The Mac came onto the computer scene in 1984 - and revolutionized it.  Its 30th birthday is celebrated with a new video and we have two historical ones to mark the occasion.

The Apple Macintosh was released on January 24, 1984.

With a nine-inch screen and a carrying handle, the Mac was a compact machine that arrived at a time when mainframes still took up whole rooms and and "minis" were the size of tall cabinet.

It brought a graphical user interface and a mouse to the computing experience which was greeted with enthusiasm when Steve Jobs first allowed Apple's new creation out of the bag - as shown in this video which was posted in 2005 on You Tube when the Mac turned 21 years old: 

As well as the Macintosh itself being of historic importance, so is  the original advert for it. This was directed by Ridley Scott and first broadcast in the third quarter of the Super Bowl in 1984.  It had such strong overtones of George Orwell's novel 1984 that his estate claimed copyright infringement.  Even though it was only ever aired twice, it is considered to be "one of the most memorable and successful American television commercials of all time".

To mark Mac's 30th Birthday Apple has posted a short video about its impact highlighting the way in which it has fostered creativity in a variety of fields.

To a certain extent the Mac has always "punched above its weight". It is highly regarded by its highly influential community, but has never had the market success of the PC.

A recent survey discovered that 4% of Internet users claimed that they were using modern Macs but that the percentage of Mac users was much higher in the most affluent countries. Australia, with 12% of Mac users topped its chart with the USA coming next with 11% and Canada, Sweden, Singapore all had 10% or more. At the other end of the scale Brazil, Argentina, China, Indonesia, India and Poland all had 1%

Source: GlobalWebIndex

This distribution is partly a reflection of the fact that the Mac always has been relatively expensive and it still is. The first Mac cost $2,495, which works out at around or $5,600in today's money.

To know more about the Mac check out The Story Of The Apple Macintosh in our history section.

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