The mouse was of a round, " hockey puck" design, which was instantly derided as being unnecessarily difficult for users with larger hands. The keyboard was smaller than Apple's previous keyboards, with white letters on black keys, both features that attracted debate. The keyboard and mouse were redesigned for the iMac with translucent plastics and a Bondi Blue trim (Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse). ![]() At the iMac's introduction, third-party manufacturers offered inexpensive external USB diskette drives. Apple's move was considered ahead of its time and was hotly debated. Apple argued that recordable CDs, the internet, and office networks were quickly making diskettes obsolete. Ī radical step was to abandon the 3½-inch floppy drive (which had been present in every Mac since the first one in 1984). ![]() The iMac was the first computer to offer USB ports as standard, including the connector for its new keyboard and mouse, thus abandoning previous Macintosh peripheral connections, such as the ADB, SCSI and GeoPort serial ports. Jonathan Ive, currently Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, is credited with the industrial design. Dual headphone jacks in the front complemented the built-in stereo speakers. There was a handle, and the computer interfaces were hidden behind a door that opened on the right-hand side of the machine. It was made of translucent " Bondi Blue"-colored plastic, and was egg-shaped around a 15-inch (38 cm) CRT. The company announced the iMac on and started shipping it on August 15, 1998.Īesthetically, the iMac was dramatically different from any other mainstream computer ever released. Having discontinued the consumer-targeted Performa series, Apple needed a replacement for the Performa's price point. What was your favorite color (or pattern) iMac G3? Did you own one back in the day? Leave your comments below.Steve Jobs streamlined the company's large and confusing product lines immediately after becoming Apple's interim CEO in 1997 toward the end of the year, Apple trimmed its line of desktop Macs down to the beige Power Macintosh G3 series, which included the iMac's immediate predecessor, the G3 All-In-One, which featured nearly identical specifications and was sold only to the educational market. Apple discontinued them in July, making way for the iMac G4 - a personal favorite of mine - which shipped in 2002. The Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian iMacs ultimately didn’t hang around long. Had the iMac G3 sunk like a stone, there might never have been an iPod, iPhone, iPad or any of the other breakthrough Apple products that followed over the next decade. The first real collaboration between Jobs and Apple design guru Jony Ive, the G3 became a massive commercial hit at a time when Apple really needed one. In fact, you can make the argument that it’s the second-most-important product Apple ever made, after the breakthrough Apple II in 1977. iMac G3: A game-changerĪs I’ve written before in “Today in Apple history,” the iMac G3 was a game-changer for Apple. Not everyone wanted a wacky patterned Mac, but some people loved them. With an affordable $1,199 to $1,499 price tag and decent midlevel specs (500 or 600 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 64MB or 128MB of RAM, 256KB Level 2 cache, CD-RW drive and 15-inch monitor), these Macs definitely appealed to the masses. Not everyone was a fan of the new computers, but that wasn’t the point. Regular Mac fans reacted about how you would expect. ![]() Still, it might be hard to imagine him planting a Flower Power Mac in his office. They also fit perfectly with pop culture at the time: The 1990s and early 2000s brimmed with nostalgia for the ’60s.Īpple co-founder Steve Jobs always described himself, accurately or not, as heavily inspired by ’60s counterculture. In some ways, the hippie-patterned iMacs served as a fun nod to Apple’s past. ![]() The idea was that anyone could choose a Mac that best represented their personality. It tapped into the same spirit of individualism that made “ Think Different” work as a catchphrase. The lineup also included Blueberry, Strawberry, Lime, Tangerine, Grape, Graphite, Indigo, Ruby, Sage and Snow options.Īt a time when typical PCs came in ugly beige or gray chassis, the colorful iMac range proved revolutionary. The Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian iMacs marked the culmination of an ultra-colorful range that started with the original Bondi Blue iMac G3.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |