MacBook History: A Year-by-Year Evolution of Apple Laptops

On this page

• ›PowerBook 100 (1991)
• ›MacBook models by year (full timeline table)
• ›PowerBook 140 & 170 (1991)
• ›Série PowerBook Duo, 1992 à 1997
• ›PowerBook série 500 (1994)
• ›PowerBook G3 (1997-2001)
• ›PowerBook G4 (2001-2006)
• ›iBook G3 (1999-2003)
• ›iBook G4 (2003-2006)
• ›Premier MacBook Pro
• ›MacBook 2006
• ›MacBook Air
• ›MacBook (2008)
• ›MacBook Pro (Retina Display)
• ›MacBook (2015-2019)
• ›MacBook Pro (2016)
• ›MacBook Pro (2017-2019)
• ›MacBook Pro 16 pouces (2019)
• ›MacBook Pro M1 (2020)
• ›MacBook Air M1 (2020)
• ›MacBook Pro M1- 14, 16 pouces- 2021
• ›MacBook Air M2 (2022)
• ›MacBook Pro 13 pouces M2 (2022)
• ›Modèles MacBook Pro M2 (2023) avec 14 et 16 pouces
• ›MacBook Air 15 pouces (2023)
• ›MacBook Pro 14-in & 16-in M3 (2023)
• ›Apple Silicon catches up: M3 Air, M4, and M5 (2024-2025)
• ›MacBook Generations List: From PowerPC to Apple Silicon
• ›Histoire de MacOS : Le logiciel derrière l'écran
• ›MacBook history FAQ

When Steve Jobs unveiled the first MacBook Air pulled from a plain Manila envelope in 2008, it was not only a product launch but also a statement. The history of the MacBook is one long run of reinvention, where Apple kept mixing design and engineering into something that felt like more than a computer.

From the chunky PowerBooks of the early years to the slim M-series Pros of today, every MacBook has been reworked again and again. This guide walks you through the models year by year, so you can see how Apple’s designs, features, and chips changed over time.

PowerBook 100 (1991)

Before the PowerBook 100, portable computers were bulky and hard to carry. It changed that with a small, light design that made real portable computing possible.

• Co-designed with Sony, it was small and light for its time

• The first Apple laptop with a trackball, the ancestor of today’s trackpad

• A Motorola 68000 processor that handled everyday tasks

The PowerBook 100 was a turning point for Apple laptops. It marked their first step into portable computing.

MacBook models by year (full timeline table)

Here is the full MacBook timeline at a glance, from the 1991 PowerBook 100 to the 2025 M5 MacBook Pro. The table maps each model line to its year and defining chip, so you can jump straight to the generation you care about.

Modèle	Year	Chip era	Notable first
PowerBook 100	1991	Motorola 68000	First Apple portable
PowerBook G3 “Wall Street”	1997	PowerPC G3	First to run Mac OS X
Premier MacBook Pro	2006	Intel Core	First Intel MacBook (Feb 2006)
MacBook (polycarbonate)	2006	Intel Core Duo	First model called “MacBook” (May 2006)
MacBook Air	2008	Intel	Thinnest notebook of its time
MacBook Pro (Retina)	2012	Intel	First Retina display
MacBook (12-inch)	2015	Intel Core M	Butterfly keyboard, USB-C only
MacBook Pro M1	2020	Apple M1	The Apple Silicon shift
MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max	2021	Apple M1 Pro/Max	Mini-LED XDR, ports return
MacBook Pro M3	2023	Apple M3	Space black finish
MacBook Air M4	2025	Apple M4	$999 start, Sky Blue
MacBook Pro M5	2025	Apple M5	Current flagship ($1,599)

PowerBook 140 & 170 (1991)

The 140 and 170 launched alongside the PowerBook 100, aimed at professionals who wanted more performance. The 170 was the first Apple laptop with an active-matrix display, which made the screen sharper.

• Faster processors aimed at business users

• First Apple laptops with a palm rest for comfort

• Heavier than the PowerBook 100, but real workhorses in their day

Série PowerBook Duo, 1992 à 1997

This 2-in-1 turned an ultra-thin laptop into a desktop through a docking station, an idea well ahead of its time.

• Apple’s lightest PowerBook, ideal for frequent travelers

• Portless; it had to be docked for full use

• A minimalist design that hinted at the MacBook Air

• Docking never caught on, but it pointed to where Apple would go

PowerBook série 500 (1994)

The PowerBook 500 Series made one of the biggest changes in laptop history: the trackpad.

• Le premier ordinateur portable doté d'un trackpad, qui permet d'éliminer la boule de commande lourde.

• Built-in stereo speakers, rare for a laptop then

• Mode veille de la batterie pour une reprise instantanée

• The groundwork for modern MacBook trackpads

PowerBook G3 (1997-2001)

“Wall Street” is what the PowerBook G3 was called, and it was a powerhouse that could outrun many desktops of its day.

• PowerPC G3 processor, the fastest laptop chip of its time, in a sleek black case

• The first Apple notebook to fully support Mac OS X

• It opened the door to high-performance MacBooks

PowerBook G4 (2001-2006)

The PowerBook G4 brought the aluminum look that still shapes MacBooks today.

• Corps durables et élégants en aluminium et en titane

• High-resolution screens in wide sizes, great for creative work

• The last PowerBook before Apple moved to Intel Macs

• The direct predecessor to the MacBook Pro

iBook G3 (1999-2003)

The iBook G3 was aimed at students and casual users, and it was fun to use.

• Des formes brillantes de mandarine, de myrtille, de raisin et bien d'autres encore.

• Le premier à disposer d'une connexion Wi-Fi intégrée sans fil

• Rugged enough to survive drops better than most laptops

• The Mac that made Apple cool for students buying their first laptop

iBook G4 (2003-2006)

The iBook G4 reworked the G3 into something sleeker and more grown-up.

• La coque en plastique était blanche et préfigurait le futur MacBook

• A new PowerPC G4 processor that was much faster than the old models

• Tuned for Mac OS X so the software ran smoothly on the hardware

• A cheaper take on the PowerBook that made Mac laptops easier to buy

Premier MacBook Pro

Apple released the first MacBook Pro in February 2006, a big step forward wrapped in aluminum. At 5.6 pounds and an inch thick, it brought new features like a backlit keyboard and the MagSafe connector, which popped off safely if someone tripped on the cable.

• The fastest laptop at launch, with Intel chips four times faster than the PowerBook G4

• A bright display, a wide trackpad, and a motion sensor that parked the hard drive during a drop

• A 17-inch version soon arrived for power users who wanted more pixels

MacBook 2006

Later in 2006, Apple refreshed its consumer line with the polycarbonate MacBook, replacing the iBook and 12-inch PowerBook. It was less an update than a reset.

• Un design plus fin avec un écran brillant de 13 pouces

• Puces Intel Core Duo, 5 fois plus rapides que l'iBook

• Caméra iSight intégrée pour les appels vidéo

• Protection contre les chutes et MagSafe, empruntés au MacBook Pro

• Disponible en blanc et en noir, il a acquis un statut culte

• Apple called it “the world’s most advanced consumer notebook,” and for many it was the first Mac that felt truly personal

MacBook Air

In 2008, Steve Jobs unveiled the MacBook Air by sliding it out of an envelope. It was the world’s thinnest notebook at the time. Apple dropped the optical SuperDrive and added a multitouch trackpad with gestures.

Its slim, light design made the Air a favorite among developers, especially those looking at ways to développer des applications iOS sans Mac using cloud-hosted setups.

• Écran LED de 13 pouces avec clavier rétroéclairé de grande taille

• Caméra iSight intégrée pour les appels vidéo

• Un modèle de 11,6 pouces a été lancé pour lutter contre les netbooks et les ultrabooks.

MacBook (2008)

Apple rebuilt the polycarbonate MacBook into a strong aluminum unibody case. Steve Jobs called it the greenest computer Apple had made, meeting the top Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold, and RoHS environmental standards.

• Tous sans produits chimiques toxiques (tels que les câbles sans PVC, les écrans LED sans mercure et le verre sans arsenic)

• Des graphismes d'ordinateur portable performants dans une version d'entrée de gamme

MacBook Pro (Retina Display)

Apple brought the Retina display to the MacBook Pro, the highest-resolution laptop screen at the time. It packed more than 5 million pixels, more than an HD TV.

• Plus léger et presque aussi fin que le MacBook Air

• Ne dispose pas d'un SuperDrive optique mais utilise à la place un stockage flash à l'état solide

• Conception minimaliste

• Premier (et dernier) MacBook Pro avec port HDMI

• Port d'alimentation MagSafe 2 plus fin et haut-parleurs améliorés

MacBook (2015-2019)

Apple a ressuscité le MacBook, son ordinateur portable le plus fin et le plus léger, avec seulement 2 livres et 13,1 mm d'épaisseur.

• Pesant seulement 2 livres et 13,1 mm d'épaisseur, il a dépassé le MacBook Air.

• Léger et compact avec un écran Retina de 12 pouces et un clavier papillon avec trackpad Force Touch

• Tous les ports ont été supprimés ; seuls les ports USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ont remplacé les ports MagSafe et USB-A.

• Se refroidit tout seul et fonctionne silencieusement

• Abandonné en juillet 2019 pour rationaliser la gamme de MacBook d'Apple

This is also the era of the butterfly keyboard, remembered less fondly. With only about 0.7mm of key travel, it jammed easily when dust or crumbs got under a key, and it became the defining weak point of these models. Apple eventually ran an extended repair program to cover the failures.

MacBook Pro (2016)

Apple introduced the 2016 MacBook Pro in December, thinner and lighter than before. The non-Touch Bar version even stepped in to replace the Air. The Touch Bar models, from 13-inch to 15-inch, swapped the function keys for a small touchscreen strip.

• Capteur Touch ID pour des connexions plus sûres et plus efficaces

• Plus de connectivité avec les ports Thunderbolt 3/USB-C

• Un trackpad plus grand et un clavier papillon amélioré

• Un écran plus lumineux et plus large que celui de l'iPhone 7

• Amélioration de la vitesse du SSD et de la qualité du son

• La collection MacBook Pro s'enrichit d'un gris spatial

• Nouveau record de vente annoncé par Apple

MacBook Pro (2017-2019)

Des puces plus rapides et de meilleurs claviers ont amélioré le nouveau MacBook Pro.

• Processeurs 8 cœurs et puces Intel Coffee Lake en option (15 pouces)

• Jusqu'à 32 Go de mémoire vive pour les modèles haut de gamme

• Le clavier papillon a été redessiné pour maximiser la fiabilité.

• Modèle de base 13 pouces avec Touch Bar sous le radar

MacBook Pro 16 pouces (2019)

The 16-inch MacBook Pro had the biggest Retina display Apple had ever put in a MacBook.

• Résolution de 3072 x 1920 et densité de pixels de 226 ppi

• Le nouveau clavier a remplacé le clavier papillon

• Jusqu'à 64 Go de RAM et 8 To de stockage SSD

• 9th-generation Intel processors with better thermal management

• A 6-speaker sound system with an improved mic array

MacBook Pro M1 (2020)

The M1 chip gave the MacBook Pro its best performance and longest battery life yet.

With the shift to Apple Silicon, many developers looked for new ways to tester des applications iOS sur Windows remotely before moving fully to M1 Macs.

• An 8-core CPU for fast processing

• Deux ports Thunderbolt pour la connectivité

• Nouveau design pour le Magic Keyboard

• Léger (3 livres) pour la portabilité

MacBook Air M1 (2020)

The MacBook Air M1 was faster than before, and best of all, it had a silent fanless design.

• Puce M1 à 8 cœurs avec GPU à 7 ou 8 cœurs

• Des graphismes cinq fois plus performants grâce à un traitement 3,5 fois plus rapide

• Un disque SSD ultra-rapide, deux fois plus rapide que celui des modèles précédents

• Environ 18 heures d'autonomie

• Magic Keyboard et trois couleurs : Argent, Gris spatial et Or

MacBook Pro M1- 14, 16 pouces- 2021

Apple’s new MacBook Pros are powered by their latest M1 Pro & M1 Max for a significant performance boost.

• Processeur 70% plus rapide avec une bande passante mémoire 3× pour un gain de vitesse significatif

• GPU à 32 cœurs offrant des performances graphiques 4 fois plus rapides

• Écran mini-LED XDR avec touches de fonction

• Trois ports Thunderbolt 4, un emplacement SDXC et HDMI pour une connectivité polyvalente

• Caméra HD 1080p intégrée à un système de six haut-parleurs

MacBook Air M2 (2022)

The MacBook Air M2 had a fresh new design and Apple’s newer M2 chip.

• Doté du nouveau processeur M2 pour des performances accrues

• Écran Liquid Retina de 13,6 pouces plus grand

• Ultra-mince (11,3 mm) et ultra-légère (2,7 lbs)

• Disponible en Silver, Space Gray, Midnight et Starlight

• Appareil photo HD 1080p, quatre haut-parleurs et touches de fonction physiques

• Prise en charge de la charge rapide avec un adaptateur USB-C de 67 W

MacBook Pro 13 pouces M2 (2022)

The 13-inch MacBook Pro kept its classic design but got a solid boost from the M2 chip.

• Puce M2 avec CPU à 8 cœurs et GPU à 10 cœurs

• Prend en charge jusqu'à 24 Go de mémoire unifiée et 2 To de stockage

• Conserve la Touch Bar, le seul MacBook à le faire.

• Appareil photo 720p, haut-parleurs stéréo et poids de 3 livres

• Disponible en argent et en gris spatial

Modèles MacBook Pro M2 (2023) avec 14 et 16 pouces

The M2 Pro and M2 Max chips were a big power upgrade for the 2023 MacBook Pro models.

• Environ 22 heures d'autonomie

• Améliore les vitesses de connexion Wi-Fi 6E

• HDMI mis à jour pour la sortie 8K

• Offre jusqu'à 96 Go de mémoire unifiée avec M2 Max

• Écran Liquid Retina XDR, caméra FaceTime HD 1080p

• Six micros de haut-parleurs de qualité studio

La puissance du M2 Max le rend idéal pour les charges de travail telles que le déploiement de modèles d'IA. exécuter de grands modèles linguistiques sur un Mac sans avoir recours à des GPU externes.

MacBook Air 15 pouces (2023)

Le MacBook Air d'Apple, avec ses 15,3 pouces, est 25% plus grand que le 13 pouces.

• 11,5 mm d'épaisseur, 3,3 lbs de poids

• Puce M2 avec un CPU à 8 cœurs, un GPU à 10 cœurs et un moteur neuronal à 16 cœurs

• Écran Liquid Retina avec une luminosité de 500 nits

• Prend en charge jusqu'à 24 Go de mémoire vive unifiée et offre une autonomie de 18 heures.

• Un design artistique avec un système audio spatial à huit haut-parleurs pour un fonctionnement silencieux

• Caméra FaceTime HD 1080p (États-Unis uniquement) et chargeur MagSafe

MacBook Pro 14-in & 16-in M3 (2023)

In late 2023, Apple updated the MacBook Pro with the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips for more speed and better efficiency.

• Modèle 14 pouces avec puce M3, processeur à 8 cœurs, GPU à 10 cœurs et moteur neuronal à 16 cœurs

• Modèles 16 pouces avec M3 Pro ou M3 Max, jusqu'à 128 Go de RAM et un disque dur SSD de 8 To

• Écran Liquid Retina XDR avec une luminosité soutenue de 1000 nits

• Nouvelle couleur noire de l'espace avec une finition résistante aux empreintes digitales

Apple Silicon catches up: M3 Air, M4, and M5 (2024-2025)

The newest stretch of the MacBook evolution moves fast. After the M3 in late 2023, Apple kept the cadence going: the M3 MacBook Air in March 2024, the M4 MacBook Pro in October 2024, the M4 MacBook Air in March 2025, and the M5 MacBook Pro in October 2025. Here is what each one changed.

The M3 MacBook Air landed on March 4, 2024, in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. It brought the M3 chip to the lighter Air line and filled the gap between the 2022 M2 Air and the M4 era.

Then came the M4 MacBook Pro on October 30, 2024, in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes with a choice of M4, M4 Pro, or M4 Max. The base 14-inch now starts at 16GB of RAM, which matters if you are weighing whether a MacBook is worth it for heavier work.

The M4 MacBook Air (March 12, 2025) starts at $999, adds a 12MP Center Stage camera and a new Sky Blue finish, and pushes memory bandwidth to 120 GB/s, up from the M3’s 100 GB/s. For a workload like a MacBook for data science, that extra bandwidth shows up in real benchmarks.

The current flagship is the M5 MacBook Pro, released October 22, 2025, with pre-orders the week before. The 14-inch starts at $1,599 with a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. At launch, the 16-inch stayed on the M4 Pro and M4 Max rather than jumping straight to M5.

MacBook Generations List: From PowerPC to Apple Silicon

Line up the whole range and we see one clear pattern: each chip era made the MacBook faster, while Apple kept chasing thinner and lighter.

• L'ère PowerPC (1991-2005) : PowerBooks et iBooks équipés de puces Motorola/IBM

• Transition Intel (2006-2020) : Des processeurs plus rapides, mais un compromis thermique

• Apple Silicon (2020-present): the M-series, now spanning M1 through M5, which silenced the early skeptics and reset what people expected from a laptop on battery

Histoire de MacOS : Le logiciel derrière l'écran

Every MacBook stands or falls by its OS. Remember Mac OS 9 (1999)? It bundled Sherlock for searching files. Then came OS X Tiger (2005) along with Spotlight and Dashboard widgets. macOS Sonoma (2023) opened a pathway to converting websites into apps and added a game mode for smoother play.

Apple has shipped two more versions since. macOS Sequoia arrived on September 16, 2024, and macOS Tahoe followed on September 15, 2025. Tahoe was the first macOS to drop Intel support entirely and the one that introduced the Liquid Glass interface. The latest version is macOS Tahoe 26.5, released May 11, 2026.

MacBook history FAQ

Quick answers to the questions people ask most about MacBook history.

When was the first Apple laptop released?

The PowerBook 100, Apple’s first portable, launched in 1991. It brought portable computing to the Mac line with a trackball and a Motorola 68000 processor, and set the template every Apple laptop has built on since.

When was the first MacBook released?

The first product actually called “MacBook” arrived in May 2006, the polycarbonate consumer model that replaced the iBook. The first MacBook Pro had shipped a few months earlier, in February 2006, as Apple’s first Intel laptop.

What is the latest MacBook model?

As of 2025, the M5 MacBook Pro is the flagship, released October 22, 2025, starting at $1,599. The current Air is the M4 MacBook Air from March 2025, which starts at $999.

How many MacBook generations are there?

The cleanest split is three chip eras: PowerPC (1991-2005), Intel (2006-2020), and Apple Silicon, which runs from the M1 in 2020 through the M5 in 2025. Inside the Apple Silicon era, the M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5 each count as a sub-generation, so you can group the lineup either way depending on how granular you want to get.

What was the worst MacBook keyboard?

Most people point to the butterfly keyboard of the 2015 to 2019 era. With only about 0.7mm of key travel, it jammed when debris got under a key, and the failures were common enough that Apple ran an extended repair program.

Which MacBook was the thinnest?

The 2015 12-inch MacBook was the thinnest of its time at 2 pounds and 13.1mm. The 2008 MacBook Air set the original thinness benchmark, and the Mac mini history follows a similar arc on the desktop side.