The dream of a truly portable Mac is almost as old as the Macintosh itself. Five years after the debut of the original Macintosh desktop in 1984, Apple launched the disastrously expensive, 16-pound Macintosh Portable. It failed quickly. But out of the ashes came the PowerBook 100 in 1991, followed by the more refined PowerBook 500 and PowerBook G3 in 1994. Apple finally struck mainstream consumer gold with the colorful iBook G3 in 1999. With a small handle and an adorably rounded case, what more could you want? It wasn't exactly fast, but it was a clear sign that Apple was aiming to make computers that appeal to the masses.
I can remember the exact moment I first fell in love with an Apple laptop. It was right as I was entering college in 2001: I came in with a desktop I built myself, but I couldn't help but notice the gorgeous PowerBook G4 several classmates had. I adored its sleek titanium case and the way Mac OS X seemed lightyears beyond Windows XP. Then Apple announced the first MacBook Pro in 2006, improving on the PowerBook G4 in every way, and the computing world hasn't been the same since.
No matter what you think of Apple or its hardware, there's no doubt that MacBooks have been the defining laptops of the last two decades. PC makers rushed to ape the MacBook Pro's sleek unibody design, and the introduction of the MacBook Air spurred on the creation of ultraportable laptops.
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