Big Mac (computer)

Big Mac

Final design for the Big Mac
Also known as	BigMac, Super Mac
Developer	Apple Computer, Inc.
Product family	Compact Macintosh
Type	All-in-one
Operating system	UNIX [1]
CPU	Motorola 68020 @ 16 MHz [2]
Storage	10 MB HDD [2]
Display	15 in (38 cm) [1]
Predecessor	Apple Lisa
Successor	Macintosh Plus [3] Macintosh II

Baby Mac

Final design for the Baby Mac
Also known as	BabyMac, Macintosh
Developer	Apple Computer, Inc.
Product family	Compact Macintosh
Type	All-in-one
Release date	Intended for 1986; ultimately cancelled [4]
Display	11.25 in (28.6 cm) [Note 1]
Predecessor	Macintosh 128K Macintosh 512K
Successor	Macintosh 512Ke Macintosh SE

Big Mac (also written BigMac and labeled Super Mac on prototypes) is a cancelled workstation designed by Hartmut Esslinger for Apple Computer using the Snow White design language. Its consumer equivalent was Baby Mac (also written BabyMac and simply labeled Macintosh on prototypes). ^{[5] [6]} Development on Big Mac and Baby Mac began in 1984 and stopped after Steve Jobs left the company due to a clash of ideologies with John Sculley. ^{[4] [7]} Without the knowledge of Jobs, a project codenamed "Milwaukee" was in development concurrently with the Big Mac and ultimately succeeded it to become the Macintosh II, causing designer Rich Page to leave Apple for NeXT. ^{[1] [2]} Esslinger described Baby Mac as his "best design never to be produced", ^[8] while Jean-Louis Gassée considered it to be a toy. ^[5]

Hardware

Esslinger and the design team investigated flat-screen displays and worked with Toshiba to create a new CRT front to "avoid the cheap look of a CRT screen". ^[8] Esslinger created low-profile mouse, keyboard, and mouse pen designs, experimenting with wireless RF technology to make the Baby Mac even smaller and "avoid the tangled mess of keyboard and mouse cables". ^{[5] [8]} Big Mac and Baby Mac were zero-draft designs and included integrated carrying handles. ^{[4] [5]}

Big Mac was conceived as a 3M computer, with at least 1 megabyte of memory, a 1 megapixel display, and 1 million instructions per second. Similarly to the later Macintosh Portrait Display and the earlier Xerox Alto display, its 15 in (38 cm) display had a vertical orientation for word processing and was monochrome to save on costs. ^[5] To develop MacPaint 2.0, David Ramsey used a prototype Big Mac without an external case, which he considered "faster and more reliable than the Macintosh II prototypes available". ^[2]

The design of the Baby Mac has been noted to have a superficial resemblance to the egg design of the iMac G3 from 1998.^{[ by whom? ]}

Software

Big Mac was intended to have a UNIX-based operating system while maintaining compatibility with existing Macintosh software and using the same user interface. ^{[1] [9]}

Notes

1. Calculated by assuming Big Mac and Baby Mac displays are the same width

References

1. "Le prototype « Big Mac » d'Apple" [Apple's "Big Mac" prototype]. L'Aventure Apple (in French). Archived from the original on 4 March 2024.
2. Ramsey, David. "Evolution Of A Classic". Folklore.org . Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
3. Webster, Bruce (December 1985). "Microcomputer Color Graphics-Observations". BYTE . Vol. 10, no. 13. pp. 405–418. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
4. Esslinger, Hartmut (5 May 2017). "Apple Baby Mac". Behance .
5. Esslinger, Hartmut (7 January 2014). Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple. Arnoldsche Art Publishers. pp. 152, 244, 246–257. ISBN   9783897904071.
6. "Hartmut esslinger's early apple computer and tablet designs". Designboom . 18 December 2012. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012.
7. MacManus, Christopher (16 February 2013). "Apple's sexy concepts from the 1980s (Pictures)". CNET . Archived from the original on 29 September 2014.
8. Esslinger, Hartmut (16 February 2013). Design Forward: Creative Strategies for Sustainable Change. Arnoldsche Art Publishers. p. 148. ISBN   9783897903814.
9. Isaacson, Walter (2011). Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster. p. 284. ISBN   9781451648539.