What comes to mind when you think of an Apple product that you wish you had when it was new? For me, there are two things on my Apple wish list that only really made sense to have back when they were modern.
Vintage wishlist item # 1
I bought my first Mac at the end of the summer of 2009. Apple still sold laptops made of polycarbonate, but aluminum was clearly the future. A few months earlier, a friend was deciding which Mac to buy for college.
I told her to buy a white polycarbonate MacBook because I thought it looked cooler and I'd always wanted one. She bought a silver aluminum computer because it was the best computer. Both 13-inch laptops were called MacBooks without Pro.
A few months later, it was time for me to make the same decision. Was I going to put my (grandma's) money where my mouth was and buy a polycarbonate one?
I don't remember what my thoughts were at the time, but suffice it to say that my first Mac was the original 13 -inch MacBook Pro. It was essentially an aluminum 13″ MacBook from 2008, but it had the SD card reader from a 15″ MacBook Pro.
Other freshmen at my college had white polycarbonate MacBooks. High school students had outdated-looking white or black MacBooks.
For me, it was the last MacBook, the white polycarbonate one with the curved body that I thought looked so cool. When I was looking for a Mac, it never made sense for me to get one if an aluminum MacBook was within reach. However, I would like to have one before it becomes obsolete.
Vintage Wish List Item # 2
Another Apple product from the same era also comes to mind: the white iPhone 3GS. I knew exactly one person who had this iPhone when it was new and thought it was so cool. The combination of black front glass and white plastic back was essentially the iPhone version of the rounded polycarbonate MacBook I loved.
Best comment from bcom77
Apple talks have never been more fun to watch than when they were hosted by Steve Jobs. This guy had a knack for getting you interested in new Apple products, and his “one more thing…” will always be the icing on the cake. I always loved the way he talked about the first iPod Nano, when he asked everyone in the room what the coin pocket in your jeans was for, and then, to everyone's surprise, he pulled out a Nano. It made me want him immediately. Nobody in Apple's current leadership has the same energetic personality as Jobs, so I don't watch talks anymore. I usually just go to this site to read the announced news :-).
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The first iPhone I ever owned was a belated replacement: a white iPhone 4. I bought it in May. December 4, 2011 (Star Wars Day), just a few days after its release. This also comes almost a year after the release of the black iPhone 4.
Unlike the MacBook, I've never seen a white iPhone 3GS and wish I had one instead. The iPhone 4S was released a few months later, so an iPhone 3GS in any color was old news. However, when it was new, it said “cool” to me in a way that future iPhones wouldn't.
I think for both products I really liked the casual and less serious yet premium design.
What about you? Is there an Apple product you wish you had when it was new? Share yours on social networks and in the comments!
