1976

The original Apple Computer, also known as the Apple I. Designed and built by Steve Wozniak's own fair hands. Wozniak's friend Steve Jobs had the idea of selling the computer and the Apple I was born. Photograph: Ed Uthman/CC-BY-SA

1983

Steve Jobs with a Lisa computer. A groundbreaking model, it was far more advanced than the original Macintosh. However, priced at $10,000 (almost $20,000 in today's dollars), the Lisa was never going to take off. Photograph: Ted Thai/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

1984

The Apple IIc, the fourth model in the Apple II series of personal computers, was Apple's first effort to produce a portable computer. The end result was a luggable 7.5 lb notebook-sized version of the Apple II. Photograph: br1dotcom/Flickr

1984

: User-friendly and intuitive, the original Mac. When Steve Jobs presented the machine to investors, he said he believed it would change everything. He was right. Photograph: MattsMacintosh/Flickr

1991

The Powerbook 100 (right) was Apple's first laptop, pictured next to a MacBook Pro Retina 13inch. The design work may have been subcontracted out to Sony's portable computing team, but the PB100 showed that Apple could make a decent portable. This was the beginning of a line that would continue until 2005 when Apple changed direction in favour of the MacBook Pro. Photograph: raneko/Flickr

1994

 Ahead of its time, Quicktake was Apple's first digital camera and was built by Kodak, and a second model was built by Fuji. A failure in the market, it was pulled after three years. Photograph: Wikimedia

1995

Power Macintosh 9500 was powerful, expandable, yet dull as dishwater – and expensive too, at $5,300. Photograph: Alexander Schaelss/CC-BY-SA-3.0

1997

The award-winning PowerBook went through several major revisions and redesigns, and it was often the first to incorporate features that would later become standard in competing laptops. Photograph: grmwnr/Wikimedia

1998

: With Steve Jobs back in the driving seat, and with Jonathan Ive's help, the Apple Internet Mac, aka the iMac, brought the 'decade of beige' to an end. A lower price and USB ports also helped to keep shareholders happy. Photograph: Getty Images

2001

The device that changed everything, the iPod may be the definitive gadget of its generation. There are four current versions of the iPod: the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle, the compact iPod Nano (pictured), the touchscreen iPod Touch, and the hard drive-based iPod ClassicPhotograph: Monica M Davey/EPA

2014 The MacBook Air, the core of Apple's Mac line-up in 2014. As originally released, in 2008, the Air was an underpowered, overpriced machine which prioritised thinness over everything else. But over a series of revisions, the computer has dropped in price and got more powerful, to the extent where it was hailed as the best laptop in the world by The Wirecutter – three years running. Photograph: Hugh Threlfall/Alamy

Steve Jobs poses with 1984's Macintosh computer. Photograph: Paul Sakuma/AP