Why Apple?

Apple Inc

Apple is one company that has had a profound influence on my life. Their computers have enabled me to do so much interesting stuff that I would not have otherwise been able to do. It has helped release a creativity I didn't think I had in me. It is hardly surprising that Mac's are the computer of choice for many designers and publishers for this very reason. They make the task in hand easier to do and more enjoyable. Not only that the hardware looks great - gone are the days where computers look like a dirty grey box that you hide away in an office.

The history of this company goes back a few decades and has too much detail to go into here. Below are some snippets from the Wikipedia site. Should you desire to know the nuts and bolts of the tumultuous history, click the link and it will open a new window with the the detailed history.

Quoted from Wikipedia
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod, and the iPhone. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system, the iTunes media browser, the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software, the iWork suite of productivity software, Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products, and Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools.

Established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was called Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years, but dropped the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007 to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers.

For reasons as various as its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to its distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008 and in the world in 2009

In 1984, Apple next launched the Macintosh. Its debut was announced by the now famous $1.5 million television commercial '1984'. It was directed by Ridley Scott, aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, and is now considered a watershed event for Apple's success and a "masterpiece".

On August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new all-in-one computer reminiscent of the Macintosh 128K: the iMac. The iMac design team was led by Jonathan Ive, who would later design the iPod and the iPhone.[52][53] The iMac featured modern technology and a unique design. It sold close to 800,000 units in its first five months and returned Apple to profitability for the first time since 1993.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address on June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would begin producing Intel-based Mac computers in 2006. On January 10, 2006, the new MacBook Pro and iMac became the first Apple computers to use Intel's Core Duo CPU. By August 7, 2006 Apple had transitioned the entire Mac product line to Intel chips, over 1 year sooner than announced. The Power Mac, iBook, and PowerBook brands were retired during the transition; the Mac Pro, MacBook, and MacBook Pro became their respective successors.

For up-to-date information on the Mac and iMac visit Apple's website Here.

iMac (Intel Core2 Duo)

Four year cycles seems to be my marker for changing computers. This was no exception. As the laptop struggled with the increasingly powerful software it was time to look to see what was out there. Apple had not long changed to Intel from PowerPC. The iMac had been beefed up and after reading a number of reviews, I decided to dump the laptop and go back to the desktop.

I chose the iMac over the MacPro as it had everything built in that I needed and was far cheaper too. I bumped up the basic spec slightly and have enjoyed using it ever since. The large screen is a joy to use (even though I felt swamped by it at first). This is not only my design station, web station it is also my music station, photo library - everything. And it does struggle with certain things, slows up when I dont want it to. But does it need replacing? Well it is getting on for four years old now but if I was honest - it may have another one or two left. It runs Snow Leopard fine and hopefully the next version - so that should keep it interesting.

The iMac "Core 2 Duo" (2006) 2.16 24-Inch features a 2.16 GHz Intel "Core 2 Duo" processor (T7400), with two independent processor "cores" on a single silicon chip, a 4 MB shared level 2 cache, a 667 MHz system bus, 1 GB of RAM (667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-5300), a 250 GB (7200 RPM) Serial ATA hard drive, a vertically-mounted slot-loading DVD+R DL "SuperDrive", NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT graphics acceleration on a PCI-Express bus with 128 MB of GDDR3 memory, a built-in iSight video camera, and built-in stereo speakers underneath the 24" TFT Active Matrix LCD (1920x1200 native) display designed to "bounce sound off the desk below".

Connectivity includes three USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire "400" port, one Firewire "800" port, built-in AirPort Extreme, and Gigabit Ethernet, as well as mini-DVI, which supports an external display in "extended desktop" mode (rather than just "mirrored mode").

EveryMac intel iMac website link Here.

PowerBook

After two desktop Macs I decided to go for a laptop. I thought at the time it would be conveniant to be able to take it with me. And it was. The downside of a laptop I found was the ability to upgrade it and compared to desktops, they were not as powerful. Saying that, this little gem got me through some great projects as after using the G3, it was clearly faster.

More of Jack Grassby's books and websites were designed on this as well as my own projects. The 17" screen was also far better for laying out documents at actual size and still be able to read it. I had a few issues with the screen losing pixels and the hinge acting up. But on the whole it was a great machine - and it continues on as my wife's computer. The built-in wireless internet turned out very useful when we scrapped the ethernet router for a wireless version.

The PowerBook G4/667 (Gigabit) features a 667 MHz PowerPC 7440 (G4) processor with the AltiVec "Velocity Engine" vector processing unit and 256k on chip level 2 cache, 256 MB or 512 MB of PC133 SDRAM (512 MB standard starting December 17, 2001 - M8623LL/A), a 30 GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drive, a slot-loading 6X DVD-ROM drive (DVD/CD-RW "Combo" drive starting December 17, 2001 - M8623LL/A), and ATI Mobility Radeon (4X AGP) graphics with 16 MB of DDR SDRAM in a 1-inch thick Titanium case with a 15.2" TFT display (1152x768 native resolution). Custom configurations also were available.

EveryMac PowerBook G4 website link Here.

PowerMac G3

The more I wanted to push my design work to the next level, the more the poor LC630 struggled. Photoshop chewed away at the miniscule amount of RAM, even though it was maxed out to a whole 32 megabites! After four years it was time to upgrade - and along came the powerhorse that was the G3. At first everything seemed to fly. It was great. This was the computer that would see me test my abilities with web design and typesetting on a bigger scale for Jack Grassby and his first book - The Unfinished Revolution.

After four years, as with the last Mac, it was beginning to struggle. It was time to move on again and the G3 was sold to the publisher of Jack's books.

The Apple Power Macintosh G3/266 Desktop, based on the compact Gossamer architecture, features a 266 MHz PowerPC 750 (G3) processor with 512k of backside cache, 32 MB of RAM, a 4.0 GB hard drive, a 24X CD-ROM drive, ATI 3D Rage II+, Rage Pro (starting May 1, 1998), or Rage Pro Turbo (starting August 12, 1998) graphics acceleration with 2 MB of VRAM (expandable to 6 MB), and the standard "Whisper personality card" with audio input/output -- all packed into an easily expandable desktop case. The Power Macintosh G3 models were the first Apple Macs to use the "third-generation" (G3) PowerPC 750 processor which also unveiled a new "backside" level 2 cache for a substantial performance boost compared to earlier systems using a "lookaside" level 2 cache.

EveryMac PowerMac G3 website link Here.

LC630

In August '94, the new LC630/33 8/350 £999 ex VAT came out at the same time my car loan expired. It wasn't a Power Mac, but the reviewers loved it and it had a CD as standard. Things happened and in September '94, I owned an LC630/33 8/350, TI Microlaser pro 600 and Quark 3.3. I had a colour monitor and scanner too. I was a very chuffed man. My days of designing into the early hours had began!

It wasn't long before I was designing books and stationary for the hospice I was working in at the time. It even began to earn me some money. This great little machine helped me through my graphic design course and in time was donated to my parents. Eventually, even though it was still working - the LC went off in the back of a bin lorry!

The Apple Macintosh Performa (LC) 630 CD features a 33 MHz 68LC040 processor, 4 MB or 8 MB of RAM, and a 250 MB hard drive in a compact desktop case.

The LC 630CD shipped with a 2X CD-ROM drive, and the LC 630 PC-Compatible shipped with a 66 MHz Intel 486DX2 processor card which can have a maximum of 32 MB of RAM dedicated to the DOS/Windows OS.

EveryMac LC630 website link Here.

iPhone 3GS

It felt like I'd waited ages for my iPhone. Well actually I had. As much as I liked the first incarnation it just didn't seem right. It lacked certain features that were standard on most other phones, basic things like 3G connectivity and a decent camera. The lack of MMS and and poor texting fuction such as not being able to forward texts or copy and paste them told me that there was better to come. And sure enough, in 2008 along came the 3G version.

But even this technical jump up to 3G hadn't addressed the other shortfalls I'd hoped to see added. Finaly in 2009, Apple announced the iPhone OS 3 and iPhone 3GS. They'd attended to all the issues that were obvious to me though I was still disappointed at the camera size and lack of flash. The upgrade was enough to convince me it was time to buy into the iPhone brand and my wife decided to join me. We both love the phones - they are so versitile, useful and have really proved their worth. Below is information you may find useful.

Quoted from Wikipedia
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia enabled smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPhone functions as a camera phone (also including text messaging and visual voicemail), a portable media player (equivalent to a video iPod), and an Internet client (with e-mail, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connectivity) — using the phone's multi-touch screen to provide a virtual keyboard in lieu of a physical keyboard.

The first-generation phone was quad-band GSM with EDGE; the second generation phone added UMTS with 3.6 Mbps HSDPA; the third generation adds support for 7.2 Mbps HSDPA downloading but remains limited to 384 Kbps uploading as Apple had not implemented the HSPA protocol.

Apple announced the iPhone on January 9, 2007, after months of rumours and speculation. The (retroactively labelled) original iPhone was introduced in the United States on June 29, 2007 before being marketed in Europe. Time magazine named it the Invention of the Year in 2007.

Released July 11, 2008, the iPhone 3G supports faster 3G data speeds and assisted GPS. On March 17, 2009, Apple announced version 3.0 of the iPhone OS for the iPhone (and iPod Touch), released on June 17, 2009.

The iPhone 3GS was announced on June 8, 2009, and has improved performance, a camera with higher resolution and video capability, and voice control. It was released in the U.S., Canada and six European countries on June 19, 2009, in Australia and Japan on June 26, and saw international release in July and August, 2009.

Want to see more details and tech specs about the iPhone click Here.

iPod

The iPod, without doubt, changed the way in which people consume music. The Sony Walkman sat smugly in its niche, not doing anything to push things forward. Along came Apple, caught them off guard and the rest is history.

This design classic has seen many facelifts and configurations and my family and I have enjoyed a number of them - all of which are seen here. As with the iPhone, I hung on until the rumour of a colour screen and other features made me want to buy one - the first few models weren't quite right. Now that the iPod is integrated into the iPhone - I have everything I need in one device. As Apple continues to innovate and the competition break their necks to out do the iPod, I can't help but wonder how the landscape will lie in ten years time. Probably have them inplanted or something wierd - but, time will tell.

You can look deeper into the origins and history of the iPod by clicking the links below.

Quoted from Wikipedia
The iPod is a portable media player designed and marketed by Apple and launched on October 23, 2001. The product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle.

The iPod line came from Apple's "digital hub" category, when the company began creating software for the growing market of personal digital devices. Digital cameras, camcorders and organisers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital music players "big and clunky or small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful," so Apple decided to develop its own.

As ordered by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design the iPod line, including hardware engineers Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey, and design engineer Jonathan Ive. The product was developed in less than one year and unveiled on 23 October 2001. Jobs announced it as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1,000 songs in your pocket".

For up-to-date information on the iPod visit Apple's website Here.

Links

To help newcomers to Apple find out more about their products, news and rumours here are a selection of links to get you going on your voyage of discovery. Hope it's a good one.

Official Apple Website

Mac Rumours

MacUser UK

MacWorld

Mac Tutorials

Open Source (Free) Software