My First Mac

The first Mac I ever used was a Mac Plus. That was 1986.

The first Mac I ever owned was also a Mac Plus, but that was 1991, just after Apple stopped making them.

But My First Mac isn't my story. It's yours. Each article here was written by a Mac user looking back at the start of their Macintosh journey.

Share the story of your first Mac experience by emailing [an error occurred while processing this directive] with "My Turn" as your subject.

Dan Knight, publisher, Low End Mac

2008

2007

2003

  • Ten years, two PowerBook Duos, Spencer Garrett, My First Mac, 01.13. The portability, compact size, and the Mac OS made Apple's subcompact Duos perfect computers.
  • Hooked by the iBook, Jeff Campbell, 07.08. "The moment I saw the iBook I was hooked, and by August I had one in my hands."

2002

  1. A Mac Plus in 1986 - the rest is history, Scott Clausen, 01.02. I saw an Apple dealer and decided to see what their product was like. The rest is history.
  2. Technogeek falls in love with OS X, Rob D Libbert, 01.04. Linux power user discovers OS X, falls in love with the interface.
  3. Macs get the job done, Brian Miller, 01.08. "With a Mac, I don't spend time thinking about what I'm trying to do, but thinking about what I can do."
  4. No PC could equal it, Henk Goewie, 01.10. "Apple manufactures incredible hardware that has the life span of a quality TV or stereo, whereas the average PC equals an average toy."
  5. First Mac use a revelation, Steve Wassenich, 01.31. "The Mac didn't tell me where to put the words; it let me do that, and I didn't have to define where I wanted the words to appear."
  6. A lesson well learned, Robert McQuistion, 02.05. Some lessons are only learned the hard way -- like don't sell your favorite computer.
  7. Working less with my Mac than with my PC, Ronald Bodinger, 02.12. Guess what? I work with my Mac less than I did with my PC!
  8. Quadra revives a passion for computing, Genevieve Gauthier, 02.14. I thank my friend every day for pushing me in the fantastic world of Macintosh.
  9. Low-end Macs work better, longer, and cheaper, Sheldon Jaffe, 02.19. "The most I've paid for any machine was $700, and I don't regret any of the purchases."
  10. My first new Mac, Kurt Cypher, 02.26. Three years of used Macs - and now a 600 MHz iBook!
  11. In love with the Mac GUI, Ronald Buckner, 03.19. In love with the Mac GUI, but the PowerBook 145 was too slow....
  12. Reaching for a Mac, bluekatt, 03.28. How much is that compact Mac in the store window?
  13. Windows user hooked by PowerBook, Christopher Alan Gohm, 05.21. How the Mac OS replaced Windows in the mind and heart of one user.
  14. SE to Pismo in 14 Months, PEA, 06.03. How picking up that first SE 14 months ago changed this PC user's ways.
  15. Classics, Performas, iMacs, and G4s, Jason Walsh, 06.10. From Classics in school to a Performa at home to editing video on a G4 to writing on an iMac, the Mac is a great production tool.
  16. Sinclair, Unix, NeXT, and Macintosh, Martin Spenceley, 06.27. It took eight years to fulfill the longing for a Mac - which has grown to quite a collection since.
  17. Macs are the more sensible option, Adrian Carter, 07.15. After using Sinclairs, Ataris, and Intel PCs, the Mac became the sensible choice for MIDI, gaming, and nearly everything else.
  18. OS X: The best of Amiga, Linux, and the Mac OS, Ryan Callaghan, 07.17. "I had already decided that my next machine was going to be something completely unable to run Windows...."
  19. Internet article leads to Mac addiction, Alan O'Neil, 09.24. "I had never really given Macs much thought as usable computers, and even bashed them sometimes."
  20. It's everything I need and more, Bernard Quinn, My First Mac, 11.01. "It looks great, and I'm having fun using a computer for the first time in years."

Articles from 1999-2001 have been moved to the My First Mac Archive.

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