“Plenty has already been said about the 20th anniversary of the iMac, the computer that played an instrumental role in bringing Apple back from the brink,” Dan Moren writes for Macworld. “But the legacy of the Bondi Blue iMac is still with us in many ways today — not just in the computer that shares its name, but in an overriding philosophy that Apple continues to exemplify across its product line.”
“If you wanted an indication of how Apple would be doing business in 2018, you could do worse than cast back two decades and look at the decisions that it made when it produced that first iMac. (A machine that itself took a page directly out of Apple’s own playbook for the original Macintosh back in 1984),” Moren writes. “The line is anything but subtle.”
“What the iMac did signal was how important the all-in-one philosophy was to the future of the company,” Moren writes. “Fast forward 20 years and not only is the all-in-one iMac now the stalwart of Apple’s desktop line, but the rest of the company’s products have followed suit.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Steve Jobs hated cords and screws.
Steve Jobs may have hated cords and screws, but he is dead and not paying for my devices. I am tired of sealed up boxes with no connectors and no path to repair after the warranty runs out.
Give you one example:
Had Apple designed the iPhone with a battery compartment, not only would we be able to change our batteries more easily and less expensively, Apple right now would not be covered over with time consuming battery replacements.
Most people put their hones in some kind of case, so there is no aesthetic argument against a user replaceable battery.
Apple developed to Jobs’ desires. You are expected to share them. Apple 101.
VERY few smart phones these days have battery compartments because of the compromise: the compartments take up valuable space which can be used for a larger battery. It’s a design tradeoff and I’m fine with it…
Go buy a Samsun then and quit your complaining
to give it up and use the products that suit you. Get Bernie involved and he’ll get legislation passed to cover the expense for you…via taxes paid in by everyone else. He loves sharing.
DavGreg’s comment is so, so dumb and for a man otherwise so intelligent, it is sad to see him fall into this trap of utter stupidity.
Ah hominem over, let’s explain why.
If you have an iPhone with removable battery, you end up with the same sh!t that would plague Nokia and even Samsung in the days when Samsung’s batteries were removable.
That, of course, is fake batteries. People are cheap or unaware, and who wants a death explosion bomb in their pockets when one of these death batteries malfunctions?
Heck, we had Samsung have this problem with its own batteries, and a replaceable battery would not have been the solution as faulty batteries from Note 7’s would have made their way into the marketplace and burned people’s houses down etc, or ended up in landfill and causing all kinds of horror issues.
Nokia had to end up putting special barcodes on their batteries for people to check their authenticity, but that didn’t stop people from using fake batteries!
Now, I’m sure third party repair shops have access to third party batteries today, but Apple has infinitesimally small reports of any kind of fake battery problem.
also – the battery release mechanism – is it a slot? A removable back? Whatever it is, it is hellish in reality
There’s a reason why units are sealed from the general public, and it’s not to rip you off but to keep you and your friends and family SAFE
original replacement batteries weren’t expensive at full price and they’re even cheaper now, so please stop being a DumGreg and get with the friggin’ program.
Yeah!!!
We want out fake batteries straight from Apple dammit!
The battery issue is pretty well covered by external battery chargers. You can carry as many rechargers as you want without getting into the engineering of the iPhone. There is no doubt that Apple wants customer access to force a change of the battery size & shape.
For those people who don’t live their entire lives next to a power outlet, the inability to swap batteries is a dumb design decision. Add on battery cases are all overpriced ugly annoying things that turn your handset into a dumbbell.
I have had many cell phones and cameras with swappable battery packs. For active individuals, it is definitely the best way to go.
What is happening, as usual, is that Apple is focusing all its attention on hipsters who never move beyond a tiny uber-covered footprint in their high priced urban enclaves. Wireless connection required 24/7.
I love my modular 2012 Mac mini.
Apple screwing its customers = locked down 2014 Mac mini.
The next Mac mini Apple produces is going to be a locked down Mac mini where you can add other Mac mini’s, external graphics cards, external hard drives, etc. to form – when assembled together – the new Mac Pro.
You’re not too far from the truth 🙂
1) Notice that Jobs had the iMac but ALSO a host of towers from G4 to Intel , the Mini etc.
2) there are places for sealed boxes and places for upgradable, flexible devices. Maybe sealed boxes make sense for mobile devices where you want to save weight and stop people people fiddling with tiny components but for some desktops flexibility might have advantages.
For example with the old Cheese Grater Mac Pros (I’m typing on one now) you could do this:
— Pick the monitor you want. Like I have a 27 inch Wacom Cintiq (you can draw on it like a Surface screen) and another 25 inch monitor attached to mine.
— If there are problems I can detach the monitor and send the Mac to the shop (or vice versa). I’ve changed monitors over the years and kept my Mac.
Also if shop time is needed for the Mac and if it’s not a drive problem I can pull out the drive and plug it into another Mac and continue working. Drives are on sleds, no screws, takes seconds to pull them out.
— if you can upgrade them they last longer and fits your work needs better. I’ve used a host of video cards, my current is a 980Ti which beats the Cylinder easily. I’ve upgraded the RAM several times, 48 GB now, and even changed the processor.
If power units, fans etc have problems with some skill you can change them.
I undersand that sealed boxes are good for Apple in selling expensive RAM etc (hey I’m an aapl investor !) but that’s a FINANCIAL decision not consumer.
Like I said there are places for both, give people a choice, Apple is big enough (and Macs make a lot of money, Apple’s second largest hardware money maker ) to satisfy different needs.