Apple News

The Apple tablet that wasn’t

October 29th, 2009 at 10:00am Under Hot Apple News

Filed under: Hardware, Portables, Odds and ends

TechCrunch has posted pictures of what they’re calling an “unlaunched Apple tablet.” In 1990, as the story goes, Apple was supposedly working on a pen-based touchscreen tablet called the Pen Mac that was actually extremely small for the time — just about an inch thick, with a screen the same size as a Mac Portable. They were bringing a few different companies in on the deal, and apparently it worked well — ran a full Mac OS, used a pen to control or let you plug in a mouse and keyboard, and there was even a smaller version called the PenLite (bulky by today’s standards, but remember that this is 20 years ago now).

So why weren’t we all using tablet computers 20 years ago? TechCrunch blames John Sculley, who apparently thought the tablet idea was out, and the PDA idea was in, and we ended up with the Newton instead. I won’t second guess him — while it’s easy to think that anything could have beaten the Newton, would the current Apple touchscreen tablet craze even be here if it weren’t for the iPhone? And isn’t Apple’s smartphone just a hop, skip and a jump from their original PDA?

TUAWThe Apple tablet that wasn’t originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sponsored Topics:
Apple – iPhone – Mac OS – Newton – John Sculley

By Mike Schramm Continue Reading The Apple tablet that wasn’tAdd comment

A fond look at a blast from the past: the Mac Portable

September 21st, 2009 at 07:00pm Under Hot Apple News

Filed under: Hardware, Portables, Odds and ends, Retro Mac, Apple History

An email this morning from Harry McCracken at Technologizer.com pointed the way to a trip down memory lane. Harry was letting us know that Technologizer blogger Benj Edwards had written a 20th anniversary teardown post about the first truly mobile Mac — the Mac Portable.

Why is this a trip down memory lane for me in particular? I actually owned one of these beasts for a few years. They were ridiculously expensive at the time — US$7,300 for a 16 lb. (7.25 kg) monochrome screen machine with 1 MB of RAM, a floppy disk drive, and a 40 MB hard disk — but since I was a developer at the time I was able to get a substantial discount and bought it for about $4,000.

I recall taking my Portable to meetings back in the day, and people were absolutely fascinated by it. Of course, about two years later it would be replaced by the much lighter (5.1 lb. / 2.3 kg) PowerBook 100, which was the first of what we consider to be the truly “laptop” Macs.

Definitely take a look at the Technologizer post if you get a chance. Benj does a step-by-step teardown, describes what you’re seeing in each photo, and notes what items on the Portable made it such a technological wonder in the late 1980s. I won’t spoil things for you, but be sure to look at the last page of the teardown for a comparison Edwards does between the Portable and the iPhone. We’ve come a long way in just 20 years.

TUAWA fond look at a blast from the past: the Mac Portable originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sponsored Topics:
Apple – iPhone – HarryMccracken – Macintosh – TUAW

By Steven Sande Continue Reading A fond look at a blast from the past: the Mac PortableAdd comment

Milestone: 20th Anniversary of Portable Mac Era

September 20th, 2009 at 05:00pm Under Hot Apple News

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the original release of the Macintosh Portable — the first truly untethered Mac, thanks to its internal battery.
There’s a quote attributed to Steve Jobs: “Do not trust a computer that you cannot lift.” The original compact desktop Macs were offered with an optional carrying case, and some pioneer Mac-users [...]

By Charles Moore Continue Reading Milestone: 20th Anniversary of Portable Mac EraAdd comment