The iMac is an "all-in-one" desktop Macintosh computer designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been a large part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through three distinct forms. In its original form, the G3, the iMac was egg-shaped with a CRT monitor, mainly enclosed by colored, translucent plastic. The second major revision, the G4, moved to a design of a hemispherical base containing all the main components and an LCD monitor on a freely-moving arm attached to the top of the base. The iMac G5 and the Intel iMac placed all the components instantly behind the monitor, creating a slim design which tilts only up and down on a simple metal base. The present iMac shares the same form as the previous models, but is now thinner and uses aluminum and glass for its case. (Also has a black and silver finish)

The machine enjoys a comparatively high profile in popular culture due to its distinctive aesthetics and Apple's successful marketing. The iMac and other Macintosh computers can also be seen in various movies, commercials, and TV shows (both live action and animated).

The iMac has also 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 original 24" Core 2 Duo iMac received CNET's “Must-have desktop” in their 2006 Top 10 Holiday Gift Picks.

iMac models

iMac G3

iMac G4

iMac G5

iMac (Intel-based)

Design

The announcement of the iMac initially caused considerable buzz among commentators, Mac fans, and detractors in the press and on websites. Opinions were polarized over Apple's drastic changes to the Macintosh hardware. At the time, Apple was revamping its retail strategy to improve the Mac purchasing experience. Apple famously declared that "the back of our computer looks better than the front of anyone else's". The distinctive aesthetics were easily spotted in public. The iMac was recognizable on television, in films and in print. This increased Apple's brand awareness, and embedded the iMac into popular culture. When released, the iMac was one of the best selling computers in the U.S. and Japan for months, and Apple was unable to meet demand.

Apple declared the 'i' in iMac to stand for "Internet".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. A further 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, and the iPhone.

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 introduction of the iPod, iBook, and iMac G4, all featuring snowy white plastic, inspired similar designs in consumer electronic products. The color rollout also featured two distinctive ads: ‘Life Savers' color scheme was based upon the Rolling Stones song "She's a Rainbow" and the white advert had Cream's "White Room", specifically its introduction, as its backing track.

USB

The original iMac was the first Macintosh computer to include a USB port. In fact, USB was the only peripheral interface built into the original iMac; Apple dropped previous ports such as the Apple Desktop Bus and SCSI in favor of the newer interface. Although USB was invented by Intel and was also available on PCs at the time, the iMac's popularity and sole dependence on USB helped popularize the interface among third party peripheral makers, as evidenced by the many early USB peripherals that were made of translucent colored plastic to match the color schemes of the original iMac.

Via the USB port, hardware makers could make products compatible with both PCs and Macs. This has allowed Macintosh users to use a large selection of inexpensive devices, such as hubs, scanners, storage devices, USB flash drives and mice.

After the iMac, Apple continued to remove older peripheral interfaces and floppy drives from the rest of its product line.

Design legacy

Although closely imitated by competitors, the iMac clearly shone as a winner in the personal computer market . eMachines marketed the eOne computer as an iMac look-a-like. 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 iBook was released in 1999. Since then, the company has continued this strategy of differentiating the consumer versus professional product lines. Apple's centre on design has allowed each of its subsequent products to create a distinctive identity. Apple derided the beige colors pervading the PC industry. The company would later use anodized aluminum, and white, black, and clear polycarbonate plastics.

Timeline of iMac models

See also: Timeline of Macintosh models