Why Macs are Great

In 1976, A young Steve Jobs quit his job at Atari. Along with him was Steve Wozniak. Together in Jobs' garage they created the Apple I. It sold for $666.66 at their local electronics shop. By the time the Apple II rolled around, the boys had revolutionized personal computing.

Jobs and Wozniak created the first graphical user interface (GUI) the kind you and I use today. Later, Wozniak left the company after a plane crash, which led to short term memory loss.

In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh. The "low cost computer." In 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple after a power struggle with John Sculley. Later that year Jobs founded NeXT. The OPENSTEP system he created there is what much of Mac OS X is built on today.

Apple began to fail with overpriced computers and the cheap PCs. Soon they bought out Steve Jobs' company NeXT in an attempt to regain their former success. Jobs pulled the company out of the gutter. He introduced Mac OS X, the revolutionary operating system, the Apple retail stores, and of course of iPod.

In 2006 Apple began a partnership with Intel. Soon all the computers were running on their chips, bringing the ability to run Windows on a Mac as well. In 2007 the computer changed its name from Apple Computers to Apple, as well as announcing the iPhone.

In 2008 the App Store was launched to sell third-party apps to iPhone and iPod touch users.

The Mac Mini is the smallest, as well as the least expenisive computer in the Apple lineup. It is best suited for casual users, email, web browsing, etc. No heavy work. Another common use is as a media center. Many people attach it to their TV, they view or listen to their pictures, videos, and music. Some people even use Hulu.com to watch their favorite shows.

The all-in-one desktop computer solution. The prices are as low as ever, and are perfect for casual users and professionals. Its slim and sleek, made of aluminum and glass.

The iMac comes in two screen sizes, 20" and 24".

The MacBook Air is a revolutionary computer, completely abondoning the disk drive, as well as all but 3 ports. All this in an effort to obtain thinness. Having the world's thinnest laptop does not come cheap, however. Due to a recent update, though, the MacBook Air has dropped in price by $700. The MacBook Air now runs at $1500 for the lower end model, and $1700 for the higher end one.

Photo courtesy of Dan Taylor

The MacBook is the entry level laptop from Apple. It comes in one version, costing $999. The MacBook has a polycarbonate shell and comes in one color, white. It is perfect for students and the casual users. If you are pro or have high processing demands and need a laptop, check out the MacBook Pro

Image courtesy of raybdbomb

The MacBook Pro is, (obviously) the next level up from the MacBook. It comes in 3 different screen sizes, 13", 15", and 17". The 13" and and the 15" support of to 4GB RAM, making them faster than the average desktop PC. The 17" can have over double that, 8GB!

The MacBook Pros are ideal for anyone who needs to be mobile, without giving up performance. Many people buy an external screen and use their Pro as their desktop when not traveling. This kind of setup is pictured here.