[MW Forums]

How influential is Apple? So much so that its products dominate the conversation, even when talk turns to every PC released in the last quarter century. Our colleagues at PC World recently ranked the 25 greatest computers of the last 25 years, and, not surprisingly, an Apple creation claimed the top spot. more

[ddd1301]

Amazing, I owned every one of these except the 2nd Gen iMac.
The PB 100 was simply the best designed laptop of it's time. Dell liked it so well that they bought most of the Apple PowerBook team to revamp their, at the time last place, laptop group.

[Machound]

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Amazing, I owned every one of these except the 2nd Gen iMac.

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Me too, except I had a 128K Mac and Mac SE instead of the Mac Plus. I wonder why Mac Plus got the award instead of the groundbreaking 128K Mac?
I think the article is not quite correct about Apple ][ being the first color PC. There was a now-obscure PC maker named Color Computing, Inc, which beat Apple to it by a few months. My high school computer lab had one of those before any Apple ]['s came along. I don't remember when Tandy's TRS-80 came out, but it wasn't long afterward IIRC. It lacked the elegance of the Apple ][.

[fultonkbd]

Not sure if this is good or bad... but I never owed any of them, even though I have owned a few Apple computers throughout the years.
Apple IIgs
Quadra 950
PowerMac 8100/100
PowerMac 7200
PowerMac 7300 x2 (180MHz & 200MHz)
PowerMac B&W x2 (300MHz & 350MHZ)
PowerMac G4/400
PowerMac G5/2.3GHz
Non-Apple-PowerComputing PowerCenter 132
Every one of them have been great. Though IIgs is one that was given to me long after it's usefullness. So I didn't really do much with it.
With that said, back when it was new, the MacPlus was the first time I used a computer and was really blown away by it. I have been an Apple user ever since.

[MacTechAspen]

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IIgs is one that was given to me long after it's usefullness [sic]

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I still have a IIGS in storage, along with a IIc and and a Laser 128 (a IIe/c clone).
I was an Apple II developer back in the 80s, so I stuck it out in the Apple II camp for an embarrassingly long time.
My first Mac was a 7100. The list since then the list is too long to post, but includes clones and and every iMac ever made. There are quite a bit fewer if I only list my personal systems (I run several companies that all use Macs exclusively).
One of the Macs I never did get my hands on was the 20th Anniversary. While it still had some hope of being good for something I kept trying to buy one on eBay, but the prices were insane. I have long since given up caring about it, but it would be fun to add to the collection in storage if anyone has one to give away! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I loved the Newton, and did a fair amount with it, but many Palms later I don't use a PIM anymore, just a bluetooth enabled phone.
For those really long in the tooth, my first personal computer was a Heathkit H8. Since I am a second generation computer guy, my earliest "computer" was a TTY connected to a mainframe in our house, in the early 60s. Ah, how I miss paper tape as a storage medium. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[pcharles]

That is amazing.
Even more amazing to me is that I actually owned some of the listed computers. Back in my single days, when I just started my new job, I bought one of the Gateway Destination systems instead of a regular television. It was just like the Moxi we have now. I really enjoyed working on the computer while watching TV in a small window. Although I primarily used a Powermac and a Powerbook, I had one of the VAIO 505's for teaching and travel because they were so small and light (less than 3lb with the regular battery). I dream of the day when Apple develops something as light and cool.

[fultonkbd]

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I loved the Newton, and did a fair amount with it, but many Palms later I don't use a PIM anymore, just a bluetooth enabled phone.

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Never used a Newton or even seen one in person for that matter. I had a HandSpring and liked it, but found it too cumbersome to use daily.
That IIgs was intersting, I got in 1996 or so for free. Along with an ImageWriter and a 10" monitor. By that time, I was using the PowerComputing (Which was my first true, bought and paid for by me, computer.) I still have it running, with an upgrade processor and vid-card. I use it to fire up Marathon, Duke Nuk'em, Quake and other old style games.
I wish I would of kept that Quadra 950, to this day it still has the best start up sound.

[Schneb]

Funny, except for the last one, I have had ALL of these models. However, it was the Apple IIe and not the Apple II. I still use the Notebook for my home automation system.

[NeoX]

I just don't get this list. How can Alienware, which is a fancy overpriced PC and a tandy TRS-80 model 100, that was a joke in the day, and considered to be a word processor plus be on the list and not a Commodore 64 or 128??? The C64 was the hottest selling computer of its time. We ran the family business on it, I had 1000s of floppies with demos, graphics, music, games and so much more. We had Color graphic BBS systems with file transfers long before the internet took hold. Sorry, but as much as I love my Macs, the Apple II line could not stack up against the better graphics, sound, and programability that the 64 offered. I mean what other computer system do you know that you could actually write a program in the floppy drive and make the read/write heads make music? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
This list is severely flawed. I grew up with most of these computers and had subscriptions to most of the Computer mags of the early 80's and this list is just plain flawed...

[Peter Cohen]

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I just don't get this list. How can Alienware, which is a fancy overpriced PC and a tandy TRS-80 model 100, that was a joke in the day, and considered to be a word processor plus be on the list and not a Commodore 64 or 128???

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Harry McCracken explained why the C64 was excluded in his blog.

[bastion]

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I just don't get this list. How can Alienware, which is a fancy overpriced PC and a tandy TRS-80 model 100, that was a joke in the day, and considered to be a word processor plus be on the list and not a Commodore 64 or 128???

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There's clearly a lot of subjectivity in this, but I think it's mostly about the perceived impact of the system in retrospect. As cool as the C128 was, it had about as much long term meaning for the industry as the Apple /// did and I'd guess you can find roughly equal numbers of people who've even heard of either. The C64 is a much more interesting machine from a historical standpoint, but I don't think some of benefits you're claiming for it actually work as differentiators.
We ran the family business on it, I had 1000s of floppies with demos, graphics, music, games and so much more.
The same could be said about several other machines of that era. I had a neighbor that ran a business on a Timex/Sinclar 1000.
We had Color graphic BBS systems with file transfers long before the internet took hold.
As did the Apple II and the IBM PC. I remember multiple BBS packages for the Apple II that, with a suitable terminal program on the client, offered pull-down menus in graphical or ASCII-art formats.
the Apple II line could not stack up against the better graphics, sound, and programability that the 64 offered.
The C64 did not have better graphics or programmability than the contemporary Apple II. Stock sound, yes. But the graphics were comparable and the stock and after-market programming facilities for the II were much better than those available for the Commodore machines.
I mean what other computer system do you know that you could actually write a program in the floppy drive and make the read/write heads make music? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Any in which the drives were significantly audible. Don't know that I've ever heard someone sing the praises of the 1541 before, though. I've also seen recognizable music come from impact printers.

[kms007]

This list can't be complete without adding the Apple ///.
/kidding /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif