May 29, 1979: Mac Concept Committed to Paper

Mike Markkulahad asked Jef Raskin if he was interested in developing a $500 game machine. Jef wasn't interested in that type of product but he did have a low cost concept in mind.

Jef Raskin envisioned a computer that would forgo the complexities of the Apple II and instead provide just about everything a computer user could possibly want in one box. The computer was to include a mass storage device, a screen, a keyboard and bitmapped graphics, weigh under twenty pounds, a battery for portable computing if possible and, to top it all off, a printer included as an integral part of the machine. On the nonhardware side the device would also be easy enough to use that an instruction manual would be unnecessary.

Jef referred to the PITS (for "Person in the Street") computer when speaking to others but privately he called the machine a Macintosh. The concept and specs were committed to paper and made their way into an official Apple document of May 29, 1979.