My history with the iMac
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
May 9, 2008 at 5:15am
Happy birthday to the iMac, which turned 10 this week (see the video for more details). I just traded in my previous iMac for a new top-of-the-line 3.06GHz Intel processor model (I’m really keen on the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS graphics, from what I’ve heard). But I haven’t always been a major iMac fan.
It was on May 6, 1998, that CEO Steve Jobs introduced the “Bondi Blue” iMac. The all-in one was a return, of sorts, to Apple’s roots and turned the company’s fortunes around. It was a fantastic seller and the general public loved it. However, critics knocked its lack expendability and the fact Apple abandoned serial ports, ADB ports and the floppy disk drive. And, oh yes, there was the infamous “hockey puck” mouse.
I bought an iMac, but soon found it mainly being used by my kids. I wanted more power and a bigger screen than the 15-inch, PowerPC G3-powered, all-in-one provided. That opinion never changed as the iMac specs and colors changed over the years.
However, I was immediately smitten by the LCD iMac (the “sunflower” model) introduced in 2002. I loved its design: a screen mounted on an adjustable arm above a hemisphere containing a full-size, tray-loading optical drive and a fourth-generation CPU (the PPC 74xx-series). When the sunflower iMac was offered with a 17-inch (and later a 20-inch screen) I made the switch.
I continued to find the iMac suited my needs when the iMac G5 was introduced in 2004. The new design of the iMac used 17 and 20-inch widescreen LCDs, with all of the main logic board and optical drive mounted directly behind the LCD panel. Basically, it looked like a desktop LCD monitor with a keyboard. The G5’s all-in-one form factor was retained after Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel chips—and offered a 24-inch version (sweet!).
The iMac packs all the punch I need. And I’m hoping my new model is even a decent gaming machine; the big flaw with previous iMacs. Either way, it’s a great desktop for most users—and a great media center.
Look for my complete review soon. (By the way, you can read more about the history of the iMac, and much more, at the Apple Museum.)
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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