Big Mac (computer)
Template:Infobox computing device Template:Infobox computing device
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).[1][2] 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.[3][4] 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.[5][6] Esslinger described Baby Mac as his "best design never to be produced",[7] while Jean-Louis Gassée considered it to be a toy.[1]
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".[7] 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".[1][7] Big Mac and Baby Mac were zero-draft designs and included integrated carrying handles.[3][1]
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. Similar to the later Macintosh Portrait Display, its 15 in (38 cm) display had a vertical orientation for word processing and was monochrome to save on costs.[1] 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".[6]
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.[5][8]
Notes
References
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- ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error: bad argument #1 to "get" (not a valid title).
- ↑ Hartmut esslinger's early apple computer and tablet designs. (18 December 2012) Retrieved from Designboom
- ↑ Jump up to: 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbehance - ↑ Apple's sexy concepts from the 1980s (Pictures). Christopher MacManus. (16 February 2013) Retrieved from CNET
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