In Pictures: The Apple family tree

Apple platforms through the years

Macintosh (1984 to present)

Development status: Open Platform size: 210+

The Macintosh platform first emerged in 1984, and it has been with us in some form or another ever since. Over these past 22 years, the platform has seen three major hardware shifts (those between 68K, PowerPC, and x86 CPUs) and one major operating system shift (between Classic OS and OS X).

While some could argue that these three CPU types constitute three separate platforms (and technically, they do), Apple accompanied each hardware shift with emulation layers that preserved backwards compatibility, thus maintaining the spirit of Macintosh between hardware revisions.

6 of 15
VIEW ALL THUMBNAILS

Most Popular

Tethering tutorial: How to use your iPhone as a modem
Capacitive vs resistive touchscreens
LCD vs plasma vs LED TVs buying guide
How to pick the right size TV for your living room
Google Wallet makes payments possible through Gmail

Best Deals on PCWorld

Networking, Wireless & VoIPView all »
NotebooksView all »
TabletsView all »
Mobile PhonesView all »
Printers & ScannersView all »

rhs_login_lockSign up to PC World Today for the latest news, reviews and galleries from PC World Australia.