24 Years Ago, the First iMac Went on Sale: Relive Steve Jobs' Iconic Presentation

[MacRumors]

On August 15, 1998, the first iMac, introduced by Steve Jobs just a few months prior, officially went on sale, marking a turning point for Apple and the first true consumer desktop from the company.

"The excitement of the internet. The simplicity of Macintosh" is how Jobs described the first iMac during the now iconic keynote on May 6, 1998. During the presentation, Jobs compared it to other desktop computers on the market. According to Jobs, those computers were slow, featured smaller 13 to 14-inch displays, probably didn't have any networking capabilities, and were ugly. The original iMac hoped to target each weak point with faster performance, a better-looking design, and updated I/O ports.

"We decided to make this thing fast," Jobs said, touting the at the time powerful G3/233 processor. The first iMac featured a 15-inch display that was 1024x768, 32MB of standard memory, 4GB of disk storage, a 24x CD-ROM drive, a 100Mb Ethernet port, a 33.6Kb modem, and a 4MB IrDA. The original iMac had stereo SRS sound, two 12MB USB ports, and a keyboard and mouse for I/O and peripherals.

Iconically, it featured a translucent design that allowed people to see inside the machine. "The back of this thing looks better than the front of the other guys, by the way," Jobs jokingly said about its design compared to the competitors on the market. On the front of the iMac, beneath the display, it featured stereo surround speakers, infrared, a CD-ROM, and a headphone jack.

The original iMac retailed for $1,299, and since its introduction 24 years ago, the iMac has transformed and evolved a great deal. Apple's latest iMac, the 24-inch iMac with M1, is similar to the original iMac in that it's offered in many colors. The iMac's design has continued to radically change, becoming thinner, slimmer, and more powerful over the years.

Article Link: 24 Years Ago, the First iMac Went on Sale: Relive Steve Jobs' Iconic Presentation

 

[Eddy Munn]

"The computer that saved Apple." We have a 2012 iMac running Monterey in the corner of our kitchen—it's such a appealing computer.

 

[1557750]

Iconic it is. Look at him in a suit!

Miss you, Steve.

 

[HYPOD]

What is “a 100MB of Ethernet port“ ?

 

[NightFlight]

I had one of the first ones I could get my hands on. Bondi blue, it looked exactly like the first picture and I absolutely loved it.

Ah, memories.

 

[Lioness~]

Remember these days and Steve with much ❤️
Felt like you were on a very special journey that few experienced with that amazing guy.

 

[nathan_reilly]

what's with all these "MB" USB and ethernet ports????? "a 100MB of Ethernet port"

edit: posted by macrumors bot. Spoken like macrumors bot. I'm ok now.

 

[hiphopdan]

The price hasn’t changed much since then…

 

[DMG35]

I still have one, its an aquarium now though.. Need a new fish for it….

 

[JosephAW]

I’m still using one of those old grey keyboards today from an iMac.

What killed it was the limited ram expandability and macOS tiger requiring FireWire port.

It was difficult to service and to change hard drives, the maxtor hard drives used to fail all the time.

It should’ve debuted with a flat panel LCD but the price point would’ve been too high, they finally debuted the LCD with the gooseneck iMac.

The G5 iMac was its pinnacle with serviceability and performance but the motherboards failed quite readily.

 

[AlumaMac]

I worked in a huge corporate IT Department at the time as a Mac admin. All the anti-Mac Windoze fanboy techs and managers were coming to my cubicle asking me about this crazy new Mac. 😂

 

[jlc1978]

The price hasn’t changed much since then…

Actually, 1299 Is about 2360 in today's dollars so the prices have dropped some 40% in real dollars.

 

[incoherent_1]

What never ceases to amaze me is how timeless these designs are. Still looking beautiful.

 

[ph001bi]

On August 15, 1998, the first iMac, introduced by Steve Jobs just a few months prior, officially went on sale, marking a turning point for Apple and the first true consumer desktop from the company.

"The excitement of the internet. The simplicity of Macintosh" is how Jobs described the first iMac during the now iconic keynote on May 6, 1998. During the presentation, Jobs compared it to other desktop computers on the market. According to Jobs, those computers were slow, featured smaller 13 to 14-inch displays, probably didn't have any networking capabilities, and were ugly. The original iMac hoped to target each weak point with faster performance, a better-looking design, and updated I/O ports.

"We decided to make this thing fast," Jobs said, touting the at the time powerful G3/233 processor. The first iMac featured a 15-inch display that was 1024x768, 32MB of standard memory, 4GB of disk storage, a 24x CD-ROM drive, a 100MB of Ethernet port, a 33.6 Kb modem, and a 4MB IrDA. The original iMac had stereo SRS sound, two 12MB USB ports, and a keyboard and mouse for I/O and peripherals.

Iconically, it featured a translucent design that allowed people to see inside the machine. "The back of this thing looks better than the front of the other guys, by the way," Jobs jokingly said about its design compared to the competitors on the market. On the front of the iMac, beneath the display, it featured stereo surround speakers, infrared, a CD-ROM, and a headphone jack.

The original iMac retailed for $1,299, and since its introduction 24 years ago, the iMac has transformed and evolved a great deal. Apple's latest iMac, the 24-inch iMac with M1, is similar to the original iMac in that it's offered in many colors. The iMac's design has continued to radically change, becoming thinner, slimmer, and more powerful over the years.

Article Link: 24 Years Ago, the First iMac Went on Sale: Relive Steve Jobs' Iconic Presentation

I used to have the Orange one with the 333Mhz G3. How I miss that machine..

 

[BrownyQ]

Unfortunately, I never owned one. I've considered buying one secondhand just to say I do, but I've never pulled the trigger on the purchase. At the end of the day, it would be a vanity purchase, and yet one additional item to store in the closet.

More than the iMac, I've wanted the clamshell iBook with the same design language. I feel I could have more fun with that purchase, even if it is horribly obsolete.

 

[BootsWalking]

What a blast from the past. I remember going to their midnight madness sale. It was the only time nerds like me had a place to be after midnight.

 

[FSMBP]

Amazing product. Side note: no one can give a presentation like Steve. Even the 'boring parts' (like hits per day on their site) sounded interesting.

 

[jav6454]

Defining the next generation

 

[Duncan-UK]

What never ceases to amaze me is how timeless these designs are. Still looking beautiful.

Or alternatively the corrugated plastic design and the colours make for a garish children’s toy type product. I’ve never liked the iMac prior to its G5 incarnation and even that is marred by the enormous “jimmy hill” style chin.

 

[SoldOnApple]

I wish we had the technology to upload brains before Jobs died, so he could still lead Apple and present new products. Well a virtual copy of him could anyway.

 

[MajorFubar]

It does look beautiful but the 33k modem was yesterday's tech by 1998. I was already using a 56k modem on Compaq Presario 4504 which cost me less than that.

 

[MajorFubar]

Amazing product. Side note: no one can give a presentation like Steve. Even the 'boring parts' (like hits per day on their site) sounded interesting.

This is because Steve was a geek who was truly excited by the products his company sold. I'm not saying modern Macs aren't good but Tim is not a geek. That's why he brings in product specialists to talk you through products that Steve did entirely on his own for the most part. You can almost hear Tim say "And here's Craig to talk you through our new MacOS (because frankly I haven't got a ----ing clue)"

 

[kalsta]

Hear the audience laugh when Steve says that Apple staff have great stock options! Oh the irony with the benefit of hindsight.

 

[RogerDoger2801]

iMac rumors have been quiet…odds they’re gearing up for a 25th anniversary machine next year?

I remember seeing a Gurman rumor a while back that the iMac might skip the M2 generation. Maybe we get a larger update next year to showcase the M3 (similar to the MacBook Air opening up the M2).

 

[webkit]

Actually, 1299 Is about 2360 in today's dollars so the prices have dropped some 40% in real dollars.

True, but still a bargain compared to the original 128K Macintosh which was $2,495 retail (around $7,300 in today's dollars) in 1984. Granted, Apple products were often nicely discounted through dealers/retailers and/or carried rebates back then but computers in general have gotten much cheaper (and better) over the decades.