The
Mac (known as the Macintosh until 1999) is a family of
personal computers designed and marketed by
Apple Inc. The product lineup includes the
MacBook Air and
MacBook Pro laptops, and the
iMac,
Mac Mini,
Mac Studio, and
Mac Pro desktops. Macs are sold with the
macOS operating system, previously known as OS X. The Macintosh project was conceived by
Jef Raskin in 1979 and then redefined in 1981 by Apple co-founder
Steve Jobs,
the first model being introduced in 1984 through
an advertisement played during
Super Bowl XVIII. The product evolved with the introduction of color in 1987 with the
Macintosh II, and a new processor line in the
Power Macintosh in 1994. Through most of the 1990s, the Mac was not fully competitive with commodity
IBM PC compatibles. Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996 and subsequently returned the Mac to the mainstream with the launch of the
iMac series OS X. Many users, especially professionals, felt that the Mac was neglected during the 2010s under CEO
Tim Cook, but
a new line of Macs with the
Apple silicon chipset has received more positive reviews. This photograph shows Jobs with the first Mac, at the time of its launch on January 24, 1984. The image on the computer screen is a digitized version of
A Woman Combing Her Hair, a painting by the Japanese artist
Goyō Hashiguchi.
Photograph credit: Bernard Gotfryd; edited by W.carter and Janke