Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the launch of the iMac G4 , which is still regarded as one of Apple’sbest Macsto this 24-hour interval . When it arrived in 2002 , it redefine what we should ask from information processing system hardware and software , yet it only lasted a match of short years before being discontinue . What happened , and why was it so important ?
Released in 1998 , theiMac G3 — the unmediated forerunner of the iMac G4 — reinvented Apple and helped get the company back on its feet when it was on the brink of bankruptcy . Yet despite its playful colors and design innovations , there ’s no dubiousness that it was limited by the applied science of the time , with its immense chassis dictated by the bulky CRT monitor moderate within .
The iMac G4 , in contrast , came much snug to the slimline vision that has quicken much of Apple ’s work for decades . By the time it launch in 2002 , technology had advanced enough that svelte LCD displays were affordable enough for consumer computers . Out blend the CRT screen and the heavy , boxy plan it necessitated , and in occur a new breed of fineness .
But there was more . Inspired by the spirit and mannikin of a sunflower , the iMac G4 ’s display was mount on a moveable arm , allowing you to set the screenland however you wanted — a wizardry innovation at the time . The foot of the machine was tiny , too , lodging the computer ’s internal components in a cleverly disguise way .
The inexorable march of technology allot Apple much more freedom to design the figurer it wanted to , to adopt Steve Jobs ’ degree that each component should be “ truthful to itself . ” The iMac G4 was a renowned example of Apple being able to craft a product that adjust perfectly with its philosophical system instead of being fix by what was technologically possible .
This approaching reappeared in later products like the iPod and the iPhone . With these devices , Apple made it very clear that every constituent of the Cartesian product should be there because it must be there — anything that was not essential , in line , should be removed . The iMac G4 was one of the first time this vision really came to fruition , where Apple could act unconstrained by what the technology could and could not do .
A remarkable legacy
The iMac G4 was influential in other ways . It dropped the bright , semitransparent charge plate of the iMac G3 and show in a unexampled era of white and silver — a look that die hard for years among Apple products ( from other Macs to theiPod ) and influenced the party ’s competitor to no end .
The iMac G4 was also the first Mac to launch withOS Xand its Aqua drug user interface . Its radical - modernistic blue and metallic grizzly aim blew all competitors out of the body of water , make Windows ( and past rendering of Mac OS ) look positively mediaeval .
The iMac G3 was obviously a calculator — it may have looked different from every other personal computer on the marketplace , but you could n’t slip it for any other class of gimmick . The iMac G4 , though , was so succinct that hoi polloi had difficulty working out where the “ estimator ” part of it actually experience . Just as the iMac G3 had done before it , the iMac G4 redefine what a computer should front like and helped set up the reputation of Apple ’s fashion designer as some of the foremost technology tastemakers on the planet .
Despite its commercial and critical success , though , the iMac G4 lasted just a duet of age and was replaced by the much more conservatively designed iMac G5 in 2004 . One intellect was that display were receive larger , which made balance one on a transportable weapon system a much trickier outlook . The 20 - in iMac G4 press nearly twice as much as the 17 - inch model , for instance , due to all of the extra weight needed to counterbalance its sized - up screen .
Meanwhile , more knock-down chips meant better cooling was demand , which a little chassis like that of the iMac G4 could not provide . As with the “ trash can ” Mac Pro , Apple had designed itself into a corner and could n’t remedy the position without another full redesign .
If you look at it strictly in term of ledge life , the iMac G4 was a simple blip on the radar , a work out curiosity that bequeath the stage as quickly as it arrived . Yet its outsized influence has lasted more than two decade — its lookcontinues to influence intriguer , with some devoted fanskeeping it updatedwith new splintering to this day . There ’s even blab that Apple might revive the iMac G4 ’s aesthetic with an all - newsmart home displayin the next year or two .
That ’s a legacy that ’s improbable to evanesce any clock time presently . Considering the iMac G4 was only on sales agreement for a little over two geezerhood , it ’s a remarkable achievement .
