Welcome To Macintosh
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When Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne started Apple Computers in 1976, their goal was to market the Apple I, which Wozniak built by hand. Certain that the company would fail, Wayne sold his share back to his partners for $800 and jumped ship. It may not have been quite as bad as Decca Records refusing to offer the Beatles a recording contract, but it was a pretty unfortunate decision just the same.
The Apple I was reborn in 1984 as the Macintosh. It was easy to use and it found immediate success. Since then, Jobs and Wozniak have experienced more than one downturn. But still, nobody disputes the fact that the Macintosh revolutionized personal computing and made it accessible to everybody, and will remain a force to be reckoned with for a long time.
How much do you know about Macintosh? Take the following quiz and find out.
Posted 24 Dec 2009
When the first Macintosh was introduced in 1984, what new feature did it introduce?
- A mouse
- A printer
- A screen
- Speakers
It's hard to imagine a personal computer that doesn't have a mouse, but when the first Macintosh debuted in January 1984, it was the first to have one. In the past, human interaction with a computer was only possible by typing long strings of backslashes, underscores and hyphens onto a text-only screen. The mouse made all that typing and code unnecessary, by allowing users to interact with a screen full of folders, icons and trash cans.
Apple bought all 39 pages of advertising in the November 1984 issue of what magazine?
- Forbes
- Newsweek
- U.S. News & World Report
- The Watchtower
Calling the Macintosh "the most powerful, most portable, most versatile computer not-very-much-money could buy," Apple ran advertisements for their signature product on all 39 advertising pages of Newsweek's special election issue in November 1984. Each page celebrated the virtues of the Mac and featured personal accounts of its user-friendliness from satisfied customers.
Who directed the first Macintosh television commercial?
- James Cameron
- George Lucas
- Ridley Scott
- Steven Spielberg
The Macintosh was introduced to the public in a commercial directed by Ridley Scott of "Gladiator" fame. The spot was titled "1984," and it aired during that same year's Super Bowl. Leaning heavily on references to George Orwell's novel, it depicted an industrialized dictatorship where fascist slogans are shouted at mouth-breathing drones from a huge television screen broadcasting a tyrant from above them. A blond woman dressed for aerobics class is chased by truncheon-wielding militia goons into this setting, and hurls a sledgehammer into the monitor, shattering it. The onscreen "Big Brother" character was likely a depiction of the IBM corporation who, one presumes, Macintosh was out to smash with a sledgehammer.
What was the name of the second Macintosh model?
- Mac II
- Mac 2.0
- Mac Plus
- Mac Ultra
As popular as the first Mac was, it had very little memory, and expanding the small amount that it did have was a convoluted process at best. This situation was first addressed when the Mac was upgraded to the Mac Plus. Released in January 1986, it came with one megabyte of memory, plus a floppy drive with an 800 KB capacity. Today this doesn't seem even slightly like an improvement, but in 1986 this was considered a vast upgrade. As a result, the Mac Plus flew off of store shelves and remained unchanged for nearly five years.
How many iMacs sold in the first 139 days since their release?
- None
- 800,000
- 1,800,000
- 10,000,800,000
Apple introduced the iMac in 1998, and it sold 800,000 units in its first 139 days. The all-in-one computer introduced several elements that are standard today, such as two USB ports and a compact disc burner for data storage, as opposed to a floppy drive. It received frenzied accolades in Forbes magazine, which hailed the iMac as an "industry-altering success." The game-changing computer was ultimately responsible for over $300 million in revenue in 1998, the first time the company had turned a profit in three years.
How much did the Macintosh Classic cost when it was released in 1990?
- $299
- $699
- $999
- $2999
When the Macintosh Classic was released in 1990, it had a sticker price of $999, and the lower cost signified a change in attitude for Apple. The company had originally positioned themselves as providers of high-end computers for selective customers, but the inexpensive price tag on the newly released Microsoft Windows 3.0 gave Apple stiff competition. They responded by releasing the Macintosh Classic, which was basically a cheaper version of the Macintosh Plus. The Macintosh LC and the Macintosh Iisi were also released, selling at $1800 and $2500 respectively.
What is the name of the seventh major release of Mac OS X?
- Celtic Frost
- Frost Giant
- Ice Titan
- Snow Leopard
The seventh and most current Mac OS X operating system is version 10.6, also known as "Snow Leopard." In 2001, version 10.0 of the operating system was dubbed "Cheetah," and every new upgrade since then has been named after a predatory feline of some sort, such as "Panther" or "Tiger." Unlike previous operating system upgrades, Snow Leopard doesn't introduce major new features. Instead, it enhances the performance of the previous operating system, version 10.5, also known simply as "Leopard."
What false rumor about Steve Jobs was accidentally published by the Bloomberg financial newswire in August 2008?
- Steve Jobs becomes a contestant on "Dancing With The Stars"
- Steve Jobs dies
- Steve Jobs is dating comedian Kathy Griffin
- Steve Jobs quits Apple
Many news organizations keep draft obituaries on file for public figures, in the event that they should pass away. In August 2008, the Bloomberg financial newswire had such a page prepared for Apple's CEO. Jobs had just beaten cancer a few months before, but the draft obituary remained in the Bloomberg vaults, and the page was accidentally published. Once it became clear that Jobs was, in fact, still very much alive, Bloomberg retracted the obituary and removed it from the website.
Approximately how many Macs did Apple ship for the 2008 holiday season?
- 500,000
- 1.5 million
- 2.5 million
- 5 million
In January 2009, Apple reported the shipment of over 2.5 million Macs during the 2008 Christmas season. The company had seen steady increases in their sales from 2001 to 2008, due in large part to the success of the iPod and the iPhone, and the increasing brand awareness that came with it. This was all the more remarkable considering that the 2008 holiday shopping season took place during a major recession. Apple CEO Steve Jobs took this as a vote of confidence. "Even in these economically challenging times," he said, "we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history -- surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever."
What was the least expensive Macintosh ever released?
- Li'l Mac
- Mac Junior
- Mac Mini
- Wee Mac
The Mac Mini was released in January 2005, and at $499 it was the lowest-priced model in Mac history. The low price was meant to give Windows users a rationale for switching to Mac that was too sweet to pass up. "We want to price this Mac so that people who are thinking of switching will have no excuse," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Your score:
- iMac
You are the ultimate all-in-one.
Check for latest showtimes - Mac Mini
Not perfect, but you get the job done.
Check for latest showtimes - Mac Plus
You could use more internal storage capacity.
Check for latest showtimes
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
