How Steve Jobs' Vision Reshaped the PC

Though he died at the relatively young age of 56, Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has left a legacy that changed the shape of technology, literally.

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being," Apple said in a note on its Web site. "Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Under Jobs, Apple has introduced, and in some cases removed, both functional features and beautifying design elements, and the company has done so just ahead of the tech industry on the whole. The designs have become iconic, the changes have sparked design trends in and out of the computer industry, and the technology you use every day has benefitted from it.

Steve Jobs: Complete Coverage

From the computer on your desk to the phone in your pocket, Apple has tweaked, polished, and perfected everything from case design to user interfaces. The company added new features, like the super-fast Thunderbolt interface, but removed others, like the optical drive. Even internally, dealing with the nitty-gritty of hard drives and storage, the team from Cupertino has pared down and prettied up every facet of the personal computer.

It's not much of a stretch to say that without Apple's influence, the tech world would look very, very different. Jobs may have been at the helm for many of these innovation and decisions, but a captain needs a good crew, and the good ship Apple has had some talented people all along the way. Will the refreshing designs and forward thinking technology continue without Steve Jobs? For the short term, definitely. In the long term, however, only time will tell.

Check out our slideshow to see some of the big changes that came out of Apple's tiny details.

Editor's Note: This piece originally ran when Steve Jobs resigned from Apple in August.

Steve Jobs: Complete Coverage

1. Hard Drives Out, Flash Memory In

Thin was always in, but the Apple MacBook Air slimmed down even further by ditching the traditional hard drive and switching to flash memory. Unlike other manufacturers, Apple also solders the memory straight onto a specialized board without the extra bulk of a drive enclosure.

2. Turning the Touchpad into the Clickpad

Buttons? Who needs buttons? The Apple MacBook 13-inch (Aluminum) combined the mouse button with the touchpad, making the entire touchpad one clickable surface. Other companies have tried to emulate these clean lines and smooth controls, but Apple's Clickpad still leads the industry.

3. Going Hands On with Gestures

We’ve seen gestures like pinch zoom and scrolling on everything from tablets to touchscreen desktops, but it was the first Apple iPhone that put its fingers on these intuitive controls.

4. iPad: the Post-PC?

It’s like a laptop without the keyboard! It’s like an iPhone, only bigger! Pundits may have scoffed at the iPad when it was first announced, but nobody’s laughing now; except perhaps Apple, who dominates the fast growing tablet market.

5. DisplayPort Upgrades to Thunderbolt

It may have been based on Intel’s Light Peak technology, but the super-fast Thunderbolt interface is currently an Apple exclusive. It replaces a host of other ports, and leaves the competing USB 3.0 in the dust.

6. Chiclet Keyboard: Hip to Be Square

Apple didn’t introduce the tile-keyboard, but it certainly made it popular. Since switching to the chiclet-style design, we’ve seen the same keyboard from every other manufacturer.

7. MacBook Air: So Light, So Thin

Steve Jobs said Apple would never make a netbook, but he never said it wouldn’t come out with something better. The MacBook Air set a new standard for slim, so much so that Intel is making a giant push for Ultrabooks.

8. Unibody: A Study in Minimalism

Distinctive, durable, recyclable; the Unibody design is a minimalist's dream. Made of two solid pieces of milled aluminum, the new design brought sleek style and solid construction to Apple's popular laptop line. It also put the battery out of users’ reach, and allowed an even slimmer profile.

9. Ditching the Optical Drive

Apple started dropping optical drives from its MacBook Air line early on, but when it removed the DVD slot from the Mac mini, it became clear that the optical disc is not long for this world. With cloud storage and external memory becoming ubiquitous, the days of the disc are numbered.