As long as you didn’t have to pull it apart or wanted something larger than a 20” display. It was great for it time period, but simply wouldn’t hold up today.
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iMac G4 With Revolutionary Floating Display Announced 20 Years Ago Today
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Pretty easy - no way! Extremely complex - yes. See post #47, using a Mac Mini motherboard probably. The first difficult steps would be to convert the screen for video signal compatibility with modern Intel/M1 Silicon, and that's no mean task.
The best designed and functional iMac.
I would love this same design, with base internals and screen having the ability to be upgraded/replaced easily. The only iMac I would buy. While good for Tim Cook's gigantic wallet and the shareholders, disposable appliances like the iMac are a waste.
I would love this same design, with base internals and screen having the ability to be upgraded/replaced easily. The only iMac I would buy. While good for Tim Cook's gigantic wallet and the shareholders, disposable appliances like the iMac are a waste.
In 2004 when I was about to return to university (ie and be poor for 3-4 years), I had to make the huge decision - eMac, or iMac. At that point, I'd had my TAM for over 6 years, and it was in need of replacement. (Hard to call it an upgrade... going from a TAM to anything.) Problem was - money. The iMac was something like $800 more expensive due to the flat screen - otherwise they were very very similar, both USB2, 1.25Ghz, etc. So in the end I went with the eMac.
Imagine then how jealous I felt around 2 years later when my father retired, and finally asked me to help him buy his first computer. It had to be a Mac, cos I'd be the main support person. He didn't want to commit to "new" prices, so second hand - - The iMac I'd been considering for myself was the logical option!
Dad used that iMac for about 7 years til I upgraded him to something a bit more modern, and I of course then brought that lampshade home with me. For a little while it sat on my oldest son's desk, but all he ever did with it was play Minesweeper, and break off the screen's bezel.
It is now sitting in the foyer to my house, its front bezel sitting loosely in place, but otherwise in fairly good condition. I was toying with the idea of using it in my kitchen for when I'm doing dishes / cooking etc... but - it's just so bulky compared to say an iPad. Not sure how well it would handle Plex, or a streaming service. No Siri to ask it to google things. No touch screen, so - needing mouse and keyboard.
I can't see myself getting rid of it in a hurry, but also can't see any purpose for it. I've been putting SSDs in some of my older Macs, but they are being used actively. My Cube for example is a living photo frame, and when I get the Harmon Kardon sticks working - will be a music machine. I do have a pair of Pro speakers - purchased originally for the Cube - that I could use with the iMac, but they are crackly, so would need to repair them first.
Hopefully I'll find a use for this machine one day, and even if not a specific use, will get the bezel re-attached, and clean it up so it can sit pretty.
Yes, this was one of the best designs to have come out of Apple, full stop. Apparently larger screens were just going to be too heavy for the arm to handle. Too many failed as it was... so they had to rethink the design. A sad ending to an era.
Imagine then how jealous I felt around 2 years later when my father retired, and finally asked me to help him buy his first computer. It had to be a Mac, cos I'd be the main support person. He didn't want to commit to "new" prices, so second hand - - The iMac I'd been considering for myself was the logical option!
Dad used that iMac for about 7 years til I upgraded him to something a bit more modern, and I of course then brought that lampshade home with me. For a little while it sat on my oldest son's desk, but all he ever did with it was play Minesweeper, and break off the screen's bezel.
It is now sitting in the foyer to my house, its front bezel sitting loosely in place, but otherwise in fairly good condition. I was toying with the idea of using it in my kitchen for when I'm doing dishes / cooking etc... but - it's just so bulky compared to say an iPad. Not sure how well it would handle Plex, or a streaming service. No Siri to ask it to google things. No touch screen, so - needing mouse and keyboard.
I can't see myself getting rid of it in a hurry, but also can't see any purpose for it. I've been putting SSDs in some of my older Macs, but they are being used actively. My Cube for example is a living photo frame, and when I get the Harmon Kardon sticks working - will be a music machine. I do have a pair of Pro speakers - purchased originally for the Cube - that I could use with the iMac, but they are crackly, so would need to repair them first.
Hopefully I'll find a use for this machine one day, and even if not a specific use, will get the bezel re-attached, and clean it up so it can sit pretty.
Yes, this was one of the best designs to have come out of Apple, full stop. Apparently larger screens were just going to be too heavy for the arm to handle. Too many failed as it was... so they had to rethink the design. A sad ending to an era.
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Ok, right. There’s no way there would be a glossy magazine with a picture of the iMac G4 ready to print without having it from Apple earlier.
So, right, timed exclusive planned well ahead of time, but it was distributed early.At launch in January 2002, the iMac G4 came in three flavors:
$1299
$1499
$1799
Current iMac 24”
$1299
$1499
$1699 — difference spotted.
You’re right, today’s prices? TOTALLY unreasonable.
Those prices need to be adjusted for inflation to be comparable to the current prices:
$1299 => $1929
$1499 => $2226
$1799 => $2672
(calculated at https://mint.intuit.com/blog/planning/inflation-calculator/)
Also note the differences when moving up a price tier:
Then
$200/$300
Then, in 2021 dollars
$297/$446
Now
$200/$200
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Yes, that is correct.Ok, right. There’s no way there would be a glossy magazine with a picture of the iMac G4 ready to print without having it from Apple earlier.
...I think you are overlooking the entire point of the iMac since it's inception.
Point taken. However, the iMac G4 and the iBook were particularly vexing to get apart if necessary.
Wow, I didn’t even think about adjusting for inflation, thanks!
Whether you liked the design or not... at least Apple was creative back then and came up with fresh designs every other year or so. Nowadays it takes them 10 years to redesign a tower, and then it is just a Mercedes branded version of what we already had. "Designed by Apple in California 20 years ago. Assembled in China."
Still the most beautiful, functional and inspiring computer design that I ever owned.
All they would have to do now, is create a non functional stand with some pass thru cables that looks similar and "float" a modern 24 iMac on it......or maybe even a new 27 inc iMac.....
Would be once again a super exciting and beautiful computer......
the current stand system that has been there for 10 years is just so meh!
All they would have to do now, is create a non functional stand with some pass thru cables that looks similar and "float" a modern 24 iMac on it......or maybe even a new 27 inc iMac.....
Would be once again a super exciting and beautiful computer......
the current stand system that has been there for 10 years is just so meh!
They were cool and we all know that. But they were so "Revolutionary" that they changed absolutely nothing. Did anyone ever copy the design? The iPhone was copied over and over. The pivoting iMac? I never saw even a single copy cat. That is kind of required for something to be revolutionary and Apple themselves abandoned this design for the iMac.
I still remember at the time these came out, I was working in the computer shop of a Uni, a number of concerns about how long the "neck" would hold up the display were more common than I expected. I think a decent amount of this was the penetration Apple was having into the standard PC market at the time. I think the new design worried some. Great to see them still going strong today. Lovely design and even better with those Harman Kardon Pro speakers!
20 years ago the iMac already had 1GB of RAM. Fast forward two decades, and we're still stuck on 16GB on many models.
(Granted, it's not fair to directly compare the maxed out version in 2002 with the base models in 2022, and unified memory is light years faster than the RAM in iMac G4, but we should still have way more RAM than just 16GB in 2022)
I think the only reason why a lot of people want a new design is because during those users’ formative years, Apple was still in the process of iterating, working towards the end state of “slab of glass”, so each Mac looked different because those were the technologies available to implement at the time. Once they arrived at slab of glass, though, that’s been the iconic look for iMacs for years.
Pricing of G4 iMac on release day:
$1299 base
$1499 w/2x RAM, better optical drive, speakers
$1799 w/2x RAM, 1.5x storage, 14% faster CPU, better optical drive, speakers
Two months later, the prices went up by $100, ostensibly due to high component costs. They went back down five months after that.
G4 iMac pricing adjusted for inflation to 2022 dollars:
$2007 ($2161 after price-bump)
$2315 ($2470 after price-bump)
$2879 ($2934 after price-bump)
Pricing of M1 iMac:
$1299 base
$1499 w/2x RAM
$1899 w/2x RAM, 2x storage, 14% faster GPU, ethernet port
$2499 w/2x RAM, 8x storage, 14% faster GPU, ethernet port
Coincidentally, there has been a massive global component shortage since announcement that has caused price increases or production delays in a wide variety of industries. The iMac price has not increased.
You can certainly argue that Apple's gross margin is higher today than it was then, and therefore they're prioritizing profit over widespread availability, but using the G4 iMac versus today's to illustrate that makes no sense at all. Even when not adjusted for inflation, the current "general user" iMac costs exactly the same amount as the G4 iMac. Inflation adjusted, it's about 53% cheaper--it would have cost $840 in 2002 dollars.
The equivalent to 2002's top-of-the-line is now somewhat more expensive, in absolute dollars, but is much cheaper inflation-adjusted, as is today's top-of-the-line, which offers a great deal more than what you got then.
More broadly, the cheapest absolute-dollar iMac ever sold was the 4th get G3 in 2000, at $799, which is almost exactly the price of a base iMac today when adjusted for inflation. Every non-edu-specific iMac since has cost at least $999, with the last model at that price being in 2011, the last year of Steve Jobs' tenure. Adjusted for inflation, that was also by a very small margin the cheapest iMac ever, and would be about $1230 in 2022... less than 5% cheaper than today's cheapest iMac.
Inflation-adjusted bottom-end iMac pricing has actually been impressively consistent for most of the past 20 years, and looking only at the first model release after a form-factor change (jellybean, lamp, white, white G5, white Intel, aluminum, thin aluminum, M1), the M1 is tied with the thin aluminum for the cheapest ever when inflation adjusted.
All of which is to say that the G4 iMac in question cost a lot more in real-world dollars than current equivalent iMacs from Apple, and even in absolute dollars isn't any more expensive despite 20 years of inflation and offering a pretty impressive amount of bang-for-buck relative to competing computers of today.
Looked at from an overall corporate perspective, Steve Jobs' second tenure as CEO of Apple was from 1997 to 2011, during which Apple's gross margin (which started negative) increased steadily the entire time he was CEO, ending a little under 40%. There was a spike in gross margins after Tim Cook took over, but that was temporarily and their margin has been consistent and decreasing slightly for 4 years straight, to a little over 50% today. This does mean Tim Cook is taking more profit than Jobs, but given that gross margins were still increasing steadily when Jobs stepped down it's hard to say much about what would have happened had he remained CEO longer, and the app store does change the calculation about just how much profit is being taken on Mac hardware.