iMac G3
The iMac G3 was the first model of the iMac line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.). The iMac G3 is an all-in-one, luggable personal computer, encompassing both the monitor and the CPU in a single enclosure. Originally released in striking bondi blue and later a range of brightly colored, translucent plastic, casings shipped with a keyboard and mouse in matching tints, with later revisions shipping with Pro peripherals.
History
Steve Jobs streamlined the company's large and confusing product lines immediately after becoming Apple's interim CEO in 1997; toward the end of the year, Apple trimmed its line of desktop Macs down to the beige Power Macintosh G3 series. Having discontinued the consumer-targeted Performa series, Apple needed a replacement for the Performa's price point. The company announced the iMac on 6 May 1998[1] and started shipping it on 15 August 1998. The launch of the iMac was a landmark event for its time, and had a massive impact on both the company and the computer industry.
At the time, Apple was unique in producing all-in-one desktop computers such as the iMac and earlier Macintosh models, in which the CPU and the monitor are contained in one enclosure [citation needed].
Aesthetically, the iMac was dramatically different from any other mainstream computer ever released. It was made of translucent "Bondi blue"-colored plastic, and was egg-shaped around a 15-inch (38 cm) CRT. There was a handle, and the computer interfaces were hidden behind a door that opened on the right-hand side of the machine. Two headphone jacks in the front complemented the built-in stereo speakers. Jonathan Ive, currently Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, is credited with the industrial design.
Legacy Macintosh peripheral connections, such as the ADB, SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), and GeoPort serial ports, were eliminated in favor of USB ports; the floppy drive was discarded. Although these were aging technologies, Apple's move was considered ahead of its time and was hotly debated.[citation needed] For example, there was no analogous way to exchange small files with other existing machines, possibly requiring owners to buy an external USB floppy drive (the floppy drive sold well in the first few years of the iMac G3)[citation needed].
The keyboard and mouse were redesigned for the iMac with translucent plastics and a Bondi Blue trim (Apple USB Keyboard and Apple USB Mouse). The keyboard was smaller than Apple's previous keyboards, with white letters on black keys, both features that attracted debate. The mouse was of a round, "hockey puck" design, which was instantly derided as being unnecessarily difficult for users with larger hands. Apple continued shipping the round mouse, adding a divot in later versions so that users could distinguish where the button was. Eventually, a new oblong optical mouse, known as the Apple Pro Mouse, replaced the round mouse across all of Apple's hardware offerings. A redesigned version called the Apple Mouse was produced, with the side grips white and the tension control removed.
Technical
Internally, the iMac was a combination of the MacNC project and CHRP.[citation needed] Although the promise of CHRP has never been fully realized, the work that Apple had done on CHRP significantly helped in the designing of the iMac. The original iMac had a 233 MHz PowerPC G3 (PowerPC 750) chip, with 512 KB L2 cache running at 116.6 MHz, which also ran in Apple's high-end Power Macintosh line at the time, though at higher speeds, with more expensive models shipping with 1 MB L2 cache. It sold for US$1,299, and had a 4 GB hard drive, 32 MB RAM, 2 MB video RAM, and shipped with Mac OS 8.1, which was soon upgraded to Mac OS 8.5. Parts such as the front-mounted IrDA port and the tray-loading CD-ROM drive were borrowed from the Apple laptops. Although the iMac did not officially have an expansion slot, the first versions had a slot dubbed the "mezzanine slot".[2] It was only for internal use by Apple, although a few third-party expansion cards were released for it, including some CPU upgrades from Newer Technology, a Voodoo II video card upgrade from 3dfx, and SCSI/SCSI-TV tuner cards (iProRAID and iProRAID TV) from the German company Formac; this was removed from later iMacs. According to an article in the German computer magazine c't, the socket can be retrofitted on revision C iMacs.[citation needed] The hard drive in the iMac G3 was a Quantum Fireball.
Updates
The iMac line was continually updated after initial release. Aside from increasing processor speed, video RAM, and hard-disk capacity, Apple replaced Bondi blue with new colors—initially blueberry, strawberry, tangerine, grape, and lime; later other colors, such as graphite, ruby, sage, snow, and indigo, and the "Blue Dalmatian" and "Flower Power" patterns. A later hardware update created a sleeker design. This second-generation iMac featured a slot-loading optical drive, FireWire, "fanless" operation (through free convection cooling), and the option of AirPort wireless networking. Apple continued to sell this line of iMacs until March 2003, mainly to customers who wanted the ability to run the older Mac OS 9 operating system.
USB and FireWire support, and support for dial-up, Ethernet, and wireless networking (via 802.11b and Bluetooth) soon became standard across Apple's entire product line. In particular, the high-speed interface, FireWire, corrected the deficiencies of the earlier iMacs.
The iMac CRT model was renamed as the iMac G3, as it was now targeted at the education market, it was kept in production alongside the iMac G4 successor for a short while until the eMac was released.
As Apple continued to release new versions of its computers, the term "iMac" continued to be used to refer to machines in its consumer desktop line. Later redesigns of the iMac, however, never matched the first iMac in sales, mainly because they were targeted at a more expensive market segment.[citation needed]
Models
iMac (Tray Loading) (aka iMac G3)
 The original iMac. | |
| Developer | Apple Inc |
|---|---|
| Type | Desktop |
| Release date | 15 August 1998 |
| CPU | PowerPC G3, 233–333 MHz |
- August 15, 1998 — iMac 233 MHz (Revision A) (M6709LL/A). 233 MHz processor. ATI Rage IIc graphics with 2 MB SGRAM. Available in Bondi Blue only, reset hole on side panel. The only original iMac model to have an infrared port.
- October 17, 1998 — iMac 233 MHz (Revision B) (M6709LL/B). Minor update featuring new Mac OS 8.5, ATI Rage Pro Graphics with 6 MB of SGRAM, reset by holding power button.
- January 5, 1999 — iMac 266 MHz (Revision C, "Five Flavors") (M7389LL/A, M7345LL/A, M7392LL/A, M7390LL/A, M7391LL/A). 266 MHz processor. IrDA port and mezzanine slot removed. ATI Rage Pro Turbo graphics with 6 MB SGRAM. Available in Strawberry (red), Blueberry (blue), Lime (green), Grape (purple), and Tangerine (orange). Price reduced by US$100.
- April 14, 1999 — iMac 333 MHz (Revision D). 333 MHz processor. Updated mouse with indentation on the button.
iMac (Slot Loading) (aka iMac G3)
 The iMac (slot loading). | |
| Developer | Apple Inc |
|---|---|
| Type | Desktop |
| Release date | 5 October 1999 |
| CPU | PowerPC G3, 350–700 MHz |
- October 5, 1999 — iMac/iMac DV/iMac DV SE. First revision with FireWire support, except for the 350 MHz (Blueberry) model. 350 or 400 MHz processor, slot-loading optical drive, same colors as rev C/D iMac, plus Special Edition in graphite color. Used ATI Rage 128 Pro Graphics with 8 MB of VRAM.
- July 19, 2000 — iMac/iMac DV/iMac DV+/iMac DV SE. DV+ and DV SE models upgrade slot-loading CD-ROM to slot-loading DVD-ROM drive. 350 or 400 or 450 or 500 MHz processor, colors graphite (grey), ruby (red), snow (white), indigo (blue) and sage (green). 350 MHz model (Indigo) still lacked FireWire support.
- February 22, 2001 — (patterns). 400, 500 (PPC750CXe), or 600 (PPC750CXe) MHz processor. Available in Indigo, Graphite, and "Blue Dalmatian" or "Flower Power" patterns. DVD-ROM drive discontinued in favor of slot-loading CD-RW drive (low-end Indigo model has CD-ROM). 750CXe models features a new "Pangea" motherboard with a 16 MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra graphics chip.
- July 18, 2001 — (summer 2001). 500, 600, or 700 MHz (PPC750CXe) processor. Available in indigo, graphite, and snow. 700 MHz model discontinued in January 2002 after G4 iMacs were introduced. 500 and 600 MHz models discontinued March 2003.
| Timeline of iMac and eMac models (sorted by screen sizes) |
|---|
 |
References
- ^ Paul Thurrott (May 6 1998). "Whooa! Apple Announces the iMac". Windows IT Pro. Retrieved 26 February 2006.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ "Pinout info for the Revision A iMac's 'mezzanine' (aka PERCH) connector". Retrieved 2007-03-08.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (August 2007) |
- On the T.V. series King of the Hill, Peggy Hill, has an iMac G3 in Blueberry
- During the episode of the Simpsons Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo, Homer Simpson visits an internet cafe filled with iMac G3's