The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers built by Apple and designed by Jonathan Ive. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms.

In its original form, the iMac G3 had a gum-drop or egg-shaped look, with a CRT monitor, mainly enclosed by a colored, translucent plastic case, which was refreshed early on with a sleeker design notable for its slot-loaded optical drive. The second major revision, the iMac G4, moved the design to a hemispherical base containing all the main components and an LCD monitor on a freely moving arm attached to it. The third/fourth major revision, the iMac G5 and the Intel iMac placed all the components immediately behind the display, creating a slim unified design that tilts only up and down on a simple metal base. The current iMac shares the same form as the previous model, but is thinner and uses anodized aluminum and a glass panel over the entire front. In addition it also added a SDXC slot directly under the Slot-Loading SuperDrive. Newer versions are available with a solid state drive instead of a hard drive. The newest version features quad-core Intel processors across the line, 1 (on 21.5") or 2 (on 27") Thunderbolt ports, and a FaceTime HD camera, features introduced on the early 2011 MacBook Pro updates.

History

" iMac G3, was introduced in 1998.]] was the first major case redesign of the iMac line.]] s. The last two models look alike although they sport respectively Intel Core 2 Duo and Core i3/i5/i7 chips]]The announcement of the iMac in 1998 was a source of discussion and anticipation among commentators, Mac fans, and detractors. Opinions were divided over Apple's drastic changes to the Macintosh hardware. At the time, Apple was trying to improve its retail strategy. Apple declared that "the back of our computer looks better than the front of anyone else's".

Apple declared the 'i' in iMac to stand for "Internet"; it also represented the product's focus as a personal device ('i' for "individual"). 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 an HP Pavilion 8250, in a race to set up their computers. Johann and Brodie finished in 8 minutes and 15 seconds, 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, iPhone, iPad and various pieces of software such as the iLife suite and iWork and the company's media player/store, iTunes.

Updates

On July 27, 2010, Apple updated its line of iMacs to feature the new Intel Core processors across the line. The 21.5" models, including the low end 27" now feature the Core i3 processor but these are upgradable to the Core i5. The high end 27" features a Quad-Core i5 processor, which is upgradable to a Quad-Core i7. On this date Apple also announced its new "Apple Magic Trackpad" peripheral, a trackpad similar to that of the Macbook Pro for use with the iMac, or any other Apple computer. They also introduced their first ever AA NiMH battery charger intended to simplify the use of batteries in its new peripherals. Apple offers an option to use a solid state hard drive instead of a large mechanical drive.

On May 3, 2011, Apple updated its iMac line with the introduction of Intel Thunderbolt technology and Intel Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge processors as well as a 1 mega pixel high definition FaceTime camera, features which were first introduced in the MacBook Pro line in February 2011.

Influence

The original iMac was the first legacy-free PC. It was the first Macintosh computer to have a USB port and not to have FDD. Subsequently, all Macs have included it. Via the USB port, hardware makers could make products compatible with both x86 PCs and Macs. Previously, Macintosh users had to seek out certain hardware, such as keyboards and mice specifically tailored for the "old world" Mac's unique ADB interface and printers and modems with LocalTalk ports. Only a limited number of models from certain manufacturers were made with these interfaces, and often came at a premium price. USB, being cross-platform, has allowed Macintosh users to select from a large selection of devices marketed for the Wintel PC platform, such as hubs, scanners, storage devices, USB flash drives, and mice. This came at a price, however. As USB was far slower than a number of ports available at the time such as SCSI, unmodified iMacs and iBooks were badly crippled until adequate replacements such as FireWire and USB 2.0 became standard. After the iMac, Apple continued to remove older peripheral interfaces and floppy drives from the rest of its product line.

Borrowing from the 1997 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, the various LCD-based iMac designs continued the all-in-one concept first envisioned in Apple's original Macintosh computer. 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 iMac-like iBook was released in 1999. Since then, the company has continued 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 distinctive identity. Apple avoided using the beige colors then pervading the PC industry. The company would later drift from the multicolored designs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The later part of the first decade of the 21st century saw Apple using anodized aluminum and white, black, and clear polycarbonate plastics. Today many PCs are more design-conscious than before the iMac's introduction, with multi-shaded design schemes being common, and some desktops and laptops available in colorful, decorative patterns.

Apple's use of translucent candy-colored plastics inspired similar designs in other consumer devices. 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 later introduction of the iPod, iBook G3 (Dual USB), and iMac G4, all featuring snowy white plastic, inspired similar designs in consumer electronic products. The color rollout also featured two distinctive ads: one called 'Life Savers' featured the Rolling Stones song "She's a Rainbow" and an advertisement for the white version had the introduction of Cream's "White Room" as its backing track.

Reception

The iMac has received considerable critical acclaim, including praise from technology columnist Walt Mossberg as the "Gold Standard of desktop computing"; Forbes magazine described the original candy-colored line of iMac computers as being an "industry-altering success". The first 24" Core 2 Duo iMac received CNET's "Must-have desktop" in their 2006 Top 10 Holiday Gift Picks.

Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly deceiving the public by promising millions of colors from the LCD screens of all Mac models while its 20 inch model only held 262,144 colors. This issue arose due to the use of 6-bit per pixel Twisted nematic LCD screens, instead of higher quality technologies.

While not a criticism of the iMac per se, the iMac's integrated design has some inherent tradeoffs that have garnered criticism. In The Mythical Midrange Mac Minitower, Dan Frakes of Macworld suggests that with the iMac occupying the midrange of Apple's product line, Apple has nothing to offer consumers who want some ability to expand or upgrade their computers, but don't need (or can't afford) the Mac Pro. For example, the iMac's integration of monitor and computer, while convenient, commits the owner to replacing both at the same time. For a time before the Mac mini's introduction, there were rumors of a "headless iMac" but the G4 Mac mini as introduced was limited in CPU performance when compared to the iMac, which at the time featured a G5 processor.

Similarly, though the graphics chipset in some recent models is on a removable MXM, neither Apple nor third parties have offered retail iMac GPU upgrades, with the exception of those for the original iMac G3's "mezzanine" PCI slot. Models after the iMac G5 (excluding the August 7, 2007 iMac update) made it difficult for the end-user to replace the hard disk or optical drive, and Apple's warranty explicitly forbids upgrading the socketed CPU. While conceding the possibility of a minitower cannibalizing sales from the Mac Pro, Frakes argues there is enough frustration with iMac's limitations to make such a proposition worthwhile. This disparity has become more pronounced after the G4 era since the bottom-end Power Mac G5 (with one brief exception) and Mac Pro models have all been priced in the $1999–$2499 range, while base model Power Macs G4s and earlier were $1299–$1799. :For more detailed timelines, see the articles for each individual generation.

15″, 17″, or 20″ LCD 4GB to 6GB 9.2, Mac OS X v10.1 10.4, Mac OS X Leopard January 7, 2002 July 2004

style="background:#fff; width:9%;"	Generation				style="background:#ffdead;width:13%"	style="background:#ffdead; width:13%;"	style="background:#33dd44; width:13%;"
		|	17″ or 20″ LCD	17″, 20″, or 24″ LCD	20″ or 24″ LCD	21.5" or 27" LED
	Included HDD	|	40GB to 160GB	40GB to 500GB	80GB to 750GB	250GB to 1TB	Solid-state drive>SSD
Included Mac OS and/or Mac OS X version	8.1, 8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 10.0	10.1, 10.2, 10.3 ||	Mac OS X Tiger>10.4	10.4	10.5, 10.6 || 10.6, 10.7
Release Date	August 15, 1998	|	August 31, 2004	January 10, 2006	August 7, 2007	October 20, 2009
Discontinued	March 2003	|	March 2006	August 2007	October 2009	N/A

See also

Power Macintosh G3

Template:Timeline of Old World ROM Power Macintosh models

List of Macintosh models by case type

References

External links

Apple – Support – Specifications

Apple – Support – How to identify your iMac

Apple Developer Connection – Comprehensive technical details (Latest developer notes)

Apple iMac 27in (late 2010 edition) review at V3.co.uk

Category:1998 introductions Category:IMac series Category:Macintosh all-in-ones Category:PowerPC Macintosh computers Category:Sealed computers Category:X86 Macintosh computers Category:Industrial designs of the Museum of Modern Art

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