Loved how exciting the late 90's were for computing across the board
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24 Years Ago, the First iMac Went on Sale: Relive Steve Jobs' Iconic Presentation
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33.6K modems were the tentative (May announcement) specs but when machines actually starting shipping in August, they had 56K modems.
Yeah even my 486 had a 33.6K modem. Every now and then, apple jumps ahead in specs (e.g. M1) but most times, they're behind gb for gb, mhz for mhz (of course this doesnt take into account the optimizations which likely allows them to get away with it a bit more than usual). Even today, they took forever to upgrade from 16gb and 64gb base storages and it wasn't long ago that they were selling macs with dual core processors.
The 80s were even better. By the time the 90s had fully set in, PCs + Windows had started to dominate both office and home, and manufacturers, largely other than Apple, Acorn, Amiga and Atari, were scared to innovate. Ten years earlier it was truly a free for all, with dozens of manufacturers in the UK and US offering competing products, each one with a certain USP, and with each new generation genuinely improving on the last in exciting ways. It's almost impossible for me to explain if you weren't there. But it was way more exciting than e.g. debating whether an 11% increase in processor speed between the M1 and M2 chips provides any kind of real-world difference.
EDIT: I remember seeing the first mass-market ARM machine, the Acorn Archimedes, back when ARM stood for Acorn RISC Machine. Only took, what, three decades to catch on...
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The article implies that the original iMac was available in multiple colors, but the first one was just Bondi Blue. The colors and then the patterns (Dalmatian!) came later. I don't remember if the specs changed with those as well, I'd have to look that up. My recollection was that the fit and finish of those plastic chassis improved over time as well.
RIP Steve, you are deeply missed.
Amazing moment in Apple history. All the glee over the corporate double speak was a big part of Jobs success and legacy, too.
The multi colors (like in the picture included in the post) didn’t arrive for another few years yet. I’ll dig out my Bondi today. Last time I checked it was running System 7.
The multi colors (like in the picture included in the post) didn’t arrive for another few years yet. I’ll dig out my Bondi today. Last time I checked it was running System 7.
Why is the word 'relive' being used? I'm not even sure it is a word, or should've been. nobody can ever relive a moment in life. you can re-experience it, you can re-watch it, but re-live it, no.
No if it was from the 1950's it would have been shot on film with about 4K definition when scanned and wouldn't look like it was shot on a FisherPrice My First HandyCam.
I think I've crossed another ageing threshold; for the first time my reaction wasn't "really, that long ago?" but rather "really, it was that recently?".
I bought my parents an original Bondi Blue iMac as their first computer along with a Comcast cable modem. They were pretty amazed by the whole thing. They ran that thing in to the ground. Their next upgrade was a PowerBook 4 Ti and an original AirPort wifi basestation as my mother had trouble walking up the stairs where the computer was, but my father continued to use the iMac for years.
The iMac is long gone but I think I still have the PB4Ti in a box in the garage somewhere.
The iMac is long gone but I think I still have the PB4Ti in a box in the garage somewhere.
This is exactly why I am keeping my M1 mellow yellow iMac as a collectible when am done with it!
By the time they released the iMac, the OS for Macs and the chip sets were so dated that it wasn't worth the money for those of us who had to use computers as a work tool. I had long since been forced to switch to WinTel garbage. That iMac was typical Jobs iCandy. It looked cool to some people, though not to me, but was not that functional in a situation that required a computer to efficiently get work done. Just more form over function designed for the casual user who wanted to be entertained...
The early iMacs were consumer devices aimed at getting people on the internet.
