40. The Packaging

Who else keeps all their Apple packaging safe and sound...simply because it's too pretty to recycle?

Apple clearly cares about creative, well-designed packaging, and with each new product, it proves that the devil is in the details. Every Apple device comes in an elegant, simple-to-open box -- like the iPhone 4’s truffle-style box and the iPod’s easy-to-open plastic shell. Even the more spartan MacBook “suitcase” boxes stand out in a crowd, thanks to the gorgeous photos filling the main panels.
 
But in general, Apple’s packaging is so cleverly engineered that we always feel like we’re spoiling well-folded origami by tugging it apart. Fortunately, the familiar and comforting words “Design by Apple in California” encourage us to charge ahead like kids at Christmas, and we’ve all learned that opening one is so unlike the experience of opening…well, pretty much anything else that it’s become a vital part of the Apple mystique.

39. Support for Education

When you're there at the beginning, you're often there until the end.

Raise your hand if your first encounter with an Apple computer was in grammar school -- remember Math Blaster and Oregon Trail? Fiddling with BASIC and Logo? Good times.

Apple’s always supported education, and in 2002, it even released the eMac specifically tailored to classrooms’ needs -- and budgets. The CRT eMac had the same 700MHz G4 processor and 128MB of memory as the new LCD-equipped iMac G4, but it cost $300 less. While eMacs eventually went on sale to the general public, Apple gets props from us for putting the kids first -- and also for how the Apple Store for Education still offers special deals for teachers, administrators, staff, and college students.

38. No Viruses            

Before your Windows-loving friends start talking about Trojan horses and market share, think about this: OS X is on version 6, right? In that time, how many viruses have taken over your Mac? Uh-huh. But will Macs be virus-free forever? Probably not, but for now, we’re sitting pretty.

37. The Macintosh Portable            

The Portable was easy to upgrade and included a swappable keyboard.

The Portable was Apple’s first “laptop” and the world’s first full-powered portable computer. Of course, at 16 pounds, “luggable” might have been a more accurate name. Still, we’ve gotta give credit to Cupertino for trying, even if the Portable didn’t exactly take
off with Mac users.

36. Easy Networking and Sharing

The AirPort Utility makes managing your network a headache-free task.

Floppy disks are dead. The network is the way to move information now, and nobody makes networking easier than Apple. AirPort introduced Wi-Fi to the masses in 1999, and the innovation train has been rolling ever since, right on through to 2008’s set-it-and-forget-it Time Capsule, which automates network backups without a single wire. And then there’s Bonjour, which finds other computers and printers on your network without you lifting a finger. The Sharing pane of System Preferences also lets you share files, printers, optical drives, and even your whole screen with just a few clicks. It just works, and we just love it.

35. The Power Mac G4 Cube

It looks like a cube, it soundes like a cube, but it's a computer in an acrylic box.

Somewhat reminiscent of today’s Mac mini, the Cube was a Mac with a small, interesting form factor, and we admire it for its boldness and its shout-out to Jobs’ days at NeXT. Unfortunately, its high price point and lack of expandability -- not to mention those cracks in its acrylic enclosure -- lead to it eventually fizzling out of existence.

34. The Best Bundles

Compare this to the junk that comes installed on a new PC. Yeah, no contest.

When you boot up a brand-new PC, you’re greeted with umpteen offers to buy this security software and that media browser. And oh yeah….Internet Explorer. In contrast, a new Mac greets you with Safari, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and a fistful of super-useful utilities for tasks ranging from networking to migrating between machines. Thanks, Apple.

33. The Intel Switch

Intel Inside? Woot!

After years of jabs at Intel, the writing was on the wall. Apple’s deal with Motorola and IBM (at the end, just IBM) to produce PowerPC chips for Macs that could compete with Intel’s offerings was doomed. Cheers to that, because with Intel inside, the Mac enjoys a level playing field with the rest of the industry, and creating a virtual machine on your Mac no longer brings it to a stand-still. That’s right, an actual processor roadmap makes the Mac better and us happy.

32. Retina Display

A display this crisp can make a believer out of anyone.

Remember pixels? We don’t either. Ever since the iPhone 4 was launched, our Retina Displays have been the killer feature we never knew we needed. One glimpse at the crisp letters and smooth-as-butter icons, and it was love at first sight.

31. Great Commercials

The renowned “1984” commercial launched Apple’s tradition of creativity in advertising.

From the eerie “1984” ad directed by Ridley Scott to the memorable “Get a Mac” campaign, Apple’s commercials have been iconic, often parodied, and almost always a hoot.