Apple at 15

This past month, Apple turned 50 years old. I've been a fan for 15 years now. I just finished reading Apple: The First 50 Years by David Pogue, an easy read covering Apple's products, people, decisions, and lessons since it started. And I decided to go through all the Apple products I've gotten over the years.

It was the iPod Touch (2010) that first drew me in when my dad got me one for Christmas. I had planned to just use it for playing some of the games that I kept hearing about. But the fluidity of the touchscreen made me realize I no longer needed my Motorola Droid with a slide out keyboard, and got my first iPhone, the iPhone 4S (2011) when it came out. And have been upgrading every 1-2 years until today.

Then I decided my next computer upgrade would be a Macbook Air (2012). I would connect it to my monitor and use it for both at home and away from home. I remember how quiet my apartment seemed after getting rid of my large PC tower that had a fan that was always running. I used the hell out of my Air before later upgrading to a retina 12-inch Macbook (2016), and a desktop iMac (2016) with a large display. And I of course upgraded to the M-series Air (2021) and iMac (2021) when they came out.

My next Apple device expansion would be to the iPad Mini (2012) which I got when it came out and got the retina version (2014) as that was the ideal version. I upgraded to a third one (2021) when the bottom button was removed. Each one has been greatly used. I use it for all my reading: books, comics, blogs. I use the cover as a stand to watch YouTube on it. I play casual games on the weekend on it. At times I probably use it as much as my iPhone in a given week.

My other Apple products include: the Apple TV (2012) from its early days, upgraded to the 4K version (2018); an Apple Watch (2018), which I recently upgraded (2025); and I’m an iCloud+/Apple One subscriber which I mainly use for Apple Music, and storing our family’s photos. And with my most recent car purchase, I made sure it came with CarPlay support. I also tried out a Vision Pro, and while I could see myself using it in the future, my head just couldn't handle extended periods of use in its current form.

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