article Related Topics:
iMac
 

The iMac is a desktop computer designed and built by Apple Computer. It has been the consumer flagship of Apple's Macintosh range since 1998, and has evolved through three basic forms. It has been rated by Walt Mossberg as the “Gold Standard of desktop computing”.

The iMac has been a huge innovation that, along with the introduction of the iPod, has contributed to the recent dramatic increase in Apple Computer's profits and share price. Some credit the popularity of the USB devices to the iMac, as Windows PCs previously supported legacy ports, which reduced the incentive for third-party manufacturers to produce USB-compliant devices.

The machine enjoys a relatively high profile in popular culture due to its distinctive aesthetics and Apple's successful marketing. On January 10th 2006, it became the first Apple Macintosh desktop computer to ship with an Intel processor.

History

Steve Jobs streamlined the company’s large and confusing product lines immediately after becoming Apple’s interim CEO in 1997; towards the end of the year, Apple trimmed its line of desktop Macs down to the beige Power Macintosh G3 series. Having discontinued the consumer-targeted Performa series, Apple needed a replacement for the Performa’s price point. The company announced the iMac on May 7, 1998, and started shipping the iMac on August 15, 1998. The launch of the iMac was a landmark event for its time, and had a massive impact on both the company and the computer industry.

At the time, Apple was unique in producing all-in-one desktop computers, in which the CPU and the monitor are contained in one enclosure. Many other PC manufacturers have tried to imitate this, most of which have met with little success.

Aesthetically, the iMac was dramatically different from any other mainstream computer ever released. It was made of translucent “Bondi blue”-colored plastic, and was egg-shaped around a 15-inch (38 cm) CRT. There was a handle, and the computer interfaces were hidden behind a door that opened on the right-hand side of the machine. Two headphone jacks in the front complemented the built-in stereo speakers. Jonathan Ive, currently Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, is credited with the industrial design. While appealing to neophytes with its distinct appearance, it rang the bells of nostalgia with its streamlined shape, strongly reminiscent of the classic Lear Siegler ADM-3A dumb terminals.

Legacy Macintosh peripheral connections, such as the ADB, SCSI, and GeoPort serial ports, were eliminated in favor of USB ports; the floppy drive was discarded (the first OEM to do so). Although these were aging technologies, Apple’s move was considered ahead of its time and was hotly debated. For example, there was no analogous way to exchange small files with other existing machines, possibly requiring owners to buy an external USB floppy drive (the floppy drive sold well in the first few years of the iMac G3). Creating backup copies of files was slow over the USB 1.1 connection, which operates at 12 Mbit/s (1.5 MB/s). Purists felt that files should be transferred by network file-sharing or via email.

The iMac keyboard and mouse were redesigned with translucent plastics and a Bondi Blue trim (Apple USB Keyboard/Apple USB Mouse). The keyboard was smaller than Apple’s previous keyboards, with white letters on black keys, both features that attracted debate. The mouse was of a round, "hockey puck" design, which was instantly derided as being unnecessarily difficult for users with larger hands and considered particularly reprehensible coming from Apple, the pioneer of the graphical user interface. Apple continued shipping the round mouse, adding a divot in later versions so that users could distinguish where the button was. Eventually, a new oblong optical mouse, known as the Apple Pro Mouse, replaced the round mouse across all of Apple’s hardware offerings. A redesigned version called the Apple Mouse was produced, with the side grips white and the tension control removed. On August 2, 2005 Apple replaced the one-button Mouse with the Mighty Mouse. On October 12, 2005 Apple began shipping its new Mighty Mouse with its iMac and PowerMac computers.

Technical

Internally, the iMac was a combination of the MacNC project and CHRP. Although the promise of CHRP has never been fully realized, the work that Apple had done on CHRP significantly helped in the designing of the iMac. The original iMac had a 233 MHz PowerPC G3 (PowerPC 750) chip, with 512 KB L2 cache running at 116.6 MHz, which also ran in Apple’s high-end Power Macintosh line at the time, though at higher speeds, with more expensive models shipping with 1MB L2 cache. It sold for US$1,299, and had a 4 GB hard drive, 32 MB RAM, 2 MB video RAM, and shipped with Mac OS 8.1, which was soon upgraded to Mac OS 8.5. Parts such as the front-mounted IrDA port and the tray-loading CD-ROM drive were borrowed from the Apple laptops. Although the iMac did not officially have an expansion slot, the first versions had a slot dubbed the "mezzanine slot". It was only for internal use by Apple, although a few third-party expansion cards were released for it, including some CPU upgrades from Newer Technology, a Voodoo II video card upgrade from 3DFX, and SCSI/SCSI-TV tuner cards (iProRAID and iProRAID TV) from the German company Formac; this was removed from later iMacs. According to an article in the German computer magazine c’t, the socket can be retrofitted on revision C iMacs.

Impact

Popular culture

The announcement of the iMac initially caused considerable buzz among commentators, Mac fans, and detractors in the press and on websites. Opinions were polarized over Apple’s drastic changes to the Macintosh hardware. At the time, Apple was revamping its retail strategy to improve the Mac purchasing experience. Apple famously declared that “the back of our computer looks better than the front of theirs.”http://www.computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/default/536E5950A3BB66BACC256F0100744663 The distinctive aesthetics was easily spotted in public. iMacs were recognizable on television, in films and in print, sometimes via Apple product placement. This increased Apple’s brand awareness, and embedded the iMac into popular culture. When released, iMacs were the best selling computers in the US and Japan for months, and Apple was unable to meet demand.

Apple declared the “i” in iMac to stand for “Internet”. Attention was given to the out-of-box experience: the user needed to go through only two steps to set up and connect to the Internet. “There’s no step 3!” was the catch-phrase in a popular iMac commercial narrated by actor Jeff Goldblum. Another commercial, dubbed “Simplicity Shootout”, pitted seven-year-old Johann Thomas and his border collie Brodie, with an iMac, against Adam Taggart, a Stanford University MBA student, with a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion 8250, in a race to set up their computers. Johann and Brodie finished in 8 minutes and 15 seconds,http://www.wap.org/journal/imac/default.html whereas Adam was still working on it by the end of the commercial. Apple later adopted the “i” prefix across its consumer hardware and software lines, such as the iPod, iBook, iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, iWeb), and iSync. The prefix has caught on for non-Apple Computer products as well.

Apple’s use of translucent candy-colored plastics inspired similar designs in other consumer electronics. For example, grilling machines, portable electronics, pencil sharpeners, video game consoles and peripherals (including the Nintendo 64 which was released in special edition "Funtastic" colors) featured the translucent plastic. Apple’s introduction of the iPod, iBook, and G5 iMac, all featuring snowy white glossy plastic, inspired similar designs in consumer electronic products. The color rollout also featured two distinctive ads: when the "Life Savers" color scheme was based upon the Rolling Stones song "She's a Rainbow" and the white advert had Cream's "White Room", specifically its introduction, as its backing track.

USB

Before the iMac was released, Windows-based machines shipped with both USB and legacy connections, providing little incentive for third-party hardware manufacturers to create USB peripherals. Therefore, some credit the iMac for the proliferation of USB devices, also allowing current Macintosh users to use a large selection of cheap devices, such as hubs, scanners, storage devices, mice, and cables. A third-party cottage industry sprang up around the iMac. Via the USB port, hardware makers could make products compatible with both PCs and Macs (sometimes Mac driver software was required). Oddly, although USB was invented by Intel and was also available on the PC, many of these USB peripherals were made of translucent colored plastic, a trend that continues. After the iMac, Apple continued to remove legacy peripheral connections and floppy drives from the rest of its product line; other computer makers have started to follow suit.

The successful iMac allowed Apple to continue targeting the Power Macintosh line at the high-end of the market. This foreshadowed a similar strategy in the notebook market, when the iBook was released in 1999. The company has continued with this strategy of differentiating the consumer versus professional product lines. Apple’s focus on design has allowed each of its subsequent products to create a unique distinctive identity. Later releases of the Power Macintosh, iPod, PowerBooks and the Mac OS would have the same striking “Apple look”. Apple derided the beige colors pervading the PC industry. The company would later use anodized aluminum, and white, black and clear polycarbonate plastics.

Legal action

Apple protected the iMac design with aggressive legal action against computer makers who made imitations, such as eMachines' eOne. Some manufacturers conspicuously added translucent plastics to existing designs. In 1999, Apple obtained the domain name appleimac.com from Abdul Traya, after legal intervention.

Updates

The iMac line was continually updated after initial release. Aside from increasing processor speed, video RAM, and hard-disk capacity, Apple replaced Bondi blue with new colors—initially blueberry, strawberry, tangerine, grape, and lime; later other colors, such as graphite, ruby, emerald, sage, snow, and indigo, and the “Blue Dalmatian” and “Flower Power” patterns. A later hardware update created a sleeker design. This second-generation iMac featured a slot-loading optical drive, FireWire, “fanless” operation (through free convection cooling), and the option of AirPort wireless networking. Apple continued to sell this line of iMacs until March 2003, mainly to customers who wanted the ability to run the older Mac OS 9 operating system.

USB and FireWire support, and support for dial-up, Ethernet, and wireless networking (via 802.11b and Bluetooth) soon became standard across Apple’s entire product line. In particular, the high-speed interface, FireWire, corrected the deficiencies of the earlier iMacs. As Apple continued to release new versions of its computers, the term “iMac” continued to be used to refer to machines in its consumer desktop line. Later redesigns of the iMac, however, became more expensive and never matched the first iMac in sales.

G4, G5 iMacs and the eMac

By 2002, public sentiment was that the CRT iMac needed to be superseded; in particular, the G3 processor and 15” monitor were quickly becoming outdated (though, the PowerPC G4 is heavily based upon the G3, the main difference being the FPU in the G4 is based upon the even older PowerPC 604). Speculation raged over how Apple would fit a G4 (PowerPC 7400) and larger monitors into an all-in-one design. In January 2002, a flat panel iMac was launched with a completely new design. A 15” LCD was mounted on an adjustable arm above a hemispherical dome containing a full-size, tray-loading optical drive and the G4 CPU. Apple advertised it as having the flexibility of a desk lamp, similar to “Luxo Jr.”, who was featured in a short film produced by Pixar, another venture of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Indeed, in use it was often nicknamed the "iLamp". This LCD computer was known and sold as “The New iMac” throughout its production life, but after it was discontinued, it was retroactively labeled iMac G4. The iMac G3 CRT model was kept in production, primarily for the educational market.

The iMac G4 was incrementally upgraded. They were made available with 17” (43 cm) and then 20-inch (51 cm) widescreen LCDs over the following two years. By then, Apple had all but eliminated the CRT machines from its product line. However, the LCD iMacs were unable to match the low price point of the previous G3 iMacs, largely because of the higher cost of the LCD technology at the time.

Because the G3 iMac was obsolete and low-cost machines were particularly important for the education market, the eMac was released in April 2002. The eMac is a G4-powered Macintosh that resembles the original iMac G3 with the egg-shape encasing a flat 17” CRT in an all-in-one design. It was initially sold only to the educational market (the “e” stands for “education”), but Apple started selling it to the general public a month later to make inroads into the low-cost part of the home and business markets. The eMac was essentially the 17-inch iMac that consumers had been requesting a few years earlier. By 2005 Apple had returned to selling the eMac exclusively to the educational market.

In August 2004, the iMac design was overhauled yet again. By that time, the PowerPC G5 chip had been released and was being used in the Power Macintosh line. Famously, the Power Macintosh G5 needed multiple fans in a large casing because the G5 is a particularly hot chip. Apple’s new design managed to incorporate the G5 into an all-in-one design with a distinctive form factor that echoed the Netpliance i-Opener internet appliance. The new design of the iMac used the same 17 and 20” widescreen LCDs, with all of the CPU and optical drive mounted directly behind the LCD panel; this gives the appearance of a thickened desktop LCD monitor. The iMac G5 has since been updated with a thinner design, an iSight webcam mounted above the LCD and Apple’s FrontRow media interface.

Intel

At the Macworld Conference and Expo on January 10, 2006, Steve Jobs announced that the new iMac would be the first Macintosh to use an Intel CPU, the Core Duo. The design, features and price will remain unchanged from the iMac G5. The processor speed, according to tests run by Apple using SPEC,http://www.apple.com/imac/intelcoreduo.html is two to three times faster.

In early February 2006, Apple confirmed reports of video display problems on the new Intel-based iMacs. When playing video on Apple's Front Row media browser, some 20" iMacs (those built-to-order with upgraded video cards) showed random horizontal lines, ghosting, video tearing and other problems. The problem was fixed with a software update.

The current iMac ships with the Mighty Mouse, a distinctive white keyboard, Bluetooth and AirPort cards, an internal iSight camera, the Apple Remote for use with Front Row, and a power cord. A Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse are available for additional cost.

Models

iMac (Tray Loading) (aka iMac G3)

  • August 15, 1998 — iMac 233 MHz (Revision A) (M6709LL/A). 233 MHz processor. ATI Rage IIc graphics with 2 MB SGRAM. Available in Bondi Blue only, reset hole on side panel.
  • October 17, 1998 — iMac 233 MHz (Revision B) (M6709LL/B). Minor update featuring new Mac OS 8.5, ATI Rage Pro Graphics with 6 megabytes of SGRAM, reset by holding power button.
  • January 5, 1999 — iMac 266 MHz (Revision C, "Five Flavors") (M7389LL/A, M7345LL/A, M7392LL/A, M7390LL/A, M7391LL/A). 266 MHz processor. IrDA port and mezzanine slot removed. ATI Rage Pro Turbo graphics with 6 MB SGRAM. Available in Strawberry (red), Blueberry (blue), Lime (green), Grape (purple), and Tangerine (orange). Price reduced by $100.
  • April 14, 1999 — iMac 333 MHz (Revision D). 333 MHz processor. Updated mouse with indentation on the button.

iMac (Slot Loading) (aka iMac G3)

  • October 5, 1999 — iMac/iMac DV/iMac DV SE. First revision with FireWire support, except for the 350 MHz (Blueberry) model. 350 or 400 MHz processor, slot-loading optical drive, same colors as rev C/D iMac, plus Special Edition in graphite color. Used ATI Rage 128 Pro Graphics with 8 MB of VRAM.
  • July 19, 2000 — iMac/iMac DV/iMac DV+/iMac DV SE. 350 or 400 or 450 or 500 MHz processor, colors graphite (grey), ruby (red), snow (white), indigo (blue) and sage (green). 350 MHz model (Indigo) still lacked FireWire support.
  • February 22, 2001 — (patterns). 400, 500 (PPC750CXe), or 600 (PPC750CXe) MHz processor. Available in Indigo, Graphite, and "Blue Dalmatian" or "Flower Power" patterns. 750CXe models features a new "Pangea" motherboard with a 16 MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra graphics chip.
  • July 18, 2001 — (summer 2001). 500, 600, or 700 MHz (PPC750CXe) processor. Available in indigo, graphite, and snow. Limited in January 2002 to indigo at 600 or 700 MHz. Discontinued July 2002.

iMac G4 (iMac Flat Panel)

The iMac G4 was one of the biggest improvements and advancements in Apple Computers' growing empire of Mac desktops. The computer was considered completely separate from the previous, half egg shaped G3 models. Some new features included a flat-panel LCD screen, with sizes up to 20"; non-slot loading DVD+CD drive; and many more features. Critics and consumers took to the new Mac style nicely, but many complained about lacking in the traditional slot loading drive. The "floating" monitor was easily adjustable, and stood at any angle around the dome-shaped bottom. Unlike previous iMac models, the iMac G4 came only in white, and was not at all translucent.

  • January 7, 2002 — Apple introduces a new iMac line with three models. It has a new futuristic form factor and contains a 700 or an 800 MHz G4 processor, and is only available in white. The display is now a 15-inch LCD, easily positioned by the "swing arm" attaching it to the base. (15-inch, 800 MHz is M9250LL/A)
  • July 17, 2002 — A new 800 MHz model with a 17-inch screen and an updated GPU is added to the line. (M8812LL/A)
  • February 4, 2003 — The line is slimmed down to two models, one with a 15-inch LCD and a new 1.0 GHz model with a 17-inch LCD (M8935LL/A). AirPort Extreme as well as Bluetooth are available on the 17-inch model. The 15-inch is largely identical to the January 2002 models.
  • August, 2003 — The iMac 15-inch and 17-inch models are upgraded to a 1.0 GHz and 1.25 GHz G4 processors, respectively (M9285LL/A, M9168LL/A). New features are USB 2.0 and DDR memory, and they both now support AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth.
  • November 18, 2003 — 20” screen model (M9290LL/A) is added that is capable of a 1680 x 1050 pixel screen resolution, and features a 1.25 GHz G4 processor.

iMac G5

  • August 31, 2004 — Apple releases an all-new iMac line, with both the LCD screen (17 or 20” widescreen) and computer (including power supply) contained in a 2” thin flat-panel housing, powered by a PowerPC G5 processor at 1.6 or 1.8 GHz, Serial ATA hard drive (ATA in the Education Model) and an Nvidia GeForce 5200 Ultra GPU. USB 2.0, FireWire 400, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet ports, a V.92 modem, a video-out port, an analogue audio-in jack, and a combination analogue/mini-TOSLINK audio-out jack (like the one in the AirPort Express units), as well as the power button, are all arranged at the rear of the unit. The enclosure is suspended above the desk by an aluminum arm that can be replaced by a VESA mounting plate, allowing the unit to be mounted using any VESA-standard mount. Apple boasts that it is the slimmest desktop computer on the market. The iMac G5 is available in three retail models (17-inch, 1.6 GHz is M9363LL/A; 17-inch, 1.8 GHz is M9249LL/A; 20-inch, 1.8 GHz is M9250LL/A) plus one education-only model that has no optical drive, no modem, and a more modest GeForce MX4000 graphics system.

  • May 3, 2005 — Apple releases "Rev. B", or the “Ambient Light Sensor” line (the name refers to a new light sensor on the bottom of the iMac that adjusts the glow intensity of the white pulsating sleep indicator light, screen brightness, and keyboard illumination (if attached) according to the ambient light). The entry model is now 17-inch, 1.8 GHz (M9843LL/A). The mid-model is 17-inch, 2.0 GHz (M9844LL/A) and the top model is 20-inch, 2.0 GHz (M9845LL/A). All models now feature 512 MB of RAM standard; the hard drive capacity is increased to 250 GB on the top model, with an option of 400 GB. Optional upgrades now include a double-layered 8x SuperDrive. All models now feature Airport Extreme wireless, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and an ATI Radeon 9600 graphics chip with 128 MB of VRAM as standard. Also the 10/100 network interface has been upgraded to 10/100/1000. All models now ship with iLife '05 and Apple's new Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger”.

  • October 12, 2005 — At the “One More Thing” event, Apple released new iMac G5s (the "Rev. C", or the "iSight" line); a 17" display running at 1.9 GHz (MA063L/A) and 20" display model running at 2.1 GHz (MA064L/A) with:
    • A built-in USB 2.0 iSight camera
    • A remote control called Apple Remote
    • 512 MB PC2-4200 (533 MHz) DDR2; expandable to 2.5 GB total memory
    • Slot-loading 8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
    • Mighty Mouse
    • A PCI-Express ATI Radeon X600 (Pro for the 17" model and XT for the 20" model) graphics chip with 128 MB DDR VRAM
    • Built-in media center software called Front Row
    • Horizontal input ports rather than vertical configuration.
    • Thinner 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) flat panel housing with a curved rear housing
    • Note: the built-in V.92 modem was removed and is now offered as the optional Apple USB Modem. The USB modem is available on the Apple Store website and also in Apple Retail stores.
    • In February 2006, Apple discontinued the 17” iMac G5 and began solely selling a 20-inch iMac G5 for $1,499.
    • The iMac G5 was completely discontinued in March 2006.

iMac Core Duo

  • January 10, 2006 — Apple updates to Intel processors, claiming 2-3x performance improvement.
    • 17" model (MA199LL), 1.83 GHz 32-bit Intel Core Duo
    • 20" model (MA200LL), 2.0 GHz 32-bit Intel Core Duo
    • All Intel-based iMacs ship with iLife '06
    • A PCI-Express ATI Radeon X1600 graphics processor with 128 MB GDDR3 VRAM - 256 MB option on the 2.0 GHz model
    • 512 MB PC2-5300 (667 MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM SDRAM; expandable to 2.0 GB total memory (dual channel capable)
    • SATA hard disk (160 GB on 17" and 250 GB on 20") with native command queuing support
    • Mini-DVI output with extended desktop support (it can drive up to a 23" Apple Cinema Display)
    • Note: Although iSight provides up to 4x resolution of iMac G5 with iSight when using iChat, it is still limited to 640x480 resolution.http://images.apple.com/imac/pdf/20060120_iMac_TO.pdf (PDF)

iMac Educational Configuration
  • July 5, 2006 — Apple discontinues the eMac and replaces it with a cheaper, low-end iMac exclusively for educational institutions at £639 ($899). For the first week after its release this model was available to individual educational buyers however the model was pulled after a week by Apple without explaination and limited to institutions only.
    • 1.83 GHz Core Duo
    • 667 MHz system bus
    • 512 MB PC2-5300 (667 MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM SDRAM; expandable to 2.0 GB total memory
    • Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics
    • 17-inch flat TFT display
    • Built-in speakers
    • Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
    • 80 or 160 GB hard disk drive
    • Built-in USB 2.0 and FireWire ports
    • AirPort Extreme
    • Built-in microphone
    • Built-in iSight camera
    • External Display Port
    • Mac OS X version 10.4 Tiger
    • Note: Although the iMac is compatible with the Apple Remote, it is an optional feature that can be added for an additional £17.86 ($29).

References

External links

Industrial design examples | Macintosh computers

Apple iMac | IMac | IMac | IMac | 아이맥 | IMac | IMac | IMac | IMac | Apple iMac | IMac | IMac | IMac | IMac | IMac | IMac | IMac | IMac

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "IMac".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world