Display Collection
Original iPhone (8GB)
Original iPod (5GB)
3G iPod (10GB)
3G iPod Shuffle (4GB)
6G iPod nano (8GB)
iPhone 4 Logic Board
Motorola 68030 & 68851
Original Macintosh Mouse
PowerPC G3 CPU
Original Macintosh Manual
Original Apple TV
This collection of odds and ends lives in the display cabinet in my living room. It
includes some truly revolutionary products, some important evolutionary products, and
some evolutionary dead ends. You will see some of these products discussed below.
Apple II
1MHz MOS 6502 CPU
1/8 megs RAM
320KB rotating storage
NTSC-resolution video
Apple ProDOS 1.2
Introduced June 1977
The Apple II signaled the beginning of the personal computer age. Introduced at the
West Coast Computer Faire in 1977, alongside the Commodore PET and Tandy TRS-80, the
Apple II still has a devoted following nearly 40 years later. I personally have an
Apple IIc+ in the picture above, and I use it for playing old games on our TV.
The Macintosh
8MHz Motorola 68000 CPU
1/8 megs RAM
400KB rotating storage
9” B&W CRT (512×342)
System 1-3.2
Introduced January 1984
The original Macintosh is the epitome of a revolutionary machine. This computer gets
much of the credit for introducing the concept of the GUI to the public, and as the
first computer affordable to the general consumer to feature a GIU. It introduced
most people to the mouse, windows, icons, menus, and what we recognize as a computer
still to this day. I do not have a Macintosh 128K personally; the oldest that I own
and operate is a Macintosh SE from 1987.
iPhone
412MHz ARM 1176JZ(F)-S CPU
128 megs RAM
4 gigs solid state storage
3.5” integrated LCD (320x480)
iPhone OS 1-3.1.3
Introduced January 2007
"The phone that changed phones forever." This was how the original iPhone was referenced
during the introduction of the iPhone 4, and it rings true. As the first wildly popular
consumer smartphone, the iPhone set out to influence phones for the next decade. It
popularized multi-touch, software keyboards, the all-touchscreen phone, and ease
of use for average consumer wishes. Millions of people already knew how to work an
iPod, and the iPhone was just as simple to sync media to. It is one of the few single
products that one can point to and call a revolution. I stil have my original 4GB
iPhone on my desk, and a pristine 8GB model graces my display cabinet.
iPod - Hits
The iPod became something of an icon of the early-mid 2000s before being eclipsed by the iPhone. As with many things that Apple came out with, it was not the first of its kind, but it was the first to fuse together multiple technologies into something that eclipsed others on the market. The iPod combined a music player with a small, high-capacity hard disk, a simplified UI, and simple software to sync music onto the player that made for a winning combination. The iPod and its successors went on to dominate the music player market, eventually settling above 90% market share. In my collection, I have a first-generation iPod.
iPods - Misses
Not every iteration of the iPod was set up for success. Some were definite duds,
based on their features or lack thereof. The two most notable examples of these that
I have in my collection are the third generation iPod shuffle and the sixth generation
iPod nano.
The third generation shuffle was the ultimate expression of Steve Jobs' war on buttons.
An iPod that had no physical controls aside from a switch to turn it on and off was
in interesting design choice, but one that ultimately did not bear out. It was replaced
very shortly thereafter by the current iPod shuffle, which restored physical buttons.
Disclaimer about the sixth generation iPod nano; I have a second one that I actually
use and enjoy as an iPod. Regardless, in this iPod, Apple ditched the signature
click wheel and replaced it with a 1.5" touchscreen. Aside from the lack of features
that the previous nano had offered, such as video capture and playback, the tiny screen
makes navigating the iPod difficult for those with large fingers. Nevertheless, this
was one of the most fascinating iPods that has come out of Apple, and I truly enjoy
mine. I have a silver one in my collection, and a blue one that I use as my iPod.