20 Macs

Latest Episodes:

18: Original Macintosh (#3) Dec 18, 2020

Show notes

The first Mac followed in the Lisa's footsteps and had a lot of limitations--but it changed the course of the computer industry forever.

Guest Starring:

Shelly Brisbin, John Siracusa, James Thomson, John Gruber, Harry McCracken, and Rick LePage

17: MacBook Air (#4) Dec 11, 2020

Show notes

Apple's first attempt at the ultimate thin and light laptop was overpriced and underpowered. The second attempt resulted in the definitive Mac of the 2010s.

Guest Starring:

Christina Warren, Shelly Brisbin, Dan Moren, Stephen Hackett, John Siracusa, James Thomson, John Gruber, Harry McCracken, and Rick LePage

Links and Show Notes:

20 Macs for 2020 on Six Colors

16: Titanium PowerBook G4 (#5) Dec 04, 2020

Show notes

Apple's first metallic silver laptop set the company on a path that it's been on for two decades and counting, but it also proved that the company still had a lot to learn.

Guest Starring:

Christina Warren, John Siracusa, John Gruber, and Rick LePage

Links and Show Notes:

Slide projector sound by Paul Michael Browne via Freesound.

15: Mac SE/30 (#6) Nov 20, 2020

Show notes

What's the best Mac of all time? It's an impossible question to answer. Yet three well-known Mac commentators all have the same answer.

Guest Starring:

John Siracusa, John Gruber, and Adam Engst

Links and Show Notes:

SE/30 chapter art by Wikimedia Commons user Danamania.

20 Macs for 2020 on Six Colors

Macworld: Best Mac Ever?

14: iBook G3 (#7) Nov 13, 2020

Show notes

After a lot of speculation, Steve Jobs finally filled in the Mac's fourth product quadrant with a consumer laptop that was one of a kind. But what's a "consumer laptop," really?

Guest Starring:

Shelly Brisbin, Stephen Hackett, John Siracusa, James Thomson, John Gruber, and Harry McCracken

Links and Show Notes:

20 Macs for 2020 at Six Colors

13: Power Mac G4 Cube (#8) Nov 06, 2020

Show notes

There may have never been a Mac more aligned with Steve Jobs's personal quirks than the Power Mac G4 Cube. It was a spectacular failure.

Guest Starring:

Quinn Rose, Shelly Brisbin, Stephen Hackett, John Siracusa, James Thomson, John Gruber, and Harry McCracken

Links and Show Notes:

CNET: Apple expected to sell 3x more Cubes

Macworld: 10th Anniversary of the Cube

Steven Levy on the 20th anniversary of the Cube

Apple Puts Power Mac G4 Cube on Ice (PR)

12: iMac G4 (#9) Oct 30, 2020

Show notes

One of Apple's greatest design triumphs was meant to set the company up for the next decade. Instead, it became a false start--and a rejected design direction ended up being more functional, if less inspirational.

Guest Starring:

Shelly Brisbin, Stephen Hackett, John Siracusa, James Thomson, John Gruber, Paul Kafasis, and Harry McCracken

Links and Show Notes:

20 Macs for 2020 at Six Colors

11: Power Computing (#10) Oct 23, 2020

Show notes

For a couple of years in the mid-90s, the Mac market was enthralled by a clonemaker with great deals and riotous marketing.

Guest Starring:

Shelly Brisbin, John Siracusa, James Thomson, John Gruber, Rick LePage, and Mike Rosenfelt

Links and Show Notes:

20 Macs for 2020 at Six Colors

10: Mac Portable (#11) Oct 09, 2020

Show notes

Thank goodness there are second chances, because Apple's first attempt to make a portable Macintosh was as inauspicious at it gets.

Guest Starring:

Shelly Brisbin, Stephen Hackett, John Siracusa, John Gruber, and Harry McCracken

Links and Show Notes:

Brian Hamilton provided postproduction help. Thanks to Paul Kafasis for the inspiration for the Space Shuttle deep dive.

In an era where Apple liked to show concepts from its design lab in public, one weird Mac prototype somehow became a real product, and was unveiled at the end of the worst Apple keynote in history.