Since 1981, when Macintosh took form in an internal memo, Apple founder Steve Jobs, now 28, has led a maverick clan of programmers and designers on a mission to prove that the success of the Apple II was not a fluke.

Mostly under 30, proud of their 80-hour weeks and separated spiritually and physically from the rest of the $1 billion company, the roughly 100 Young Turks have produced a new computer that is critical to Apple's success.

For $2,495, buyers will get an unusually compact beige computer that comes equipped with more internal memory, more storage and a faster processor than the basic model of the IBM PC - for about the same price. What's more, the machine includes a mouse - a handheld device used to move the cursor - that let's users ``paint'' pictures on the screen as easily as a child scribbles in a coloring book.

The Mac was never to be a computer for businessmen, as the IBM PC is. It was decreed, from the start, a computer for the people. Its creators are an irreverent band that called the rest of Apple ``the Navy.'' They, instead, were the brave pirates, and to prove it they raised a skull-and-crossbones flag above their building.

Former employees and project members, who asked not to be identified, painted a picture of Mac's development as a labor of love.

Considering the counterculture streak in Mac's history, its unbusiness-like feel is no surprise.

The development of the larger Lisa computer was already under way when Jeff Raskin, who since has left the company, proposed a pint-sized Lisa in 1981. Jobs immediately seized upon the idea.

The Lisa project was headed by John Couch, a more seasoned executive yet an equally enthusiastic visionary. Acquaintances say Jobs saw Mac as a way to prove that small is beautiful.

From that day on, a sometimes not-so-friendly rivalry developed between the two groups. Jobs and Couch wagered $5,000 on whose machine would appear first. Jobs lost - the Lisa appeared on Jan. 19, 1983 - and he threw a party for the Lisa group. (Even the Lisa was behind schedule, but refining the Mac took longer.)

The rivalry continued, a former employee said, and at one point the Lisa group swiped the pirate flag and hoisted their own ``Lisa team'' emblem over Mac's headquarters.

The competition is highlighted by the machines' different operating systems. An operating system is the software that controls a computer. While borrowing certain features from Lisa, the Mac group wrote a different operating system.

When Apple higher-ups realized the two machines would have to be compatible for marketing purposes, it was the Lisa group that had to modify its computer to run Mac's software.

While the Lisa group grew to well over 100 people, Mac remained trim, and an esprit de corps developed among the team members, sources said. They worked day and night, with some of the roughest times coming over Thanksgiving weekend, when the different software pieces had to fit together. One team member reportedly set a record with a 130-hour workweek.

Early on, Mac members adopted the motto ``80 hours a week and loving it.'' Now, said one, it's ``90 hours a week and getting tired.''

Always, they remained under the watchful eye of Jobs, who doubled as chairman of the company and leader of the Mac group. ``He is supreme commander,'' said one source close to the project.

Even when something was set in place - or so the programmers thought - Jobs sometimes would appear on the scene and order a change. Often, the source said, ``it is more of a statement than a suggestion.''

However, Jobs looked after his crew.

To maintain their independence in the early days, he took his chosen few to a site away from headquarters - to an upstairs office behind a Texaco station a few blocks away. It was dubbed Texaco Towers.

Even when the group moved back on campus, it remained intellectually detached. Eventually, the company remodeled what is known as Bandley III and made it Mac's headquarters. There, team members can enjoy an atrium, a stereo system, a pingpong table and two video games, Defender and Joust.

But as one team member said, all he wants after Jan. 24 is ``a long nap.''

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