I've finally finished reading Tamara Shopsin's LaserWriter II after a reading block that lasted for about two months, and it made me do some reflections on what is happening with consumer electronics. This book is a love letter to a specific moment in tech history, shaped by Apple not just with products, but with culture. 


Apple didn't make the first consumer laser printer; they made the fourth, after IBM, Xerox, and HP. The LaserWriter used the same exact Canon engine as the HP LaserJet, but the LaserWriter was better.

Apple understood something deeper: how to present technology in a way that people could actually fall in love with.

That idea feels especially relevant today. Tim Cook, in an interview last year, stated that Apple is not the first company to race to AI, he said Apple will be the one that implements it the best for consumers. This statement should still be relevant today, but we have yet to see the true advantages of Apple Intelligence.

It surprised me how many of the book's lines stuck with me. Here are a few favorites:


If you are ever in doubt, do the right thing

Courage is as contagious as fear.

Choosing NOT to do something is as much choosing to DO something. Free will is not just what you do, it is also what you don't.

It was a good read. I enjoyed it, even though some parts, like the personification of printers' internals, were a bit over the top.
The book was also filled with names, but with not so much space to let them "breathe", so not every personality shone through.

Still, LaserWriter II captures something special: a moment when machines weren't just tools, but extensions of care, obsession, and idealism.
Can Apple still do what it once did best?

Oh, and one of the last phrases in the acknowledgments?

Thanks to Apple for making computers that I love to an illogical degree.