Amazing Technology (Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh)

How do you mark with prestige and elegance the 20th birthday of the most influential and important company in the history of the microcomputer? For 20 years, Apple had the will and motivation to create a new design rather than a new computer. The designers, with Jonathan Ive at their head describe the principal design features as beautiful, refined, with few cables and efficiency, and most important, wicked fast.

Spartacus, the computer of the 20 year old Apple, overflows with new ideas that are all different from previous models. The mouse is a trackpad, as to limit clutter and space, the trackpad could be removed from the keyboard, if a user felt so inspired, thanks to a cable that lays nested inside the keyboard. The base of the computer is big enough to allow for the entire keyboard to be slipped under for storage, not unlike the iMac G5. Additionally, the base can be used as a handle for the computer.

The printer, modem and keyboard cables are all hidden behind the machines in grooves in which they are nested, to avoid the cluttering and tangling of cables. A button on the front will automatically change the computer from television mode to computer mode. The transformer and the subwoofer are in a single case, that use one cable to provide power and sound to the machine.

The result is reminiscent of a Bang and Olufsen product, with all the qualities of a computer and hi-fi system. Its price, 50,000 francs at introduction (eventually dropping to 25,000 francs at its discontinuation). The machine can easily command thousands of francs, even today.

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