My Favorite Apple Products From the Last 50 Years

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let's take a look back at Apple history. 

So today is Apple's 50th birthday. It was founded on April 1, 1976. Now there is a lot of history to look back on so I thought I'd take a personal approach today and talk about the products that influenced me the most. I encourage you to think about the Apple products that you like the most or that changed your life and let me know what they were in the comments below.

I'm going to start all the way at the beginning. Now I was only 6 when the first Apple computer came out. But by the time I reached high school I was using Apple 2 a lot. At one point I got my own Apple 2E at home. I used this thing all the time. I did a lot of basic programming on it and eventually that led me to go to college for computer science. When I started college in the 80s my university actually required that you get a computer. Very unusual for that time. Not just any computer, a Mac! So my first week of college I picked up my Mac SE. I used this machine for the next five plus years to program, to do Desktop Publishing, and used for just about everything.

For my next Mac I needed something portable. By then Apple had started producing PowerBooks. So, I got this PowerBook 160. I loved this machine. I could bring it with me to the library and to class. Back then that was unusual. I was often the only student with a laptop. I connected another display to this and I used it for lots of programming, Desktop Publishing, and to start my own business.

After that I went through a series of Macs, including the PowerMac 8500 and others. But eventually in 2009 I got this MacPro and I used it for almost ten years. It was the most expensive Mac I ever bought. But on a year per year basis it may have been the cheapest. Shortly afterwards I bought another Mac that I remember fondly. That's the 11 inch MacBook Air. This was the beginning of me having a powerful Desktop Mac and a lightweight laptop that I could bring everywhere with me. I still do that today with the Mac Studio on my desk and a new MacBook Neo that I carry around.

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But computers weren't the only Apple products that had a major influence on my life. I'm a huge music fan and always have been. So when the iPod came out it really changed how I listened to music. Suddenly I could bring most, and soon all, of my record collection with me everywhere. I went through a series of iPods and eventually the iPhone took over as my portable music player.

Speaking of the iPhone, of course, that was also a major product for me. This is the iPhone 4 where I really think the iPhone took off. I can even see when I look through my photos that I took way more photos with the iPhone 4 than anyone before. It's been pretty consistent since then. It was at this point that the iPhone became so super valuable as a camera that was always with you, a music player, a way to access your email, webpages, and everything.

Then, of course, there's the iPad. The iPad is a little special to me because at that point I had written a lot of computer programming books and my publisher wanted me to write a book on the iPad when it first came out. There ended up being more than 11 standard and special editions of My iPad. It was translated into languages all over the world and it often topped sales charts. This book was not only an important part of my career but also really helped MacMost to grow.

There's one more product I have to include because I love it. That's AirPods. I was a little reluctant when they first came out because I thought I would lose them. But I never did. I loved listening to music and with AirPods I have a high quality way to listen to music pretty much everywhere. I've also used them to listen to hundreds of audio books. As a matter of fact when you think in terms of benefits versus cost or benefits versus weight, nothing beats the AirPods.

So happy birthday Apple. I can't wait to see which great products you come out with over the next 50 year. Thanks for watching.