出典(authority):フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』「2015/02/15 15:55:38」(JST)
この項目では、アップルのパソコンシリーズについて説明しています。初代Macintoshについては「Macintosh 128K」を、その他の用法については「マッキントッシュ」をご覧ください。 |
この記事は検証可能な参考文献や出典が全く示されていないか、不十分です。 出典を追加して記事の信頼性向上にご協力ください。(2008年5月) |
Macintosh(マッキントッシュ)は、アップルが開発および販売を行っているパーソナルコンピュータ。通称・略称は、Mac(マック)。
Macintoshは、個人ユーザーの使い勝手を重視した設計思想を持ち、デザイン(グラフィックデザイン・イラストレーション・Webデザインなど)・音楽(DTM・DAW)・映像(ノンリニア編集・VFX)など表現の分野でよく使われる。DTPを一般化させたパソコンであり、書籍・雑誌などの組版 では主流のプラットフォームである。OSがUNIXベースの Mac OS X に移行して以来、UNIX系ソフトウェアが容易に移植できるようになり、理学・工学分野での採用例も増えた。アメリカ合衆国では教育分野(初等教育から高等教育機関)でよく利用される。
CPUには発売以来モトローラ製のMC68000系が採用されていたが、1994年にはIBM・モトローラとともにPowerPCを共同開発してMC68000系から切り替え、性能を飛躍的に向上させた。CPUは2006年からインテル製のもの(Core 2など)に切り替えられてPC/AT互換機(Microsoft Windows搭載機)とほぼ同様のハードウェアを持つようになった。インテル搭載機とMac OS X v10.5以降は、Mac OS 9.2.2以前のソフトウェアの実行環境(Classic環境)が廃止され、Mac OS 9.2.2以前用のソフトウェアが動作しなくなった。Mac OS X v10.7以降では、インテル対応ソフトウェアのみが動作するようになった。
一方、インテル搭載機では、現在無償で搭載されている切り替えソフト「Boot Camp」を使い、Windowsを別途購入してインストールすれば、OS XとWindowsを切り替えて利用することができるようになり、Windows機としての機能も持つようになった[1]。
1979年、開発チームのジェフ・ラスキン (Jef Raskin) が、当時の会長であるマイク・マークラに自分が好きな林檎の品種名から着想して綴りを変えた名称の「Macintosh」という製品のアイデアを話したことに始まる。本来の林檎の品種ではMcIntoshの綴りだが、主に同名のオーディオ製品と区別するために「Mc」の間に「a」を入れたことによって現在もそのまま用いられている[2]。ジェフ・ラスキンがはじめた「Macintosh」プロジェクトにおける設計案は、現在知られる「Macintosh」とは、基本的なコンセプトが大きく異なっており、(ラスキンがアップル退社後に開発したキヤノン・キャットに似た)テキストベースのインターフェースを持つマシンとして構想されていた[3]。
1980年以降、創業者スティーブ・ジョブズらがPARC を訪問した際に、PARCで動作していたアラン・ケイらが構築した暫定Dynabook環境にインスピレーションを得て、ジョブズが陣頭指揮を執るLisaのプロジェクトに大きな影響を与えることになる。Lisaプロジェクトから外されたジョブズがMacintoshプロジェクトをのっとったことにより、Smalltalkの流れを汲み、Lisaへと続くソフトウェアデザイン思想に、舵の方向が大きく切られることになった。その思想をもとに1984年1月24日に初代Macintoshが発売された。発売当時の価格は2495ドルであった。
ジェフ・ラスキンは、それ以前にアップルでApple IおよびApple IIのマニュアル作成を行っていた際、技術用語や命令口調の排除、カラー写真および画像の多用、背綴じでなくリングを使った綴じ方を採用し[4]ユーザが操作をしながら参照し易いようにする、などの配慮を怠らなかった。これらは当時のコンピュータ業界では新しい試みで、NASAの宇宙開発プロジェクトからヒントを得たとされている。彼は、これらマニュアルデザインの方向性、プロジェクト自体の立ちあげおよび名称の発案という点においては、発売後の「Macintosh」時代に足跡を残したといえる。
ハードウェアとしてのMacは一時期の互換機路線(パイオニア、akia、UMAXなどが互換機を製造した)を除けば、ほとんど単一メーカの製品であり、それが他の無数に存在する(PC/AT互換機)メーカ全ての対抗馬として意識され続けてきた。
2001年以降、Mac OS XがUNIXベースのものであること(Mac OS X v10.5からは正式なUNIXとなった[5])により、UNIXユーザの注目を集めている。Mac OS X v10.5からは正式にUNIXの認定を得ており[5]、販売ベースでは世界最大のUNIXマシンである。さらに、アップルは、Final Cutの買収と発売[6][7]以降、映像関係のアプリケーションをリリースして映像業界の市場を開拓した。一方、印刷・出版・デザイン・音楽関係などの古くからのユーザは Mac OS 9 以前のバージョンのOSを使用し続けていることが多かったが、現在ではそれらの業種でもMac OS Xが主流になっている。ただしDTP用途に用いる業種では、出版不況で収益が悪化した企業が多く、既に新規設備投資や新環境に対応できる人材確保を行うことが難しい状況になっており、移行が難航している場合がある[8]。
アップルは圧倒的シェアを誇るWindowsユーザ向けにもiPod・iPhoneやiTunesを提供し、アップル独自の使い勝手に親しんでもらうことによってMacへの移行を促すという戦略をとっており、近年のシェア向上に一役買っている。
Macの購入が検討される場合、Windows(特にMicrosoft Office)との互換性[9]が意識されることがしばしばある。アップルとの業務提携を結んだマイクロソフトはMac向けのMicrosoft Officeを提供し続け、Windowsとのデータ互換性も極めて高くなっているものの、Mac版Microsoft OfficeはWindows版とアプリケーションのバージョンが異なり、レイアウトなどにおいて完全には一致しない場合がある(Windows環境同士ですらアプリケーションのバージョンが違うと完全に一致しない場合がある)。
WindowsマシンとMacintoshを併用するユーザも少なくないことから、2006年にはアップルから「Boot Camp」のβ版が無償配布され、今日ではIntel Mac上でWindows XPおよび、Windows Vistaでの起動もできるようにもなっている(ただし、Intel Mac上でのWindowsの使用についてアップルによるサポートは一切ない)。Mac OS X v10.5には正式版のBoot Camp 2.0が搭載されている。
iPodの普及とインテル製CPUへの切り替えによって、Windowsを使っていたユーザにもMacへの親しみと安心感を与えることに成功し、特に米国でシェアを拡大、日本でも一部に波及している。シェア拡大の他の理由として、同等ハードウェア構成のWindows搭載機に比べた場合の、コストパフォーマンスの高さも指摘されている[10][11]。
アップルは、Mac以前の製品Apple IIや本格的なDTP時代の到来をもたらしたMacintosh IIシリーズでは、簡単に開けられるボディに高い拡張性をそなえ、ボードの交換サービスで旧機種との互換性を保ちつつ長寿命を実現した製品を発表してきた。その一方で、簡潔なデザインに到達するために、「過去との互換性は画期的な製品進歩の抵抗である」(創業者であるジョブズの発言[要出典])として大胆に切り捨てるのも、よく知られた同社の伝統である。かつての低価格機種であるPerformaやLC、Classic等のシリーズでは拡張スロット(バス)が1基ないしは2基採用されて来たが、iMacやiBookではFireWireやUSBによる外部拡張のみとする設計思想が明確になった。密閉されたボディをもち、拡張ボードを挿すためのスロットが一切設けられなかった初代Macintoshを再現するかのように、iMacにおけるPCIスロットの廃止や、iBookにおけるPCカードスロットの省略、MacBook Airにおけるメモリスロットの排除などが行われた。Mac ProやMacBook Proなどの拡張性の高い機種でハードの拡張を行うことによって、随時OS等の進歩についていくことが容易になる一方、ハードウェアの高性能化に追随するには内部拡張を行うより買い替えてしまったほうが割安な場合もある。
一時期、ハードウェアの製造ライセンスを他社(日本国内企業ではパイオニア、アキアなど)に与えてMacintosh互換機が登場したこともあったが、ジョブズ復帰後の方針転換により、現在[いつ?]では認められていない。
特定の機種を指す狭義の「Macintosh」という名称を持つ機種は初期のもの(いわゆるオリジナルの「128k」や「512k」と呼ばれるもの)にしかないが、機種ごとに、「Quadra」「Centris」「Performa」「Power Macintosh」「iMac」「eMac」「iBook」 など、アップルより発売された Mac OS/Mac OS X を搭載したシリーズ、機種(下記)をすべて含めて「Macintosh」あるいは「Mac」と称する。
「Power Macintosh」以前のデスクトップ機種である「Quadra」や「LC」「Classic」「Centris」の場合、上位機種の「Quadra」は搭載CPUのMC68040にちなんだ「4」を意味するラテン語のQuadからの造語、「LC」は低価格でカラー表記が可能な「ローコストカラー」の略で「LC」を意味すると言われている。「Classic」はMacintoshのローエンド機種として最も基本的な機能をそなえた機種であることから、「Centris」はQuadraとLCの中間のミドルレンジにあたる機種であり、「中間」を意味する「センター (Center) 」をもじったものであると思われる[要出典]。
また「iMac」「iBook」「iTunes」「iPod」などの「小文字iの次に大文字からはじまる単語」の組み合わせは、特に初心者にとっての明快さや低コストを重視して、多くの人に親しまれるハードやソフトに使われる名前として定着している。
インテルCPUへの移行に伴い、PowerBookの後継機として「MacBook Pro」、iBookの後継機として「MacBook」、先行して「Mac mini」が登場。後にPower Mac G5の後継として「Mac Pro」が登場し、サーバモデルの「Xserve」もインテルCPUに移行したことから、(iMacを除く機種では)下位モデルにはMacの名をそのまま用いた名称を名付け、その上位に当たるモデルに「Pro」の名を与えている。
長らく上位機種として存在していたPower Macintoshシリーズだが、実際の名称では青白のPower Macintosh G3シリーズまでを「Power Macintosh -」と称し、グラファイト化がなされたPower Mac G4シリーズ以降は全Power Mac G4または「Power Mac G5」と名付けられた。今までは愛称(もしくは略称)だった「Power Mac」が正式な名称として用いられるようになった。
現行モデルではコンピュータ本体の名称としての「Macintosh」は名を潜め、「Mac」に統一された。本体内蔵の起動ディスクの出荷時におけるボリュームラベルとして「Macintosh HD」の名を留めている(起動ドライブがハードディスクでない場合にもこの名称が用いられる)。
Macは外観設計思想の側面からも先駆的である。1980年にMacintosh開発に加わったジョアンナ・ホフマン (Joanna HOFFMAN) は、各々の言語に依存した部分を設計の基本から分離するという国際化マルチリンガルの思想を導入した。それを具現化したのはブルース・ホーンと言う人物で、リソースという概念を提唱した。最初はROMに基本的なユーザインターフェースのルーチンを埋め込むなどの工夫がされていたが、ハードウェアデザインにも同様な思想が導入され、コネクタの識別用には、文字でなくアイコンを用いるようにした。
Power Macintosh 9500/8500等になって初めてMacに搭載されたPCIスロットをはじめ、IDE、AGPなど、PC/AT互換機で既に実装され、いわば「枯れている」ハードウェア機構がMacintoshに導入された。これらの機構はハードウェアでも独自路線を進もうとしたAppleが路線を変更し、開発コスト(当然、購入価格にも影響する)の上昇やパーツ導入の困難化を避けるために導入した妥当な判断といえる。ハードウェアにトラブルが起きがちと云われるようになったのもSCSI→IDE (ATA)、NuBus→PCI/AGPといった基本パーツの変更を行った頃とほぼ重なっており、アップルは次々に「機能拡張ファイル」を更新/追加することで対応していった。
iMac・iBook以降はハードウェアの独自仕様はほぼなくなり、汎用規格のみを採用するようになった。Intel Macに移行した現在[いつ?]では、主要部品もほとんど汎用品を採用している。
ワンボタンマウスは、Macintosh独特のインターフェースとして知られている。これには、Macintosh発売以前のコンピュータの一般的方法であったコマンドによる操作 (CUI) では、単純な作業(例えば、ファイルの移動やコピーなど)さえできなかった人々であっても、「迷う余地がないほど単純なこと(ワンボタンマウスを使った操作)さえできれば、複雑なこともできるようになる」というアップルの主張が含まれている。元々、"The Computer for the Rest of Us"「(CUIベースではコンピュータを使えない)残された人達のためのコンピュータ(であるMac)」を掲げて来たアップルにとって、マウスがワンボタンであるということは非常に重要な意味があった。
ワンボタンマウスの採用により、複数ボタンマウスでの多機能を前提とした複雑な操作体系とそれによる混乱を避けられる。このワンボタンマウスはMac用ソフトの操作性に一貫性を持たせている。
PC/AT互換機とWindows陣営は長らく2ボタンマウスを採用して来たことから、Mac OS 8以降ではWindowsの右ボタンに相当するコンテキストメニューを採用するようになる。効率的な操作を追求するユーザーにはコンテキストメニューやExposéをマウスからワンクリックで呼び出すために、サードパーティーの多ボタンマウスを導入する者も少なくなかった。アップルはこれを受けて2005年にはMighty Mouseを発表した。Mighty Mouseは機械的には従来のワンボタンマウスのように1つのボタンがマウス全体を覆ったような形をしているが、マウスの特定部分(通常のクリックを左側、コンテキストメニューは右側に設定することが多い)が押されたことを電気的に検知することで多機能を実現している。また、ユーザーの設定で検知機能をオフにし、ワンボタンマウスと同じように使うこともできた。左右のボタンを強く押し込むと、Exposéが発動する。ホイールのようなスクロール機能を持つ小型のトラックボールも備えていたが、指の垢や埃が溜まるにつれてトラックボールの感度が著しく低下するという欠点があった。
2009年、アップルはiPhoneのようなマルチタッチ機能をマウスの上蓋に実装した、Magic Mouseを発表した。マウスの上面部全体が一つのボタンで、そのほぼ全面がマルチタッチセンサーとなっている。マルチタッチ機能を利用して、左右クリックや縦横のスクロール操作などを行うことができる。Mac OS Xに拡張ソフトを入れることで、複雑なジェスチャー操作が可能である。Magic Mouseはマウス付属モデルの標準マウスとなっている。
現在[いつ?]のノートパソコンのほとんど(ThinkPadの旧モデルや一部のモバイル機を除く)は、キーボードの手前にパームレスト(コンピュータを操作中に手首を載せる部分)を配置し、その中央部にタッチパッド(トラックパッド)を搭載している。このデザインはアップルによって初めてポータブルコンピュータに導入されたものである。
キーボードを手前に置くラップトップやノートパソコンが当たり前だった時代、最初のPowerBookである100シリーズ(PowerBook 100、140、170)では、キーボードの位置を奥に配置し、手前に広いパームレストを設けその中央にトラックボールを設置していた。当時、各社がさまざまなポインティングデバイスを考案する中、キーボードの親指の位置に配置されたトラックボールは、タイピング中のポジションからそれほど手を離すことなくポインターを操作することができ、特別な操作を必要としないことから大いに歓迎され、他社も同様のデザインを採用していった。しかしトラックボールはマウス同様、機械的な動作を読み取ってデータに置き換えていたことから、塵や埃によって動作が妨げられるマイナス要因も持ち合わせていた。その上に機械的な構造で厚みがあるトラックボールは薄型・軽量化に不利なことから徐々に敬遠されがちになって行く。
その後アップルは新たな入力デバイスとして、PowerBook 500シリーズからトラックパッドへ移行する。当時のトラックパッドは4×5cm四方ほどのパッド(板)状のもので、そのパッドの上を指でなぞることによって、その動きをそのままポインターの動きとして変換するようなデバイスであり、信頼性の高さと薄型化に有利な特性から、その後他社も追随した。
アップルは2005年のPowerBook G4から、2本の指でトラックパッドをスワイプすることで上下・左右・斜め方向へと自在にスクロールする2 本指スクロール機能と、2本の指で同時にタップすることでコンテキストメニューを呼び出す2本指タップ機能を導入した。2008年のMacBook Air登場以降は、3本指や4本指などでの操作もできるよう改良され、スクロールのほか、画像の拡大・縮小や回転、Exposéの利用やアプリケーションの切り替えなど、多彩な機能をワンタッチで呼び出せるマルチタッチトラックパッドに発展している。これによりMacのノートパソコンのトラックパッドは多くの面でマウスを上回る使い勝手を実現したといえる。
Macのキーボードは使用頻度の高いキーをタイピングしやすい位置に配置し、シンプルですっきりした外観になっている。Windowsで利用されているキーボードと比較するとDeleteキーが一つ(バックスペースを兼ねる)、コマンドキーとオプションキーがある、テンキーが標準では省略されている、PrintScreenなどの機能キーが存在しない、などの違いがある。
なお、同じMacでも国によってキーの配列が若干異なる場合がある。世代や機種によってMacを起動する電源キーが備わっているものや、テンキーを備えたもの、ファンクションキーがないものなどもあり、必ずしも全てのMacのキー配列が同一というわけではない。日本語版キーボードも米国版とは配列が異なり、かなキーと英数キーが追加されている(1993年頃までは米国仕様キーボードにカナ刻印されたものが使用されていた)。ノート型のMacでもBTOでパーツ変更が可能で、日本でも米国仕様キーボードを使用している者も少なくない。
Macのキーボードには"コマンドキー"という修飾キーがある。
2007年まで、コマンドキーは「command」のような文字表示ではなく、アップルマークと四葉のクローバーに似たコマンドマークが並んでいる珍しい表示になっていた(初代の"Apple Macintosh Keyboard"はアップルマークがなく、コマンドマークのみ)。なぜ、2つのマークを並べる表示になったのかというと、Mac用の二代目キーボードである"Apple Desktop Bus Keyboard"が、Apple IIシリーズの一機種であるApple II GS用のキーボード"Apple II GS Keyboard"と全く同一製品だったことに由来する。(アップルが1993年まで販売していたパーソナルコンピュータ"Apple II"のキーボードには、アップルマークが表示された"アップルキー"という修飾キーがあった)つまり「Apple II GS使用時にはアップルキー」、「Mac使用時にはコマンドキー」として使える(一目で判別できる)ための工夫であった。この2つのマークを並べる表示は、近年のMacシリーズのキーボードにも継続されていた。しかし2007年8月に販売開始された"Apple Keyboard"で、ついにアップルマークの表示が廃止され、コマンドマークと「command」の併記に変更された。
よくMacユーザーでコマンドキーのことをアップルキーという者がいるが、アップルキーとは、あくまでApple IIの修飾キーの名称であり、Macの修飾キーを指す名称ではない。
Macにおいて、ユーザは原則的に拡張子を意識せずとも良い状況が作られてきた。それは新旧のMac OSで一貫して言えることであり、ファイルを開く時は拡張子に頼らず、そのファイルを編集したアプリケーションが起動する仕組みになっている。それは、ファイル自身に、そのファイルを編集したソフトがクリエーター属性として自動的に記録されるためである。
この機能を継承しつつも、Mac OS Xへの移行に伴い拡張子の扱いも見直され、拡張子の表示と非表示は切り換えることができるようになった。アプリケーションの中には拡張子を判断するもの(例:Java)があるため、この機能はMacと他OSとの互換性を考慮した結果とも言える。
拡張子の他に、他のOSが採用している一般的な流儀としてMac OS X(Mac OS 9では疑似)より採用された、ログインユーザごとに分けられたホームディレクトリにみられるマルチユーザ機能がある。Mac OS X v10.3 Pantherからはファストユーザスイッチという機能が搭載され、より簡単にユーザを切り替えることができるようになった。単独でMacを使っているユーザにも、別のユーザディレクトリを持つことで、本来の環境への影響を最小限にして X Window System などを試してみることもできる。
発売当初の機種は、モトローラの68000系CISC型CPU(アップルやモトローラはMPUと呼称)を搭載していた。
Apple IやApple IIは、当時の流行であったインテルのx86CPUの前身となるインテル80系(8080)CPUを採用しておらず、その後のLisaでもインテルCPUを採用することはなかった。Appleシリーズの設計者であるスティーブ・ウォズニアックがモステクノロジーの6502チップを使用していた流れから、当時ワークステーションで広く使われており、処理能力が高いMC68000が採用されたのは自然だったと言える。また、x86では1Mバイト以上の物理メモリ空間を扱えず、64KB以上のメモリ空間を扱う際にトリッキーなプログラミングが必要とされ、大容量メモリの活用に制約が多かった。一方、68000はアドレスバスが24ビットであったことから2の24乗バイト=16Mバイトのメモリ空間を(RAM・I/Oポートなどを区分して)メモリアドレスによって使い分ける必要がない素直な設計であり、大容量メモリを容易に利用できた。命令セットも学習が比較的容易で使いやすく、開発者に好まれた。
また68000チップは、1985年にアップルが発売した初のレーザープリンターである、初代「LaserWriter」でも採用された。これはアドビシステムズが開発したPostScript言語を解析する機能のためであった。
1991年に、アップルとIBM、モトローラが提携を発表し、3社によるRISCチップのPowerPCが開発されることとなる。このPowerPCは従来と比較して圧倒的な高性能ではあったが、680x0シリーズとは互換性がなく、今までのソフトウェア資産を利用するにはMac OS側で68LC040チップ相当のコードをPowerPC命令に動的コード変換をすることでソフトウェア互換を確保した。Mac OSのコード変換機構はPowerPCコードと680x0コードの混在するソフトウェアを実行可能で、開発者は動作速度に影響を及ぼす使用頻度の高いコードから順次PowerPCコードへの書き換えを進めることができた。
System7.5まではMacOSそのものも一部を除いてほとんどPowerPCコード化されておらず、PowerPCの真価を発揮することはできなかった。System 7.5.1からMac OS 8.1にかけて徐々にPowerPCコードを増やし、Mac OS 8.5以降はPowerPC搭載モデルのみを動作対象とした。
1997年にはPowerPC G3(PowerPC 750)を搭載するPower Macintosh G3シリーズおよびPowerBook G3を発売する。G3はこれまでPower Mac上位機種で採用され続けてきたPowerPC 604シリーズではなく、PowerBookに搭載されてきたPowerPC 603シリーズの流れを汲むもので、603譲りの省電力・低発熱、なおかつ低価格でありながら、604eを上回る実効性能を実現したチップである。PowerMac G3はPC/AT互換機の規格を多く取り入れて低コストに製造できるように配慮されていた。PowerBook G3シリーズは、当時他のノートパソコンの追随を許さない高性能機種であった。
1999年にはSIMD演算機能であるVelocity Engineを統合したPowerPC G4 (PowerPC 7400) 搭載のPowerMac G4を発売。Velocity EngineはMacに強力なマルチメディア性能をもたらし、QuickTimeを通して動画や音声などの処理に利用された。1999年に発売されたiMac、iBookや、2000年に発売されたPower Mac G4 CubeはPowerPC G3・G4の発熱量の少なさを生かし、電動ファンのない静音機種であった。
その後2003年には広帯域のCPUバスと強力な浮動小数点演算機能をもつ64ビットのPowerPC G5 (PowerPC 970) を搭載したPowerMac G5が登場した。これは一般向けのパソコンでは初となる64ビットCPU搭載マシンであり、4GBを上回るメモリ搭載が可能となった。OSの64ビット化はハードウェアよりもかなり遅れ、2005年のMac OS X v10.4 Tigerで部分的に64ビット対応となり、2007年のMac OS X v10.5 LeopardでCocoaを含めて64ビットに対応することとなった[12]。
PowerMac G5は9つの可変速ファンを採用、筐体内部の空気流動を効率化させることで冷却効率の最適化を図った。モデルによってはG5チップを水冷式ラジエータで冷却する仕様もあった。PowerMac G5のファンの数が多く、負荷をかけるとファンが高速で回るのは、PowerPC G5の消費電力と発熱が従来のPowerPC G4よりも遥かに大きかったためである。 iMacはG5を搭載したシステムを液晶ディスプレイとともに、厚さわずか5cmの筐体に収めたが、発熱によるトラブルが問題となった。G5を搭載したノートパソコンはついに実現しなかった。
バージニア工科大学は、2003年に1,100台のPowerMac G5 Dual 2GHz(2004年 - 2008年は、1,150台のXserve G5 2.3GHz Clusterモデル。)を繋げて並列計算させるスーパーコンピュータ System X を構築した。このコンピュータは、2003年11月16日にTOP500 Supercomputer sites が発表したランキングで、世界第3位の計算速度にランクされた。大学自身による構築であったため、このシステムにかかった費用は約520万ドルで、スーパーコンピュータとして破格の安価であった(当時第1位のスーパーコンピュータであった地球シミュレータの開発費は5億ドル以上)。
2005年6月6日、開発者向けのイベントWWDC 2005 において、1年後以降の消費電力あたりの性能向上が著しいことを理由に、2006年半ばよりCPUをPowerPCからインテルx86系のものへと順次切り替えていくことがアップルより発表された[13]。2006年1月10日に前倒しでIntel Core Duoを搭載したiMacおよびMacBook Proが発表された。PowerPCベースのソフトはダイナミックリコンパイルソフトウェア"Rosetta"(ロゼッタ)を使うことでインテルプロセッサ上での動作が可能となる。また、PowerPCベースのコードとIntel Core向けのコードの双方を組み込んだUniversal Binaryもある。最初のIntel Core(Core Duoも含む)は32ビットであったが、64ビット版のIntel Core 2やXeon 5100シリーズのリリースとともにPower Mac G5の後継となるMac Proでは64ビット版インテルチップが搭載された。
インテルのプロセッサを採用しているが、Windows XPがインテル搭載Macの採用するファームウェア "EFI" に対応していないことから既存のWindows XPを動作させることは当初疑問視されていたが、アップルからFirmware UpdateとBoot Campベータ版の提供が開始されたことにより、Intel Mac上でWindows XP SP2を動作させることができるようになった。Boot Campは2007年10月に発売されたMac OS X v10.5 Leopardで標準機能として含まれた。また公式な対応ではないが、ブートローダをEFIに対応させたLinuxなどWindows以外の一部のOSも起動が確認されている。
このようにアップルは他のOSを意図的に排除しない方針をとるが、逆にMac OS Xを他社製ハードウェアで動作させることについてはライセンス上認めず、強力なプロテクトをかけている。サイスターというメーカーがアップルの著作権を侵害してMac OS XをインストールできるPCを発売したが、アップルは訴訟をもってそれに対応し、販売中止に追い込んでいる。
CPUとディスプレイが一体となっているMac。
フロッグデザインとの共同デザインによるMacintosh初のポータブルマシン。アクティブマトリクスTFTモノクロ液晶(初期はバックライト無し、後期はバックライト搭載モデルが用意された)、左右交換可能なトラックボールまたはテンキー、10時間以上動作可能な鉛バッテリ(鉛蓄電池)を搭載。デスクトップモデルと比較しても遜色のない機能を誇った。妥協を許さない設計がなされていたが、大型で非常に重く (7.2kg) 高価となってしまった。68000(Portableは日立製HD68HC000/16MHz)搭載機種で使える内蔵RAMは基本的に4MBまで〔その設計 (メモリマップ)は128Kまで遡る〕であるが、この機種では9MBまで利用できた(なお、68000の項目を参照すれば分かるとおり、この容量制限は68000プロセッサに起因するものではなく、ROMやハードウェアのI/Oポートなどのアドレス配置によるものである。68000自体は224=16MBのメモリアドレスを扱うことができる)。また、メモリなどのオプション品が初期モデルとバックライト搭載モデルで異なる。[14][15] ちなみに、本体の取っ手は華奢な見た目のとおり、持ち運ぶためのものではない。
NuBusスロットが6つあるMacのこと。Macには拡張性がないとされていたことに対して、アップルの回答の一つである。登場した当時はワークステーションと比較されることが多かった。
NuBusスロットが三つあるMac。Quadra 800/840AVを除き、ほぼ同様の電源ユニット(寸法は同一、出力容量はIIvi/IIvx以降は増量)を備えているのが特徴。
エントリーモデルのデスクトップパソコン。特徴的な薄型の筐体を持つ。この種の筐体の草分けはサン・マイクロシステムズのワークステーションで、宅配ピザのパッケージのように薄いことからこう呼ばれた。横幅が純正の12インチディスプレイと合うサイズで、12インチディスプレイと組み合わせると一体型のような趣になった。各モデルともLCシリーズ専用のPDSスロットを1基搭載し、一定の拡張性を持っていた。このシリーズも、Appleの他のシリーズ同様に上位モデルへのアップグレードサービスが行なわれた。
ハイエンド、もしくはミドルレンジのPowerPC 601/603/604系CPUを搭載したMac
初代 Power Macintosh(G1-Power Mac,NuBus Power Mac)
第2世代(G2-Power Mac,PCI Power Mac)
PowerPC 603/603e/603ev搭載のMacintoshで、LC (Performa) 5X0/6X0無き後の低価格Macのこと。68kロジックから派生したMacで、Power Macintoshとは名ばかりのモデルすら存在する。PerformaがなくなってからはPrivateSeriesが登場し、Performaの欠点を補ったMacとなっている。基本的にはPowerPC 603系CPUを採用していることから、604/604e/604ev搭載のPower Macとは差別化が図られている。
PowerPC 603/603e/603ev搭載のMacintoshで、LC (Performa) 5X0/6X0無き後の低価格の一体型Macのこと。基本的には前述のデスクトップ筐体62X0、63X0、64X0を一体型にしたものとも言える。
TwentiethAnniversaryMacintoshは完全な新設計で、当初は完全な予約販売の製品であったため、前述のPerforma/Power Macとは完全に流れが違っている。
PowerPC G3搭載機の発売以降、機種の絞り込みが続いており、デスクトップとノートブックにそれぞれ上位機種と下位機種を1機種ずつ(合計4機種)提供することが基本になっている。2014年1月時点ではデスクトップ3機種とノートブック2機種(合計5機種)に集約されている。
2014年1月時点で販売されている機種は、すべてインテル製のマルチコアプロセッサが搭載された機種で、OS Xがインストールされており、別売りのWindows (XP、Vista、7、8) をインストールすれば、切り替えでWindowsの利用が可能になっている。
Intel プロセッサー搭載機種
現行のMac OS X環境で稼動するパッケージソフトウェアのうち、主要なものを挙げる。ここで挙げられている他社製のソフトウェアは、Bentoを除きすべてWindows版も存在する。また、アプリケーションではないのでリストには挙げられていないが、ジャストシステムが日本語入力プログラムATOKを提供している。
なお、ここで挙げられているもののほか、中小ベンダによるアプリケーションソフトウェアが多数あり、その中にはMac OS X版しかないものもある。さらに、Mozilla、Googleのソフトウェアなど、他OSでも定番となっているクロスプラットフォームの無料ソフトウェアも多数利用可能。UNIXの知識があれば、UNIX向けのソフトウェアも利用可能になる。(初期状態でシェルからの基本的なUNIXの各種コマンドなどは利用できる。ただし、初期状態では開発環境は入っていないので、ソースコードで配布されているソフトをインストールする場合、Mac OS Xのメディアから開発環境である「Xcode」をインストールする必要がある)
アップルのソフトウェアやサードパーティーのオンラインソフトウェア(フリーウェア・シェアウェア)については、Mac App Storeで入手できる。他には、個人サイトではあるが「新しもの好きのダウンロード」「Macの手書き説明書」「PISCES]」などでカバーされている場合がある。
USBで接続するプリンターやUSBメモリ、デジタルカメラなどは、WindowsとMac OS X両対応のものが多い。もしドライバが付属していなければ、Mac OS X内包の標準ドライバを使用するか、周辺機器メーカのホームページにドライバが公開されている場合があるので、公開されていればダウンロードして利用できる。
[ヘルプ] |
ウィキメディア・コモンズには、Macintoshに関連するメディアがあります。 |
The unibody iMac, introduced in 2009.
|
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Also known as | Mac |
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Developer | Apple Inc. |
Manufacturer | Apple Inc. |
Type | Personal computer |
Release date | January 24, 1984 (1984-01-24) (31 years ago) |
Operating system | Mac OS |
Website | apple |
The Macintosh (/ˈmækɨntɒʃ/ MAK-in-tosh), or Mac, is a series of personal computers (PCs) designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc.
Steve Jobs introduced the original Macintosh computer on January 24, 1984. This was the first mass-market personal computer featuring an integral graphical user interface and mouse.[1] This first model was later renamed to "Macintosh 128k" for uniqueness amongst a populous family of subsequently updated models which are also based on Apple's same proprietary architecture. The Macintosh product family has been collectively and singularly nicknamed "Mac" or "the Mac" since the development of the first model.
The Macintosh, however, was expensive, which caused it to be overtaken in sales by the aggressively priced IBM Personal Computer and its accompanying clone market. Macintosh systems still found success in education and desktop publishing and kept Apple as the second-largest PC manufacturer for the next decade. In the 1990s, improvements in the rival Wintel platform, notably with the introduction of Windows 3.0, gradually took market share from the more expensive Macintosh systems. The performance advantage of 68000-based Macintosh systems was eroded by Intel's Pentium, and in 1994 Apple was relegated to third place as Compaq became the top PC manufacturer. Even after a transition to the superior PowerPC-based Power Macintosh line in 1994, the falling prices of commodity PC components and the release of Windows 95 saw the Macintosh user base decline.
In 1998, after the return of Steve Jobs, Apple consolidated its multiple consumer-level desktop models into the all-in-one iMac G3, which became a commercial success and revitalized the brand. Since their transition to Intel processors in 2006, the complete lineup is entirely based on said processors and associated systems. Its current lineup comprises three desktops (the all-in-one iMac, entry-level Mac mini, and the Mac Pro tower graphics workstation), and three laptops (the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Pro with Retina display). Its Xserve server was discontinued in 2011 in favor of the Mac Mini and Mac Pro.
Production of the Mac is based on a vertical integration model. Apple facilitates all aspects of its hardware and creates its own operating system that is pre-installed on all Mac computers, unlike most IBM PC compatibles, where multiple sellers create and integrate hardware intended to run another company's operating system. Apple exclusively produces Mac hardware, choosing internal systems, designs, and prices. Apple also develops the operating system for the Mac, currently OS X version 10.10 "Yosemite". Macs are currently capable of running non-Apple operating systems such as Linux, OpenBSD, and Microsoft Windows with the aid of Boot Camp or third-party software. Apple does not license OS X for use on non-Apple computers, though it did license previous versions of Mac OS through their Macintosh clone program from 1995 to 1997.
The Macintosh project was begun in 1979 by Jef Raskin, an Apple employee who envisioned an easy-to-use, low-cost computer for the average consumer. He wanted to name the computer after his favorite type of apple, the McIntosh,[2] but the spelling was changed to "Macintosh" for legal reasons as the original was the same spelling as that used by McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., the audio equipment manufacturer.[3] Steve Jobs requested that McIntosh Laboratory give Apple a release for the name with its changed spelling so that Apple could use it, but the request was denied, forcing Apple to eventually buy the rights to use the name.[4] (A 1984 Byte Magazine article suggested Apple changed the spelling only after "early users" misspelled "McIntosh".[5] However, Jef Raskin had adopted the Macintosh spelling by 1981,[6] when the Macintosh computer was still a single prototype machine in the lab. This explanation further clashes with the first explanation given above that the change was made for "legal reasons.")
Raskin was authorized to start hiring for the project in September 1979,[7] and he immediately asked his long-time colleague, Brian Howard, to join him.[8] His initial team would eventually consist of himself, Howard, Joanna Hoffman, Burrell Smith, and Bud Tribble.[9] The rest of the original MAC team would include Bill Atkinson, Bob Belleville, Steve Capps, George Crow, Donn Denman, Chris Espinosa, Andy Hertzfeld, Bruce Horn, Susan Kare, Larry Kenyon, and Caroline Rose with Steve Jobs leading the project. [10]
Smith's first Macintosh board was built to Raskin's design specifications: it had 64 kilobytes (kB) of RAM, used the Motorola 6809E microprocessor, and was capable of supporting a 256×256-pixel black-and-white bitmap display. Bud Tribble, a member of the Mac team, was interested in running the Lisa's graphical programs on the Macintosh, and asked Smith whether he could incorporate the Lisa's Motorola 68000 microprocessor into the Mac while still keeping the production cost down. By December 1980, Smith had succeeded in designing a board that not only used the 68000, but increased its speed from 5 MHz to 8 MHz; this board also had the capacity to support a 384×256-pixel display. Smith's design used fewer RAM chips than the Lisa, which made production of the board significantly more cost-efficient. The final Mac design was self-contained and had the complete QuickDraw picture language and interpreter in 64 kB of ROM – far more than most other computers; it had 128 kB of RAM, in the form of sixteen 64 kilobit (kb) RAM chips soldered to the logicboard. Though there were no memory slots, its RAM was expandable to 512 kB by means of soldering sixteen IC sockets to accept 256 kb RAM chips in place of the factory-installed chips. The final product's screen was a 9-inch, 512x342 pixel monochrome display, exceeding the size of the planned screen.[11]
Burrel's innovative design, which combined the low production cost of an Apple II with the computing power of Lisa's CPU, the Motorola 68K, received the attention of Steve Jobs,[12] co-founder of Apple. Realizing that the Macintosh was more marketable than the Lisa, he began to focus his attention on the project. Raskin left the team in 1981 over a personality conflict with Jobs. Team member Andy Hertzfeld said that the final Macintosh design is closer to Jobs' ideas than Raskin's.[7] After hearing of the pioneering GUI technology being developed at Xerox PARC, Jobs had negotiated a visit to see the Xerox Alto computer and its Smalltalk development tools in exchange for Apple stock options. The Lisa and Macintosh user interfaces were influenced by technology seen at Xerox PARC and were combined with the Macintosh group's own ideas.[13] Jobs also commissioned industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger to work on the Macintosh line, resulting in the "Snow White" design language; although it came too late for the earliest Macs, it was implemented in most other mid- to late-1980s Apple computers.[14] However, Jobs' leadership at the Macintosh project did not last; after an internal power struggle with new CEO John Sculley, Jobs resigned from Apple in 1985.[15] He went on to found NeXT, another computer company targeting the education market,[16] and did not return until 1997, when Apple acquired NeXT.[17]
After the Lisa's announcement, John Dvorak discussed rumors of a mysterious "MacIntosh" project at Apple in February 1983.[18] The company announced the Macintosh 128K—manufactured at an Apple factory in Fremont, California—in October 1983, followed by an 18-page brochure included with various magazines in December.[19][20] The Macintosh was introduced by a US$1.5 million Ridley Scott television commercial, "1984".[21] It most notably aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, and is now considered a "watershed event"[22] and a "masterpiece."[23] "1984" used an unnamed heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by a Picasso-style picture of the computer on her white tank top) as a means of saving humanity from the "conformity" of IBM's attempts to dominate the computer industry. The ad alludes to George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by a televised "Big Brother."[24][25]
Two days after "1984" aired, the Macintosh went on sale, and came bundled with two applications designed to show off its interface: MacWrite and MacPaint. It was first demonstrated by Steve Jobs in the first of his famous Mac keynote speeches, and though the Mac garnered an immediate, enthusiastic following, some labeled it a mere "toy."[26] Because the operating system was designed largely around the GUI, existing text-mode and command-driven applications had to be redesigned and the programming code rewritten. This was a time-consuming task that many software developers chose not to undertake, and could be regarded as a reason for an initial lack of software for the new system. In April 1984, Microsoft's MultiPlan migrated over from MS-DOS, with Microsoft Word following in January 1985.[27] In 1985, Lotus Software introduced Lotus Jazz for the Macintosh platform after the success of Lotus 1-2-3 for the IBM PC, although it was largely a flop.[28] Apple introduced the Macintosh Office suite the same year with the "Lemmings" ad. Infamous for insulting its own potential customers, the ad was not successful.[29]
Apple spent $2.5 million purchasing all 39 advertising pages in a special, post-election issue of Newsweek,[30] and ran a "Test Drive a Macintosh" promotion, in which potential buyers with a credit card could take home a Macintosh for 24 hours and return it to a dealer afterwards. While 200,000 people participated, dealers disliked the promotion, the supply of computers was insufficient for demand, and many were returned in such a bad condition that they could no longer be sold. This marketing campaign caused CEO John Sculley to raise the price from US$1,995 to US$2,495 (about $5,200 when adjusted for inflation in 2010).[29][31] The computer sold well, nonetheless, reportedly outselling the IBM PCjr which also began shipping early that year.[32] By April 1984 the company sold 50,000 Macintoshes, and hoped for 70,000 by early May and almost 250,000 by the end of the year.[33]
Jobs stated during the Macintosh's introduction "we expect Macintosh to become the third industry standard", after the Apple II and IBM PC. Although outselling every other computer, it did not meet expectations during the first year, especially among business customers. Only about ten applications including MacWrite and MacPaint were widely available,[34] although many non-Apple software developers participated in the introduction and Apple promised that 79 companies including Lotus, Digital Research, and Ashton-Tate were creating products for the new computer. After one year, it had less than one quarter of the software selection available compared to the IBM PC—including only one word processor, two databases, and one spreadsheet—although Apple had sold 280,000 Macintoshes compared to IBM's sales of fewer than 100,000 PCs. Developers were required to learn how to write software that used the Macintosh's graphic user interface.[35]
In 1985, the combination of the Mac, Apple's LaserWriter printer, and Mac-specific software like Boston Software's MacPublisher and Aldus PageMaker enabled users to design, preview, and print page layouts complete with text and graphics—an activity to become known as desktop publishing. Initially, desktop publishing was unique to the Macintosh, but eventually became available for other platforms.[36] Later, applications such as Macromedia FreeHand, QuarkXPress, and Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator strengthened the Mac's position as a graphics computer and helped to expand the emerging desktop publishing market.
The Macintosh's minimal memory became apparent, even compared with other personal computers in 1984, and could not be expanded easily. It also lacked a hard disk drive or the means to easily attach one. Many small companies sprang up to address the memory issue. Suggestions revolved around either upgrading the memory to 512 KB or removing the computer's 16 memory chips and replacing them with larger-capacity chips, a tedious operation that was not always successful. In October 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh 512K, with quadruple the memory of the original, at a price of US$3,195.[37] It also offered an upgrade for 128k Macs that involved replacing the logicboard. In an attempt to improve connectivity, Apple released the Macintosh Plus on January 10, 1986, for a price of US$2,600. It offered one megabyte of RAM, easily expandable to four megabytes by the use of socketed RAM boards. It also featured a SCSI parallel interface, allowing up to seven peripherals—such as hard drives and scanners—to be attached to the machine. Its floppy drive was increased to an 800 kB capacity. The Mac Plus was an immediate success and remained in production, unchanged, until October 15, 1990; on sale for just over four years and ten months, it was the longest-lived Macintosh in Apple's history.[38] In September 1986, Apple introduced the Macintosh Programmer's Workshop, or MPW, an application that allowed software developers to create software for Macintosh on Macintosh, rather than cross compiling from a Lisa. In August 1987, Apple unveiled HyperCard and MultiFinder, which added cooperative multitasking to the Macintosh. Apple began bundling both with every Macintosh.
Updated Motorola CPUs made a faster machine possible, and in 1987 Apple took advantage of the new Motorola technology and introduced the Macintosh II at $5500, powered by a 16 MHz Motorola 68020 processor.[39] The primary improvement in the Macintosh II was Color QuickDraw in ROM, a color version of the graphics language which was the heart of the machine. Among the many innovations in Color QuickDraw were the ability to handle any display size, any color depth, and multiple monitors. The Macintosh II marked the start of a new direction for the Macintosh, as now for the first time it had an open architecture with several NuBus expansion slots, support for color graphics and external monitors, and a modular design similar to that of the IBM PC. It had an internal hard drive and a power supply with a fan, which was initially fairly loud.[40] One third-party developer sold a device to regulate fan speed based on a heat sensor, but it voided the warranty.[41] Later Macintosh computers had quieter power supplies and hard drives. The Macintosh SE was released at the same time as the Macintosh II for $2900 (or $3900 with hard drive), as the first compact Mac with a 20 MB internal hard drive and an expansion slot.[42] The SE's expansion slot was located inside the case along with the CRT, potentially exposing an upgrader to high voltage. For this reason, Apple recommended users bring their SE to an authorized Apple dealer to have upgrades performed.[43] The SE also updated Jerry Manock and Terry Oyama's original design and shared the Macintosh II's Snow White design language, as well as the new Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) mouse and keyboard that had first appeared on the Apple IIGS some months earlier.
In 1987, Apple spun off its software business as Claris. It was given the code and rights to several applications that had been written within Apple, most notably MacWrite, MacPaint, and MacProject. In the late 1980s, Claris released a number of revamped software titles; the result was the "Pro" series, including MacDraw Pro, MacWrite Pro, and FileMaker Pro. To provide a complete office suite, Claris purchased the rights to the Informix Wingz spreadsheet program on the Mac, renaming it Claris Resolve, and added the new presentation software Claris Impact. By the early 1990s, Claris applications were shipping with the majority of consumer-level Macintoshes and were extremely popular. In 1991, Claris released ClarisWorks, which soon became their second best-selling application. When Claris was reincorporated back into Apple in 1998, ClarisWorks was renamed AppleWorks beginning with version 5.0.[44]
In 1988, Apple sued Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard on the grounds that they infringed Apple's copyrighted GUI, citing (among other things) the use of rectangular, overlapping, and resizable windows. After four years, the case was decided against Apple, as were later appeals. Apple's actions were criticized by some in the software community, including the Free Software Foundation (FSF), who felt Apple was trying to monopolize on GUIs in general, and boycotted GNU software for the Macintosh platform for seven years.[45][46]
With the new Motorola 68030 processor came the Macintosh IIx in 1988, which had benefited from internal improvements, including an on-board MMU.[47] It was followed in 1989 by the Macintosh IIcx, a more compact version with fewer slots [48] and a version of the Mac SE powered by the 16 MHz 68030, the Macintosh SE/30.[49] Later that year, the Macintosh IIci, running at 25 MHz, was the first Mac to be "32-bit clean." This allowed it to natively support more than 8 MB of RAM,[50] unlike its predecessors, which had "32-bit dirty" ROMs (8 of the 32 bits available for addressing were used for OS-level flags). System 7 was the first Macintosh operating system to support 32-bit addressing.[51] The following year, the Macintosh IIfx, starting at US$9,900, was unveiled. Apart from its fast 40 MHz 68030 processor, it had significant internal architectural improvements, including faster memory and two Apple II CPUs (6502s) dedicated to I/O processing.[52]
Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990, and according to a common saying at the time "Windows was not as good as Macintosh, but it was good enough for the average user". Though still a graphical wrapper that relied upon MS-DOS, 3.0 was the first iteration of Windows which had a feature set and performance comparable to the much more expensive Macintosh platform. It also did not help matters that during the previous year Jean-Louis Gassée had steadfastly refused to lower the profit margins on Mac computers. Finally, there was a component shortage that rocked the exponentially-expanding PC industry in 1989, forcing Apple USA head Allan Loren to cut prices which dropped Apple's margins.[53]
In response, Apple introduced a range of relatively inexpensive Macs in October 1990. The Macintosh Classic, essentially a less expensive version of the Macintosh SE, was the least expensive Mac offered until early 2001.[54] The 68020-powered Macintosh LC, in its distinctive "pizza box" case, offered color graphics and was accompanied by a new, low-cost 512×384 pixel monitor.[55] The Macintosh IIsi was essentially a 20 MHz IIci with only one expansion slot.[56] All three machines sold well,[57] although Apple's profit margin on them was considerably lower than that on earlier models.[54]
Apple improved Macintosh computers by introducing models equipped with newly available processors from the 68k lineup. The Macintosh Classic II[58] and Macintosh LC II, which used a 16 MHz 68030 CPU,[59] were joined in 1991 by the Macintosh Quadra 700[60] and 900,[61] the first Macs to employ the faster Motorola 68040 processor.
It wasn't long until Apple released their first portable computers, beginning with the Macintosh Portable released in 1989. Although due to considerable design issues, it was soon replaced in 1991 with the first of the PowerBook line: the PowerBook 100, a miniaturized Portable; the 16 MHz 68030 PowerBook 140; and the 25 MHz 68030 PowerBook 170.[62] They were the first portable computers with the keyboard behind a palm rest and a built-in pointing device (a trackball) in front of the keyboard.[63] The 1993 PowerBook 165c was Apple's first portable computer to feature a color screen, displaying 256 colors with 640 x 400-pixel resolution.[64] The second generation of PowerBooks, the 68040-equipped 500 series, introduced trackpads, integrated stereo speakers, and built-in Ethernet to the laptop form factor in 1994.[65]
As for Mac OS, System 7 was a 32-bit rewrite from Pascal to C++ that introduced virtual memory and improved the handling of color graphics, as well as memory addressing, networking, and co-operative multitasking. Also during this time, the Macintosh began to shed the "Snow White" design language, along with the expensive consulting fees they were paying to Frogdesign. Apple instead brought the design work in-house by establishing the Apple Industrial Design Group, becoming responsible for crafting a new look for all Apple products.[66]
Intel had tried unsuccessfully to push Apple to migrate the Macintosh platform to Intel chips. Apple concluded that Intel's CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) architecture ultimately would not be able to compete against RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processors.[67] While the Motorola 68040 offered the same features as the Intel 80486 and could on a clock-for-clock basis significantly outperform the Intel chip, the 486 had the ability to be clocked significantly faster without suffering from overheating problems, especially the clock-doubled i486DX2 which ran the CPU logic at twice the external bus speed, giving such equipped IBM compatible systems a significant performance lead over their Macintosh equivalents.[68][69] Apple's product design and engineering didn't help matters as they restricted the use of the '040 to their expensive Quadras for a time while the 486 was readily available to OEMs as well as enthusiasts who put together their own machines. In late 1991, as the higher-end Macintosh desktop lineup transitioned to the '040, Apple was unable to offer the '040 in their top-of-the-line PowerBooks until early 1994 with the PowerBook 500 series, several years after the first 486-powered IBM compatible laptops hit the market which cost Apple considerable sales. In 1993 Intel rolled out the Pentium processors as the successor to the 486, while the Motorola 68050 was never released, leaving the Macintosh platform a generation behind IBM compatibles in the latest CPU technology. In 1994, Apple abandoned Motorola CPUs for the RISC PowerPC architecture developed by the AIM alliance of Apple Computer, IBM, and Motorola.[70] The Power Macintosh line, the first to use the new chips, proved to be highly successful, with over a million PowerPC units sold in nine months.[71] However in the long run, spurning Intel for the PowerPC was a mistake as the commoditization of Intel-architecture chips meant Apple couldn't compete on price against "the Dells of the world".[67]
Notwithstanding these technical and commercial successes on the Macintosh, the falling costs of components made IBM PC compatibles cheaper and accelerated their adoption, over Macintosh systems that remained fairly expensive. A successful price war initiated by Compaq vaulted them from third place to first among PC manufacturers in 1994, overtaking a struggling IBM and relegating Apple to third place.[72][73][74]
Furthermore, Apple had created too many similar models that confused potential buyers. At one point, its product lineup was subdivided into Classic, LC, II, Quadra, Performa, and Centris models, with essentially the same computer being sold under a number of different names.[75] These models competed against Macintosh clones, hardware manufactured by third parties that ran Apple's System 7. This succeeded in increasing the Macintosh's market share somewhat, and provided cheaper hardware for consumers, but hurt Apple financially as existing Apple customers began to buy cheaper clones which cannibalized the sales of Apple's higher-margin Macintosh systems, yet Apple still shouldered the burden of developing the Mac OS platform.
Apple's market share further struggled due to the release of the Windows 95 operating system, which unified Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products. Windows 95 significantly enhanced the multimedia capability and performance of IBM PC compatible computers, and brought the capabilities of Windows to parity with the Mac OS GUI.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 following the company's purchase of NeXT, he ordered that the OS that had been previewed as version 7.7 be branded Mac OS 8 (in place of the never-to-appear Copland OS). Since Apple had licensed only System 7 to third parties, this move effectively ended the clone line. The decision caused significant financial losses for companies like Motorola, who produced the StarMax; Umax, who produced the SuperMac;[76] and Power Computing, who offered several lines of Mac clones, including the PowerWave, PowerTower, and PowerTower Pro.[77] These companies had invested substantial resources in creating their own Mac-compatible hardware.[78] Apple bought out Power Computing's license, but allowed Umax to continue selling Mac clones until their license expired, as they had a sizeable presence in the lower-end segment that Apple did not.[citation needed]
In 1998, Apple introduced its new iMac which, like the original 128K Mac, was an all-in-one computer. Its translucent plastic case, originally Bondi blue and later various additional colors, is considered an industrial design landmark of the late 1990s. The iMac did away with most of Apple's standard (and usually proprietary) connections, such as SCSI and ADB, in favor of two USB ports.[80] It replaced a floppy disk drive with a CD-ROM drive for installing software,[81][82] but was incapable of writing to CDs or other media without external third-party hardware. The iMac proved to be phenomenally successful, with 800,000 units sold in 139 days.[83] It made the company an annual profit of US$309 million, Apple's first profitable year since Michael Spindler took over as CEO in 1995.[84] This aesthetic was applied to the Power Macintosh and later the iBook, Apple's first consumer-level laptop computer, filling the missing quadrant of Apple's "four-square product matrix" (desktop and portable products for both consumers and professionals).[85] More than 140,000 pre-orders were placed before it started shipping in September,[86] and by October proved to be a large success.[87]
In early 2001, Apple began shipping computers with CD-RW drives and emphasized the Mac's ability to play DVDs by including DVD-ROM and DVD-RAM drives as standard.[88] Steve Jobs admitted that Apple had been "late to the party" on writable CD technology, but felt that Macs could become a "digital hub" that linked and enabled an "emerging digital lifestyle".[89] Apple would later introduce an update to its iTunes music player software that enabled it to burn CDs, along with a controversial "Rip, Mix, Burn" advertising campaign that some[90] felt encouraged media piracy.[91] This accompanied the release of the iPod, Apple's first successful handheld device. Apple continued to launch products, such as the unsuccessful Power Mac G4 Cube,[92] the education-oriented eMac, and the titanium (and later aluminium) PowerBook G4 laptop for professionals.
The original iMac used a PowerPC G3 processor, but G4 and G5 chips were soon added, both accompanied by complete case redesigns that dropped the array of colors in favor of white plastic. As of 2007, all iMacs use aluminium cases. On January 11, 2005, Apple announced the Mac Mini, priced at US$499, making it the cheapest Mac.[93][94]
Mac OS continued to evolve up to version 9.2.2, including retrofits such as the addition of a nanokernel and support for Multiprocessing Services 2.0 in Mac OS 8.6, though its dated architecture made replacement necessary.[95] Initially developed in the Pascal programming language, it was substantially rewritten in C++ for System 7. From its beginnings on an 8 MHz machine with 128 KB of RAM, it had grown to support Apple's latest 1 GHz G4-equipped Macs. Since its architecture was laid down, features that were already common on Apple's competition, like preemptive multitasking and protected memory, had become feasible on the kind of hardware Apple manufactured. As such, Apple introduced Mac OS X, a fully overhauled Unix-based successor to Mac OS 9. OS X uses Darwin, XNU, and Mach as foundations, and is based on NeXTSTEP. It was released to the public in September 2000, as the Mac OS X Public Beta, featuring a revamped user interface called "Aqua". At US$29.99, it allowed adventurous Mac users to sample Apple's new operating system and provide feedback for the actual release.[96] The initial version of Mac OS X, 10.0 "Cheetah", was released on March 24, 2001. Older Mac OS applications could still run under early Mac OS X versions, using an environment called "Classic". Subsequent releases of Mac OS X included 10.1 "Puma" (September 25, 2001), 10.2 "Jaguar" (August 24, 2002), 10.3 "Panther" (October 24, 2003) and 10.4 "Tiger" (April 29, 2005).
Apple discontinued the use of PowerPC microprocessors in 2006. At WWDC 2005, Steve Jobs announced this transition, revealing that Mac OS X was always developed to run on both the Intel and PowerPC architectures.[98] All new Macs now use x86 processors made by Intel, and some were renamed as a result.[99] Intel-based Macs running OS X 10.6 and below (support has been discontinued since 10.7) can run pre-existing software developed for PowerPC using an emulator called Rosetta,[100] although at noticeably slower speeds than native programs. However, the Classic environment is unavailable on the Intel architecture. Intel chips introduced the potential to run the Microsoft Windows operating system natively on Apple hardware, without emulation software such as Virtual PC. In March 2006, a group of hackers announced that they were able to run Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac. The group released their software as open source and has posted it for download on their website.[101] On April 5, 2006, Apple announced the availability of the public beta of Boot Camp, software that allows owners of Intel-based Macs to install Windows XP on their machines; later versions added support for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Classic was discontinued in Mac OS X 10.5, and Boot Camp became a standard feature on Intel-based Macs.[102][103]
Starting in 2006, Apple's industrial design shifted to favor aluminum, which was used in the construction of the first MacBook Pro. Glass was added in 2008 with the introduction of the unibody MacBook Pro. These materials are billed as environmentally friendly.[104] The iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini lines currently all use aluminum enclosures, and are now made of a single unibody.[105][106][107] Chief designer Jonathan Ive continues to guide products towards a minimalist and simple feel,[108][109] including eliminating of replaceable batteries in notebooks.[110] Multi-touch gestures from the iPhone's interface have been applied to the Mac line in the form of touch pads on notebooks and the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad for desktops.
On February 24, 2011, Apple became the first company to bring to market a computer that utilized Intel's new Thunderbolt (codename Light Peak) I/O interface. Using the same physical interface as a Mini DisplayPort, and backwards compatible with that standard, Thunderbolt boasts two-way transfer speeds of 10 Gbit/s.[111]
Compact | Consumer | Professional | |
---|---|---|---|
Portable (MacBook) |
MacBook Air
|
MacBook Pro
|
|
Desktop | Mac Mini
|
iMac
|
Mac Pro
|
Server | Mac Mini with OS X Server
|
Apple directly sub-contracts hardware production to Asian original equipment manufacturers such as Asus, maintaining a high degree of control over the end product. By contrast, most other companies (including Microsoft) create software that can be run on hardware produced by a variety of third parties such as Dell, HP/Compaq, and Lenovo. Consequently, the Macintosh buyer has comparably fewer options, but superior integration on those options.
The current Mac product family uses Intel x86-64 processors. Apple introduced an emulator during the transition from PowerPC chips (called Rosetta), much as it did during the transition from Motorola 68000 architecture a decade earlier. The Macintosh is the only mainstream computer platform to have successfully transitioned to a new CPU architecture,[113] and has done so twice. All current Mac models ship with at least 4 GB of RAM as standard. Current Mac computers use ATI Radeon or nVidia GeForce graphics cards as well as Intel graphics built into the main CPU. All current Macs (except for the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro with Retina Display) ship with an optical media drive that includes a dual-function DVD/CD burner. Apple refers to this as a SuperDrive. Current Macs include two standard data transfer ports: USB and FireWire (except for the MacBook Air, which does not include FireWire). MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini computers now also feature the "Thunderbolt" port, which Apple says can transfer data at speeds up to 10 gigabits per second.[114] USB was introduced in the 1998 iMac G3 and is ubiquitous today,[81] while FireWire is mainly reserved for high-performance devices such as hard drives or video cameras. Starting with the then-new iMac G5, released in October 2005, Apple started to include built-in iSight cameras on appropriate models, and a media center interface called Front Row that can be operated by an Apple Remote or keyboard for accessing media stored on the computer. Front Row has been discontinued as of 2011, however, and the Apple Remote is no longer bundled with new Macs.[115][116]
Apple was initially reluctant to embrace mice with multiple buttons and scroll wheels. Macs did not natively support pointing devices that featured multiple buttons, even from third parties, until Mac OS X arrived in 2001.[117] Apple continued to offer only single button mice, in both wired and Bluetooth wireless versions, until August 2005, when it introduced the Mighty Mouse. While it looked like a traditional one-button mouse, it actually had four buttons and a scroll ball, capable of independent x- and y-axis movement.[118] A Bluetooth version followed in July 2006.[119] In October 2009, Apple introduced the Magic Mouse, which uses multi-touch gesture recognition (similar to that of the iPhone) instead of a physical scroll wheel or ball.[120] It is available only in a wireless configuration, but the wired Mighty Mouse (re-branded as "Apple Mouse") is still available as an alternative. Since 2010, Apple has also offered the Magic Trackpad as a means to control Macintosh desktop computers in a way similar to laptops.
The original Macintosh was the first successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface devoid of a command line. It uses a desktop metaphor, depicting real-world objects like documents and a trashcan as icons onscreen. The System software was introduced in 1984 with the first Macintosh, renamed Mac OS in 1997, and continued to evolve until version 9.2.2.
In 2001, Apple introduced Mac OS X, based on Darwin and NEXTSTEP; its new features included the Dock and the Aqua user interface. During the transition, Apple included a virtual machine subsystem known as Classic, allowing users to run Mac OS 9 applications under Mac OS X 10.4 and earlier on PowerPC machines. Apple introduced Mac OS X 10.8 in February, and it was made available in the summer of 2012. Mountain Lion includes many new features, such as Mission Control, the Mac App Store (available to Mac OS X v10.6.6 "Snow Leopard." users by software update), Launchpad, an application viewer and launcher akin to the iOS Home Screen, and Resume, a feature similar to the hibernate function found in Microsoft Windows. The most recent version is Mac OS X v10.10 "Yosemite." In addition to Mavericks, all new Macs are bundled with assorted Apple-produced applications, including iLife, the Safari web browser and the iTunes media player. Apple introduced Mavericks at WWDC 2013 in June, and released it on October 15 of that year. It is free of charge to everyone running Snow Leopard or later and is compatible with most Macs from 2007 and later. Mavericks brought a lot of the iOS apps, functions, and feel to the Mac as well as better multi display support, iBooks, Maps, app nap, and other upgrades to improve performance and battery life.
Historically, Mac OS X enjoyed a near-absence of the types of malware and spyware that affect Microsoft Windows users.[121][122][123] Mac OS X has a smaller usage share compared to Microsoft Windows (roughly 5% and 92%, respectively),[124] but it also has traditionally more secure UNIX roots. Worms, as well as potential vulnerabilities, were noted in February 2006, which led some industry analysts and anti-virus companies to issue warnings that Apple's Mac OS X is not immune to malware.[125] Increasing market share coincided with additional reports of a variety of attacks.[126] Apple releases security updates for its software.[127] In early 2011, Mac OS X experienced a large increase in malware attacks,[128] and malware such as Mac Defender, MacProtector, and MacGuard were seen as an increasing problem for Mac users. At first, the malware installer required the user to enter the administrative password, but later versions were able to install without user input.[129] Initially, Apple support staff were instructed not to assist in the removal of the malware or admit the existence of the malware issue, but as the malware spread, a support document was issued. Apple announced an OS X update to fix the problem. An estimated 100,000 users were affected.[130][131]
Originally, the hardware architecture was so closely tied to the Mac OS operating system that it was impossible to boot an alternative operating system. The most common workaround, is to boot into Mac OS and then to hand over control to a Mac OS-based bootloader application. Used even by Apple for A/UX and MkLinux, this technique is no longer necessary since the introduction of Open Firmware-based PCI Macs, though it was formerly used for convenience on many Old World ROM systems due to bugs in the firmware implementation.[citation needed] Now, Mac hardware boots directly from Open Firmware in most PowerPC-based Macs or EFI in all Intel-based Macs.
Following the release of Intel-based Macs, third-party platform virtualization software such as Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, and VirtualBox began to emerge. These programs allow users to run Microsoft Windows or previously Windows-only software on Macs at near native speed. Apple also released Boot Camp and Mac-specific Windows drivers that help users to install Windows XP or Vista and natively dual boot between Mac OS X and Windows. Though not condoned by Apple, it is possible to run the Linux operating system using Boot camp or other virtualization workarounds.[132][133]
Because Mac OS X is a UNIX operating system, borrowing heavily from FreeBSD, many applications written for Linux or BSD run on Mac OS X, often using X11. Many popular commercial software applications from large developers, such as Microsoft's Office and Adobe's Photoshop are ported to both Mac OS and Windows. A large amount of open-source software applications, like the Firefox web browser and the Libreoffice office suite, are cross-platform, and thereby also run natively on Mac OS.
Apple hyped the introduction of the original Mac with their "1984" commercial that aired during that year's Super Bowl.[134] It was supplemented by a number of printed pamphlets and other TV ads demonstrating the new interface and emphasizing the mouse. Many more brochures for new models like the Macintosh Plus and the Performa followed. In the 1990s, Apple started the "What's on your PowerBook?" campaign, with print ads and television commercials featuring celebrities describing how the PowerBook helps them in their businesses and everyday lives. In 1995, Apple responded to the introduction of Windows 95 with several print ads and a television commercial demonstrating its disadvantages and lack of innovation.
In 1997 with the return of Steve Jobs to Apple, the Think Different campaign introduced the company's new slogan, and in 2002 the Switch campaign followed. The most recent advertising strategy for the Macintosh by Apple is the Get a Mac campaign, with North American, UK, and Japanese variants.[135][136] Since 2011, while Apple has concentrated its advertising on the iPhone and iPad, many of these ads show how users can seamlessly sync data between these devices and Macs through iCloud.[137]
Apple introduces new products at "special events" hosted at the Apple Town Hall auditorium, and at keynotes at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Formerly, it also announced new products at trade shows like the Apple Expo and the Macworld Expo. The events typically draw a large gathering of media representatives and spectators, and are preceded by speculation about possible new products. In the past, special events have been used to unveil Apple's desktop and notebook computers, such as the iMac and MacBook, and other consumer electronic devices like the iPod, Apple TV, and iPhone. The keynotes as well as provide updates on sales and market share statistics. Apple has begun to focus its advertising on its retail stores instead of these trade shows; the company's last Macworld keynote was in 2009.[138]
Since the introduction of the Macintosh, Apple has struggled to gain a significant share of the personal computer market. At first, the Macintosh 128K suffered from a dearth of available software compared to IBM's PC, resulting in disappointing sales in 1984 and 1985. It took 74 days for 50,000 units to sell.[139] Although the aggressively priced IBM PC soon overtook Apple in sales,[140][141][142][143][143] Macintosh systems found success in education and desktop publishing.
Notwithstanding these technical and commercial successes on the Macintosh platform, their systems remained fairly expensive, making them less competitive in light of the falling costs of components that made IBM PC compatibles cheaper and accelerated their adoption. In 1989, Jean-Louis Gassée had steadfastly refused to lower the profit margins on Mac computers, then there was a component shortage that rocked the exponentially-expanding PC industry that year, forcing Apple USA head Allan Loren to cut prices which dropped Apple's margins. Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990, the first iteration of Windows which had a feature set and performance comparable to the significantly costlier Macintosh.[53] Furthermore, Apple had created too many similar models that confused potential buyers; at one point the product lineup was subdivided into Classic, LC, II, Quadra, Performa, and Centris models, with essentially the same computer being sold under a number of different names.[75]
Compaq, who had previously held the third place spot among PC manufacturers during the 1980s and early 1990s, initiated a successful price war in 1994 that vaulted them to the biggest by the year end, overtaking a struggling IBM and relegating Apple to third place.[72][73][74] Apple's market share further struggled due to the release of the Windows 95 operating system, which unified Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products. Windows 95 significantly enhanced the multimedia capability and performance of IBM PC compatible computers, and brought the capabilities of Windows to parity with the Mac OS GUI.
Steve Jobs returned as interim CEO in 1997 and terminated the Macintosh clone program, while simplifying the computer product lines. In 1998 the release of the iMac G3 all-in-one was a great success, selling 800,000 units in 139 days, providing a much needed boost to the ailing Macintosh platform.[83][84] The introduction of the Power Macintosh and iBook laptop completed "four-square product matrix" (desktop and portable products for both consumers and professionals), with the iBook ranking as the most popular laptop in the U.S. market for the 1999 year.[85][86][87]
In 2000, Apple released the Power Mac G4 Cube, their first desktop since the discontinued Power Macintosh G3, to slot between the iMac G3 and the Power Mac G4. Even with its innovative design, it was initially priced US$200 higher than the comparably-equipped and more-expandable base Power Mac G4, while also not including a monitor, making it too expensive and resulting in slow sales.[144] Apple sold just 29,000 Cubes in Q4 of 2000 which was one third of expectations, compared to 308,000 Macs during that same quarter, and Cube sales dropped to 12,000 units in Q1 of 2001.[145] A price drop and hardware upgrades could not offset the earlier perception of the Cube's reduced value compared to the iMac and Power Mac G4 lineup, and it was discontinued in July 2001.[146]
Starting in 2002, Apple moved to eliminate CRT displays from its product line as part of aesthetic design and space-saving measures with the iMac G4. However, the new iMac with its flexible LCD flat-panel monitor was considerably more expensive on its debut than the preceding iMac G3, largely due to the higher cost of the LCD technology at the time. In order to keep the Macintosh affordable for the education market and due to obselescene of the iMac G3, Apple created the eMac in April 2002 as the intended successor; however the eMac's CRT made it relatively bulky and somewhat outdated, while its all-in-one construction meant it could not expanded to meet consumer demand for larger monitors. The iMac G4's relatively high prices were approaching that of laptops which were portable and had higher resolution LCD screens. Meanwhile, Windows PC manufacturers could offer desktop configurations with LCD flat panel monitors at prices comparable to the eMac and at much lower cost than the iMac G4.[147] The flop of the Power Mac G4 Cube, along with the more expensive iMac G4 and heavy eMac, meant that Macintosh desktop sales never reached the market share attained by the previous iMac G3. For the next half-decade while Macintosh sales held steady, it would instead be the iPod portable music player and iTunes music download service that would drive Apple's sales growth.
In recent years, market share of the personal computer market is measured by browser hits, sales and installed base. If using the browser metric, Mac market share has increased substantially in 2007.[148] If measuring market share by installed base, there were more than 20 million Mac users by 1997, compared to an installed base of around 340 million Windows PCs.[149][150] Statistics from late 2003 indicate that Apple had 2.06 percent of the desktop share in the United States that had increased to 2.88 percent by Q4 2004.[151] As of October 2006, research firms IDC and Gartner reported that Apple's market share in the U.S. had increased to about 6 percent.[152] Figures from December 2006, showing a market share around 6 percent (IDC) and 6.1 percent (Gartner) are based on a more than 30 percent increase in unit sale from 2005 to 2006. The installed base of Mac computers is hard to determine, with numbers ranging from 5% (estimated in 2009)[153] to 16% (estimated in 2005).[154] Mac OS X's share of the OS market increased from 7.31% in December 2007 to 9.63% in December 2008, which is a 32% increase in market share during 2008, compared with a 22% increase during 2007.
From 2001 to 2008, Mac sales increased continuously on an annual basis. Apple reported worldwide sales of 3.36 million Macs during the 2009 holiday season.[155] As of Mid-2011, the Macintosh continues to enjoy rapid market share increase in the US, growing from 7.3% of all computer shipments in 2010 to 9.3% in 2011.[156] According to IDC's quarterly PC tracker, globally, in 3rd quarter of 2014, Apple's PC market share increased 5.7 percent year over year, with record sales of 5.5 million units. Apple now sits in the number five spot, with a gobal market share of about 6% during 2014, behind Lenovo, HP, Dell and Acer.[157]
By March 2011, the market share of OS X in North America had increased to slightly over 14%.[158] Whether the size of the Mac's market share and installed base is relevant, and to whom, is a hotly debated issue. Industry pundits have often called attention to the Mac's relatively small market share to predict Apple's impending doom, particularly in the early and mid-1990s when the company's future seemed bleakest. Others argue that market share is the wrong way to judge the Mac's success. Apple has positioned the Mac as a higher-end personal computer, and so it may be misleading to compare it to a budget PC.[159] Because the overall market for personal computers has grown rapidly, the Mac's increasing sales numbers are effectively swamped by the industry's expanding sales volume as a whole. Apple's small market share, then, gives the impression that fewer people are using Macs than did ten years ago, when exactly the opposite is true.[160] Soaring sales of the iPhone and iPad mean that the portion of Apple's profits represented by the Macintosh has declined in 2010, dropping to 24% from 46% two years earlier.[161] Others try to de-emphasize market share, citing that it is rarely brought up in other industries.[162] Regardless of the Mac's market share, Apple has remained profitable since Steve Jobs' return and the company's subsequent reorganization.[163] Notably, a report published in the first quarter of 2008 found that Apple had a 14% market share in the personal computer market in the US, including 66% of all computers over $1,000.[164] Market research indicates that Apple draws its customer base from a higher-income demographic than the mainstream personal computer market.[165]
The sales breakdown of the Macintosh have seen sales of desktop Macs stayed mostly constant while being surpassed by that of Mac notebooks whose sales rate has grown considerably; seven out of ten Macs sold were laptops in 2009, a ratio projected to rise to three out of four by 2010.[166] The change in sales of form factors is due to the desktop iMac moving from affordable (iMac G3) to upscale (iMac G4) and subsequent releases are considered premium all-in-ones. By contrast the MSRP of the MacBook laptop lines have dropped through successive generations such that the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro constitute the lowest price of entry to a Mac, with the exception of the even more inexpensive Mac Mini (the only sub-$1000 offering from Apple, albeit without a monitor and keyboard), not surprisingly the MacBooks are the top-selling form factors of the Macintosh platform today.[167] The use of Intel microprocessors has helped Macs more directly compete with their Windows counterparts on price and performance, and by the 2010s Apple was receiving Intel's latest CPUs first before other PC manufacturers.[168][169][170]
In recent years, Apple has seen a significant boost in sales of Macs.[171] This has been attributed, in part, to the success of the iPod and the iPhone, a halo effect whereby satisfied iPod or iPhone owners purchase more Apple products, and Apple has since capitalized on that with the iCloud cloud service that allows users to seamlessly sync data between these devices and Macs.[172] Nonetheless, like other personal computer manufacturers, the Macintosh lines have been hurt by consumer trend towards smartphones and tablet computers (particularly Apple's own iPhone and iPad, respectively) as the computing devices of choice among consumers.[173]
Although the PC market declined, Apple still managed to ship 2.8 million MacBooks in Q2 2012 (the majority of which are the MacBook Air) compared to 500,000 total Ultrabooks,[174][175] although there was dozens of Ultrabooks from various manufacturers on the market while Apple only offered 11-inch and 13-inch models of the Macbook Air.[176] The Air has been the best-selling ultra-portable in certain countries over Windows Ultrabooks, particularly the United States.[177] While several Ultrabooks were able to claim individual distinctions such as being the lightest or thinnest, the Air was regarded by reviewers as the best all-around subnotebook/ultraportable in regard to "OS X experience, full keyboard, superior trackpad, Thunderbolt connector and the higher-quality, all-aluminum unibody construction".[178] The Air was among the first to receive Intel's latest CPUs before other PC manufacturers, and Apple Mac OS X has gained market share on Windows in recent years.[168][169] Through July 1, 2013, the MacBook Air took in 56 percent of all Ultrabook sales in the United States, although being one of the higher-priced competitors,[179] though several Ultrabooks with better features were often more expensive than the MacBook Air.[177] The competitive pricing of MacBooks was particularly effective when rivals charged more for seemingly equivalent UltraBooks, as this contradicted the established "elitist aura" perception that Apple products cost more but were higher quality, which made these most expensive UltraBooks seem exorbitant no matter how valid their higher prices were.[180]
Apple has generally dominated the premium PC market, in 2009 having a 91 percent market share for PCs priced at more than $1,000, according to NPD.[181] The Apple Macintosh took 45 percent of operating profits in the PC industry during Q4 2012, compared to 13 percent for Dell Inc., seven percent at Hewlett Packard, six percent at Lenovo and Asus, and one percent for Acer.[166][182] While sales of Macintosh have largely held steady, in comparison to Apple's sales of the iPhone and iPad which increased significantly during the 2010s, Macintosh computers still enjoy high margins on a per unit basis, with the majority being their MacBooks that are focused on the ultraportable niche that is the most profitable and only growing segment of PCs.[166] It also helped that the Macintosh lineup is simple, updated on a yearly schedule, and consistent across both Apple Retail Stores, and authorized resellers where they have a special "store within a store" section to distinguish them from Windows PCs. In contrast, Windows PC manufacturers generally have a wide range of offerings, selling only a portion through retail with full selection on the web, and often with limited-time or region-specific models. Apple's Macintosh ranked third on the "list of intended brands for desktop purchases" for the 2011 holiday season, then moved up to second in 2012 by displacing Hewlett Packard, and in 2013 took the top spot ahead of Dell.[183]
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(help) Period interview about the introduction of the Macintosh.Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apple Macintosh. |
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リンク元 | 「Mac」「マッキントッシュ」 |
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