Macintosh 128K | 1984
Macintosh 128K
The Macintosh, later renamed the Macintosh 128K, was Apple's first personal computer in the Macintosh line. It was the first successful all-in-one desktop computer for the mass market equipped with a graphical user interface (GUI), built-in screen, and mouse. The Macintosh played a significant role in establishing desktop publishing as a common office task. The computer was housed in a beige case that included a 9-inch (23 cm) CRT monochrome monitor and a floppy disk drive, along with a portable handle, keyboard, and a single-button mouse.
The Macintosh was introduced through Ridley Scott's television advertisement "1984," which aired during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. The ad created a significant impact, and the Macintosh 128K was released on January 24 of the same year. The initial price was $2,495, equivalent to about $7,300 in 2023. By May 3, 1984, 70,000 units had been sold. Following the release of the Macintosh 512K, the original Macintosh 128K was renamed. The model number for the Macintosh was M0001.
Development of the Macintosh began in 1978. Apple planned to create a next-generation computer as part of the Lisa project, aiming for a machine similar to the advanced Apple II before the emergence of the IBM PC. In 1979, Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs learned about advanced GUI work being done at Xerox PARC, which led to opportunities for Apple engineers to visit PARC. This visit shifted the direction of Apple's Lisa project to incorporate a GUI, although at that time, the performance of microprocessors was insufficient to realize it. However, with the release of Motorola's 16/32-bit 68k processor in 1979, the possibility of implementing a GUI increased. The basic design of the Lisa project was completed, but due to Jobs' continuous demands for improvements, he was pushed out of the project and turned his attention to the Macintosh project.
The Macintosh project was initiated by Jeff Raskin. Initially, it aimed to create a low-cost, user-friendly machine that supported multitasking without using a GUI. However, later proposals modified Raskin's ideas to integrate the Lisa's 68k processor to run graphical programs. In December 1980, Burrell Smith designed a board that integrated the 68k, allowing for production at a much lower cost than the Lisa. The final design of the Macintosh featured 64KB of ROM with the QuickDraw graphics language and 128KB of RAM, reducing production costs, and it included a 9-inch (23 cm) monochrome display with a resolution of 512x342 pixels.
Steve Jobs took over the Macintosh project, believing it to be more marketable than the Lisa's successor. This led to the departure of Jeff Raskin, the previous leader of the Macintosh project. The final design of the Macintosh was completed in a form closer to Jobs' vision.
In early 1982, Apple hired Regis McKenna to establish a marketing strategy for the Macintosh. McKenna later worked with Jane Anderson, Katie Cadigan, and Andy Cunningham to lead the Macintosh launch plans. The marketing for the Macintosh's release introduced various product launch strategies that we know today, including "exclusive events" and methods to create mystique around the product.
The Macintosh 128K model was announced in October 1983, followed by an 18-page promotional brochure included in various magazines in December. The $1.5 million Ridley Scott advertisement "1984," aired during Super Bowl XVIII, created a global sensation. The ad compared IBM's dominance to "Big Brother," portraying the Macintosh as the computer that would save humanity.
Two days after the "1984" ad aired, the Macintosh was officially launched, and the Macintosh 128K was bundled with two software applications, MacWrite and MacPaint. The Macintosh was the first successful all-in-one desktop personal computer equipped with a graphical user interface, built-in screen, and mouse. Steve Jobs unveiled it during the first keynote speech, and the computer received an immediate enthusiastic response, although some criticized it as merely a "toy." Apple marketed the Macintosh alongside the popular Apple II, which was discontinued by the 1990s.
The graphics-centric operating system of the Macintosh was incompatible with existing text-based applications, leading many developers to hesitate in redesigning and recoding for it. As a result, there was a shortage of software for the Macintosh initially, but Microsoft ported 'Multiplan' from MS-DOS in April 1984 and released 'Microsoft Word' in January 1985. That same year, Apple launched the Macintosh Office suite, but the "Lemmings" ad failed due to its derogatory content towards potential customers.
Apple spent $2.5 million to purchase a special 39-page insert in Newsweek and offered a promotion called "Try a Macintosh," allowing customers to rent a Macintosh for 24 hours with just a credit card. Although 200,000 people participated in this promotion, supply issues failed to meet demand, and many customers damaged the devices they used, making them unsellable, leading to complaints from retailers. Nevertheless, the Macintosh sold well, with one dealership experiencing over 600 backorders. By April 1984, Apple had sold 50,000 units and aimed to sell 70,000 by early May, planning to reach 250,000 by the end of the year.
The heart of the Macintosh was the Motorola 68000 microprocessor operating at 7.8336 MHz, with 128KB of RAM shared between the processor and display controller. The boot procedure and some operating system routines were stored in a 64KB ROM chip. Apple did not offer RAM upgrades, and unlike the Apple II, the source code listing for the Macintosh system ROM was not provided.
The Macintosh's RAM consisted of 16 64k×1 DRAM chips. The 68000 processor and video controller alternated accessing the DRAM every four CPU cycles while displaying the screen buffer, and the 68000 processor could access the DRAM without restriction during vertical and horizontal blanking intervals. This method often blocked CPU access to RAM, reducing CPU performance by about 35%. Despite the high clock speed, this made the Macintosh operate slower than some competing products, resulting in an effective clock speed of 6 MHz.
The built-in display of the Macintosh was a 9-inch CRT with a resolution of 512 × 342 pixels. This display used Apple's standard of 72 pixels per inch (ppi), which was soon discarded as higher resolution screens emerged. Expandability and networking were achieved through two non-standard DE-9 serial ports named "Printer" and "Modem." These ports supported the RS-422 standard but did not support hardware handshaking. An external floppy disk drive could be added using a proprietary 19-pin D-sub connector.
The keyboard used a simple proprietary protocol and allowed for some third-party upgrades. The mouse used standard quadrature signals for the X and Y axes, with a single mouse button connected by a single wire. The original keyboard lacked arrow keys, a numeric keypad, and function keys. Apple believed that adding these keys would encourage software developers to design new programs suited to the new GUI paradigm rather than simply porting existing applications from older platforms. Later, Apple provided a numeric keypad for the Macintosh 128K, and the keyboard for the Macintosh Plus model included a numeric keypad and arrow keys, but still lacked function keys. Function keys first appeared in 1987 with the Macintosh II and Macintosh SE's extended keyboard. Like the Apple Lisa, the mouse had only one button.
Standard headphones could be connected to a monaural jack on the back of the computer. Apple also provided 300 and 1200 baud modems, which were first released in the Apple II line. Initially, only the Apple ImageWriter dot matrix printer could be used. This printer was designed to produce 144dpi WYSIWYG output from the Macintosh's 72dpi screen. Later, LaserWriters and other printers could be connected through Apple's built-in networking system, AppleTalk.
The Macintosh included a single 400KB single-sided 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, with no options for adding a hard drive or additional floppy disk drives. The system software (Mac OS) was designed from the beginning to be disk-based, and to save RAM, the "startup disk" could be temporarily ejected. (Ejecting the root file system was a unique feature in classic Mac OS up to System 7.) A single floppy disk could store the system software, applications, and data files generated by applications.
The 400KB drive capacity was larger than the 360KB 5.25-inch drive of the PC XT. However, in the more complex working environment of the time, separate disks were needed for documents and system installations. Due to the memory constraints of the Macintosh 128K (128KB) and the 400KB capacity of the floppy disk, users had to frequently swap disks, leading to more frequent use of external floppy drives. The external disk drive for the Macintosh (mechanically identical to the internal drive and using the same controller) was a popular accessory priced at $495 (approximately $1,450 in 2023).
Third-party hard drives were quite expensive and typically connected via slower serial ports, with some manufacturers opting for faster non-standard floppy ports. The Macintosh 128K could only use the original Macintosh file system released in 1984.
The Macintosh units relied on natural heat dissipation without fans. This made them quiet during operation, reflecting Steve Jobs' demand to avoid fans, as he believed they would distract users from completing their tasks. However, the absence of fans was reported to be a major cause of costly component failures in the first four models of the Macintosh. This led to the emergence of third-party products that provided external cooling fans. These fans were mounted on the handle of the Macintosh, forcing air through existing ventilation holes.
The Macintosh was shipped with the first system and Finder applications known as "System 1.0" (officially "System 0.97" and "Finder 1.0"). The original Macintosh was discontinued after three upgrades. Apple recommended System 2.0 and Finder 4.2, while System 3.2 and Finder 5.3 were the maximum versions. System 4.0 was distributed on 800KB floppy disks, which the Macintosh 128K did not support.
The Macintosh bundled two applications, MacPaint and MacWrite. Other available applications included MacProject, MacTerminal, and Microsoft Word. Programming languages available at the time included MacBASIC, MacPascal, and the Macintosh 68000 development system. The Macintosh also came with a unique guided tour cassette tape, helping most new Macintosh users learn to use the mouse for the first time and familiarize themselves with the bundled applications.
Jobs stated, "Customization is mostly about software now. Most of the options of other computers are all in the Mac," emphasizing that unlike the Apple II, the Macintosh 128K did not require slots. Slots were deemed costly and required larger sizes and more power. The Macintosh 128K was officially not user-upgradable, and only Apple service centers had the authority to open the case. However, some third-party companies offered RAM upgrades and memory and CPU upgrades, allowing the original 128K Mac to be expanded to 4MB, with a 32-bit data path, 68020 CPU (16MHz), 68881 FPU (16MHz), 68851 MMU (16MHz), and an external SCSI port (connected through a ribbon cable via the battery door), as well as an internal SCSI hard drive (20MB Rodime) and a piezo fan for cooling. These upgrades were featured on the cover of Macworld magazine in August 1986 with the title "Faster than a Vax."
All accessories were external devices. For example, there were products like MacCharlie that added IBM PC compatibility. While internal storage or additional RAM and upgrade cards could not be added, some Macintosh engineers secretly developed solutions against Jobs' ideas. For instance, the Macintosh was originally designed to support only 128KB of system RAM with 17 address lines, but the design team secretly added two address lines to allow for expansion to 512KB. However, upgrading the system RAM was very difficult, requiring additional RAM chips to be stacked on top of the existing 4164 chips.
In September 1984, after many complaints about the Macintosh's insufficient RAM, Apple officially released the Macintosh 512K model. This had been planned from the beginning, but Jobs insisted that if users needed more RAM than the Mac 128, they should buy the Mac 512. When the Mac 512 was released, Apple rebranded the original model as "Macintosh 128K" and modified the motherboard to allow for easier RAM upgrades. Hardware-wise, upgrading RAM required a motherboard replacement, which was priced similarly to a new computer. Alternatively, third-party chip replacement upgrades were available, but these were expensive and voided Apple's warranty.
The original Mac 128K with 64KB of ROM was not compatible with Apple's external 800KB drives or the 20MB hard disk. The latest Mac 128K with 128KB of ROM could use both internal and external 800KB drives and HFS, HD20, and could output on the AppleShare network, but file sharing was not possible due to limited RAM.
By early 1985, most Mac software required 512KB of memory. Apple sold an official memory upgrade for the Macintosh 128K, which effectively changed it to a Macintosh 512K, including a motherboard replacement. The price was $995, and it also included an 800KB floppy disk drive kit and 128K ROM. Finally, the Mac 128K could be upgraded to a Macintosh Plus by replacing the logic board and case back and optionally adding the Macintosh Plus extended keyboard. All these upgrades had to be performed by Apple professionals, and there were technicians at Apple who refused to work on a Mac 512K without upgrades. Official upgrades cost $700, while third-party versions were around $300.
In early 1982, the original Macintosh included signatures from the Macintosh department inside the case. These signatures included Peggy Alexio, Colette Aislinn, Bill Atkinson, Steve Ballmer, Bob Belleville, Mike Boich, Bill Budge, Matt Carter, Barry Cash, Debbie Coleman, George Crow, Don Denman, Christopher Espinosa, Bill Fernandez, Martin Heberley, Andy Hertzfeld, Joanna Hoffman, Rod Holt, Bruce Horn, Hap Hon, Brian Howard, Steve Jobs, Larry Kenyon, Patty King, Daniel Kottke, Angeline Lo, Ivan Mach, Gerald Manock, Mary Ellen McCammon, Vicki Millidge, Mike Murray, Ron Nicholson, Terry Oyama, Benjamin Pang, Jeff Raskin, Ed Riddle, Brian Robertson, Dave Root, Patricia Sharp, Burrell Smith, Brian Stearns, Lynn Takahashi, Guy "Bird" Treble, Randy Wigginton, Linda Wilkin, Steve Wozniak, Pamela Wyman, and Laszlo Zidek.
The Macintosh 128K/512K models also included an Easter egg in the OS ROM. If a user entered G 4188A4 in the system debugger, a low-resolution copy of the Apple logo and the message "STOLEN FROM APPLE COMPUTER" would appear in the upper left corner of the screen. This was intended to prevent the theft of Apple's copyrights as many Apple II clones emerged. Jobs believed that if Mac clones appeared on the market and legal issues arose, this Easter egg could prove that the Mac was using illegally copied ROMs. The Macintosh SE provided an additional slideshow of four photos of the Apple design team when G 41D89A was entered.
In January 1984, Eric Sandberg-Diment of The New York Times stated that the Macintosh "heralds a revolution in personal computing." He preferred a larger screen and referred to the lack of color as a "mistake," but praised the "refreshingly sharp and clean" display and the absence of fan noise. In February, Ronald Rosenberg of The Boston Globe wrote that "there is euphoria about how the Macintosh will change the way Americans use computers," stating, "Anyone who uses this little machine will be captivated by its capabilities." The computer was so appealing that in March, a dealer referred to it as "the first $2,500 impulse buy item."
In February, Greg Williams of BYTE praised the impressive hardware and software design but criticized the lack of a standard second disk drive. He predicted that this computer would popularize the 3½-inch floppy disk drive standard, enhance Apple's reputation, and "delay IBM's dominance in the personal computer market." He concluded that the Macintosh was "the most significant advancement in computing in the past five years." In an article published in May, Williams reported that "the initial response to the Macintosh was strong but not overwhelming." "Some traditional computer users viewed the concepts of the mouse, windows, and desktop as foolish and useless decorations, while others were outraged by the lack of color graphics, but most users were impressed by the machine and its capabilities." "Still, some expressed concerns about the relatively small 128K byte RAM size, the absence of a basic programming language, and the inconvenience of using a single disk drive."
Jerry Pournelle of BYTE added that "the Macintosh is only a good value when offered at a discount to professors and students at 24 universities." He noted that the Macintosh "attracted people who previously disliked computers," stating, "The mouse, pull-down menus, and icons seem to have a special appeal to those who feared outdated systems like A>."
