History Of iMac

The iMac is a line designed, released and manufactured by Apple Inc. as compact Macintosh desktop computers.  Since they started to produce this type of computers, in 1998, it has been the best sold product of this huge company, representing them primary interest and being used many times as the image of the company. It evolved, in 11 years in 4 different forms.

The primary form, also known as iMac G3, was announced by Steve Jobs, after his promotion in the function as Apple's interim CEO, in 1997. At the end of that year, the company started to produce the G3 All- in- one, that was an exactly copy of the Power Macintosh G3 series and was sold only for educational purpose. Needing a replacement for the Performa series, because the lake of buyers, Apple started to produce the iMac G3 on 15 august 1998.

There was a shock between the consumers because the iMac had a new and totally different concept than any other computer from the market.  It was fabricated from a colored plastic, translucent, also known as Bondi Blue and had the shape of an egg. The monitor was a cathode ray tube type and had 15 inch dimensions. On the right side of the device it was a hole, hidden by a door, under which was the computer interface. The G3 had two built in speakers and a headphone jack slot. The design was made under the signature of Jonathan Ive, the actual Vice President of Apple's Design section.

The G3 can boasts that it was the first computer with an integrated USB slot, for keyboards and mice and also renounced to the classical diskette drive, presented in every Mac from 1984.

The keyboard and the mouse were made from the same material as the computer, the blue translucent plastic but was a little smaller than the elder Apple's  peripherals The mouse had also a new design, looking like a puck, perfect for those who have a larger hand.

The second major revision of the iMac line it was made in 2002. The iMac G4 was produced until the middle of the 2004 year.  This computer had a new and thinner look, and was meant to replace its older brother, the iMac G4.  The CRT monitor was replaced by a LCD of 15 inches, mounted on an adaptable arm, fixed in a hemisphere. Because of this flexible leg, the iMac G4 was nicknamed iLamp.

The iLamp upgrades made from it a reference point at that moment.  The monitors were available in 2 options, a 17 inches one and a 20 inches, both widescreen that raised a lot the price of the entire device, comparatively with the elder G3.

The iMac G5 replaced the G4 product in august 31, 2004. Reactions were divided. Some of the critics said that it is less aesthetic but most of them observed the power of this computer. It used the Power PC architecture, a RISC chip born from a huge collaboration between Apple, Motorola and IBM, in 1991.

This form of iMac line was the last that could run on a Mac 9 operating system.  In 2004, in the month of august, they redesigned the G5. Since this moment, the Power PC 970 was tested on the Power Macintosh G5 line, so that they upgraded also the iMac line.  Because this upgrade needed a larger case, the general line of the computer was redrawn.

They upgraded again this form in October 2005. This time it had a thinner design line, a new interface using Front Row, and an iSight web camera above the monitor. The disadvantage was that it didn't have the classic VESA flat display mounting interface.



The last form of the iMac lines is the current iMac Intel based. It was announced at Macworld Conference and Expo from 10 January, 2006, by, Steve Jobs. It is the first Macintosh that uses an Intel processor.

The introduction of this product was the start of an entire transition of Apple products from the old Power PC processors to those that wear the signature of Intel.  This product is available with 3 types of processors, depending on user's needs and options. The buyer can choose between an Intel Core 2 Duo, an Intel Core i5, or the new Intel Core i7. Also, there are available and two options for the graphic card: an ATI Radeon HD 4850 or an nVidia GeForce 9400 M.  Except these changes, the iMac Intel based remained absolutely the same as its predecessor, the iMac G5. However, thanks to the new upgrade of the processor, this form of iMacs, it is double faster than the early generation, according to the results of the SPEC tests.