac Plus and SE ROMs limited to Outbound Laptop to 4 MB of memory.

• introduced 1991.12.01; discontinued 1992.12.08
• requires ROM from Mac Plus or SE
• requires System 4.1 to 7.5.5 (SE ROM) or 6.0.7 to 7.5.5 (Classic ROM)
• CPU: 20 HMz 68000; 20, 25, 33, or 40 MHz 68030
• FPU: 68882, optional
• performance: about double that of a Plus or SE
• ROM: 128 KB (Plus ROM) or 256 KB (SE ROM)
• RAM: 2 or 4 MB, expandable to 4 MB using pairs of 256 KB or 1 MB 150ns 30-pin SIMMs
• 10″ supertwist b&w display, 640 x 400 pixels
• keyboard communicates via infrared
• two miniDIN-8 serial ports
• SCSI: DB-25 connector on back of computer
• floppy: 1.4 MB double sided
• hard drive: 40, 80, or 120 MB IDE
• silicon drive (1-16 MB) optional, holds data 10-25 days
• size (HxWxD): 2.1″ x 11.0″ x 8.5″
• weight: 6.25 lb., including battery
• PRAM battery: unknown
• battery: 2-3 hour charge
• Gestalt ID: unknown
• addressing: 24-bit only

 

[schnaps]

I didn't care about Macs. I didn't pay attention to them. But one summer day, when the sun was shining brightly and nothing foreshadowed trouble, I was, as usual, busy with my hobby - electronics. This time I repeated someone's finished craft - a miniature Mac Classic with a vMac emulator inside.
I showed it to my friends. I was given an old Powerbook G4. It was no longer relevant, but it made an impression. And the first Mac I bought was a MacBook 2012, not new, but not yet outdated. And then there were more and more Macs, and no one counted how many appeared and how many were given away.
But, having started so late, I, by pure chance, consistently, in chronological order, went from the very first Macs to modern ones.

 

[zenmacx]

First Apple Computer
Apple Powerbook 140

9.8" Monochrome display
640x400 Resolution
2MB Ram / 20MB Hard Drive
16 MHz / 68030 Processor
11.25" x 9.3" x 2.25"
6.8 lbs.
Original Mac OS 7.0.1
DOP Oct 1991 / $2900.00


Current Apple Computers
16” M2 MacBook Pro
13” M1 MacBook Air
15” Mid 2015 MacBook Pro - Linux

 

[Marc Simard]

Macintosh 512K -> Macintosh IIsi -> Power Macintosh G3 -> Power Mac G4 MDD 867 -> Mac Mini Late 2009 -> Mac Mini Late 2014 (still active!) -> Mac Mini M4.

Very fond memories of the IIsi I must say.

 

[tsivonen]

1992 Macintosh SE 30. The nostalgia that thinking about the computer led me to go through my history …


1995 Performa 6200. 1997 Inherited a Power Macintosh 8500.
2000 Power Macintosh G4 400 !! Monster runs to this day with every CPU and drive upgrade it could take!
2009 Mac mini 2.53GHz. Upgraded RAM to 8GB and drive to SDD in 2013.
2010 Work supplied Unibody MacBook 2.6GHz.
2013 13" MacBook Air i7 CPU runs Open Core Legacy for daughter still.
2016 Work supplied 13" MacBook Air i5 (2015).
2017 a 27" iMac i5 (5K, Late 2014) 32GB RAM upgraded both SSD and SATA drives. Retired to just a monitor in 2023.
2021 a 27" iMac i7 (5K, Mid 2017) 48GB RAM upgraded both SSD and SATA drives. Will use this one to keep old OS versions active.
2021 Work supplied 13" MacBook Air M1.
2023 a 27" iMac i5 (5K, Late 2014) 32GB RAM with some internal dust in the display. Bought to eventually make another monitor.
2023 Mac mini M1 16GB RAM 512GB storage.
2025 a Work supplied 13" MacBook Air M4.
2026? a Mac mini M4(5) … to be determined!

 

[Cobalt Blizzard]

March 2025, MacBook Air 13-inch M4. Yes, my journey just started. 🙂

Thanks for this thread! It was very interesting to read stories from different people and their experiences in 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Macs were never popular until the mid-2010s in the country where I am from.

Frame of preference

A story of early Mac settings told by 10 emulators.

aresluna.org

Here’s a cool interactive article with "built-in" emulators. 🙂

 

[here2MAC]

512K

 

[Foxglove9]

1997 - PowerMac 7600/132, solid computer, lasted me a good 3-4 years.

The Apple Vision monitor was garbage.

 

[WriteNow]

Macintosh 512K -> Macintosh IIsi

That must have been pretty jarring going from a 512 to a IIsi!

Very fond memories of the IIsi I must say.

I have good memories of a IIsi I used around 2000. Part of what I liked then was the fun of thinking that I got a computer that was $$$$ new (and unobtainable) for only $15 at Goodwill. It was out of date by that point, of course, but it still was more than enough for some of my basic productivity needs (e.g., word processing).