Apple’s iMac has turned 10 years old and “is still with us, though it has transmogrified from a 233MHz CRT-based all-in-one system into today’s 3.06GHz flat-panel-based system. In the years following the announcement, the iMac helped Apple stagger to its feet, and in 2001 the iPod helped get the company back to the top of its game,” Jason Snell writes for Macworld.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that without the iMac, Apple would either be out of business or a vastly different company than the one we see today. And certainly the iMac was the first Apple product to truly bear the stamp of Steve Jobs, as well as designer Jonathan Ive, both of whom have spent the last decade driving Apple on to even more impressive creations,” Snell writes.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lance” for the heads up.]
Apple’s original iMac press release verbatim:
Apple Unveils iMac
The Internet-Age Computer for the Rest of Us
CUPERTINO, California — May 6, 1998 — In a major move in to the consumer market, Apple Computer, Inc. today unveiled iMac — the “Internet-age computer for the rest of us.” iMac features a striking design, easy Internet access and Pentium-toasting PowerPC G3 performance for US$1299.
“We designed iMac to deliver the things consumers care about most – the excitement of the Internet and the simplicity of the Mac,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s Interim CEO. “iMac is next year’s computer for $1299; not last year’s computer for $999.”
“Today we brought romance and innovation back into the industry,” added Jobs. “iMac reminds everyone of what Apple stands for.”
iMac is a complete Internet-age computer right out of the box, featuring:
• A speedy PowerPC G3 microprocessor running at 233MHz with a high speed 512k backside L2 memory cache;
• Built-in 15-inch high quality display with 1024×768 resolution, 13.8-inch diagonal viewable image size;
• Easy connectivity – one button Internet access, internal 33.6Kbps modem, 10/100Base-Tx Ethernet, 12Mbps Universal Serial Bus (USB), and 4Mbps infrared port (IrDA);
• The world’s easiest to use operating system, Mac OS 8.1, which runs thousands of Macintosh software titles;
• All housed in a stunning translucent enclosure that breaks new ground in industrial design.
iMac, available worldwide in August in one configuration for US$1299, will also include:
• 32MB SDRAM (expandable to 128MB);
• 2MB SGRAM (expandable to 4MB);
• 4GB IDE Hard disk drive;
• 24x CD-ROM drive;
• 10/100Base-Tx Ethernet;
• 33.6Kbps software modem;
• Two 12Mbps Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports;
• 4Mbps infrared technology (IrDA) port;
• Built-in stereo speakers with SRS sound;
• 66MHz system bus;
• Mac OS 8.1;
• Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse.
Apple Computer, Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now recommitted to its original mission – to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.
Source: Apple Inc.
I’d love to see a comparison of what your $1,299 bought in 1998 vs. today’s iMac for a few hundred dollars more. It would have to be an incredible leap forward in terms of speed, capacity, etc.
Someone with some time want to do that?
BTW… That old iMac of mine is still running OS 9
Cool beans.
@ Skinny Mac & Ampar
Monolingual is another foreign language resource removing program, and one I have used with no bad results.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7758/monolingual
@ Rheinhard
Bummer on the iMac G3 w/o FireWire.
If you want to install Tiger on an iMac G3 w/ FireWire but w/o DVD drive, do the following:
1) Get a newer Mac w/ DVD drive.
2) Connect to G3 w/ FireWire cable
3) insert Tiger Install DVD in new Mac and boot into Target Disk Mode (Command-T at powerup)
4) on G3, select Tiger DVD as startup volume
5) Restart G3, perform install
When I first did this, I didn’t believe that it would work! However, Apple never ceases to amaze me with things that “just work”!
I cannot say whether this will work for Leopard.
I was driving through Albuquerque last week and passed a school-district truck that had about 50 of the old Bondi Beauties in the back. Guess they’ve only just been taken out of service? For those that want one maybe you should contact http://www.aps.edu…
@JeffA
everymac.com has done all the work already…
$1299 iMac 1998
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_ab.html
$1199 iMac 2008
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac-core-2-duo-2.4-20-inch-aluminum-early-2008-penryn-specs.html
And lowendmac.com has a plethora of links to resources to upgrading every Mac ever made.
Passed down through Mom, nephew and now an aunt. Replaced the internal battery and the optical mouse- everything else is running fine. The best thing about it is it didn’t have one of those awful glossy screens. Until the matte screen comes back the iMac is off my list.
P.S. don’t even suggest I put film on my display.
I still have a Strawberry Mac.
I had an original bondi iMac but I broke the monitor when I accidentally dropped it. I still have it sitting in my office, because even though it doesn’t work it is such an amazing design I can’t bring myself to throw it away.
Ohhhhh, the horrid hockey puck mouse!!!
@Macintosh,
I totally forgot about that much ridiculed decision – to not include a floppy drive. It turns out the critics were wrong – again.
there is no way a computer without floppy drive will sell!
USB UselessSerialBull there are no peripherals for it!
Jobs is insane! Apple will not survive into the millennium.
Not to mention the millennium bug, will Apple survive y2k?
I think NOT!
what a decade!
@ ElderNorm,
I’ve got Leopard running on my 450 MHz G4 Cube and it runs great.
To install Leopard, connect the unsupported G4 to a Leopard-supported Mac by Firewire. Boot the older Mac while holding down the T key until you see a firewire symbol on its screen. You should see the older Mac show up as a volume in the newer Mac’s Finder. Now, insert the Leopard install disc into the newer Mac and choose the external volume (your older Mac) as the target disc for installation.
Easy as pie!
Damn this makes me feel old!
I was in California at the time: I’d driven up from LA to see my uncle, who lived right next to Cupertino, so we went to a local computer store and just stared and stared at it. The form factor seems really cliché and old now, but it was a revelation back then!
It’s About Time,
great comment about MDN using it as their server.
But you’re doing the bondi iMacs a disservice.
They weren’t that slow!
My one big regret in life was not making my first computer an iMac. The term multi-media passed me by for the next 7 years.
My Dad would have loved an iMac, we could have had a lot more fun together than with the fragile PC. And I bet it would still be running.
I think it was me who went down the PC route. The iMac seemed expensive for the spec though alluring and aspirational.
If Apple could bottle that “I’ve got a Mac” feeling and convey it instead of those stupid commercials they come up with – they would do even better.
How to advertise a Mac? You only live once – don’t settle for second best!
“How to advertise a Mac? You only live once – don’t settle for second best!”
Absolutely. Or as others here have said, “You’re going to be dead a whole lot longer than you’re going to be alive.”
“great comment about MDN using it as their server.”
C’mon! At least it’s not a Performa.
I’ve got the “special edition” model offered in 1999.
400 G3, 13 GB HD and upgraded to 384 MB’s of RAM. Graphite in color that included a DVD drive (playback only) and two Firewire ports (plus built in modem and 10/100 ethernet).
Just today I’ve moved it from its place on my table top as my new iMac (3.06 GHz, 500 GB HD, gigabyte ethernet, 512 MB video card and 4 GB’s of RAM) will arrive.
The old iMac was $1,500 and the new one is $2,499 (extra RAM).
24″ display as compared to the 13″ model. Still an “all in one” design.
I’ll pull it out of the closet to give away to a needy child. It worked 24/7 for nearly nine years and still functions just great. Stopped the OS upgrades at 10.3.9.
I still have two iMac G3s (one Snow and one Indigo) and both still work great to this day.
FYI – Due critical user feedback, the modem was upgraded to 56.6Kbps BEFORE the first iMac was sold.
I got to see a pre-production iMac at the last PMUG (Portland, OR Mac User Group) meeting I ever attended, and won a t-shirt with featuring the upcoming launch date. Only wore it a couple times–I think after 10 years it’s finally eBay-worthy.
The Apple rep repeatedly told us that since it was a pre-production model it had some issues, and not to touch it. Of course, some nerd had to do it, and it let out an impressively loud, slightly scary, 60-cycle belch. No one blamed the computer, just the dork who couldn’t follow directions. Are you reading this today?
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At that meeting I knew Apple was going to revive. A few mis-steps along the way, but no major snafus. The computer for the rest of us became the computer (and MP3 player) for the trendsetters, and now the scoffers are starting to switch. The CEO of the software company I work for switched (he’s an old Intel exec–it took dropping the PPC chip and going to Unix under the hood to finally do the trick), and other execs are following. I can’t imagine this is unique.