iMac G4 With Revolutionary Floating Display Announced 20 Years Ago Today

[darngooddesign]

I would think that Apple had a long-term screen roadmap so either Apple knew the lampshade design wasn’t future proofed despite what SJ said, or there was another reason to drop the design after only a couple of years. If it was just a matter of the screen being too heavy, Apple could have modified the base weight to accommodate the heavier display.

 

[Aggedor]

On the other hand in 2022, with the lightweight panels coming out now Apple could easily pivot back to that design for up to 24 inches, even 27 inches. Maintaining balance with a 31 inch screen would be a challenge.

I wouldn't mind a heavy, industrial cantilevered arm, like a heavy duty Anglepoise lamp, to support a large and heavy display. In fact, they could do into partnership! Anglepoise do some very elegant designer lamps.

 

[Aggedor]

I would think that Apple had a long-term screen roadmap so either Apple knew the lampshade design wasn’t future proofed despite what SJ said, or there was another reason to drop the design after only a couple of years. If it was just a matter of the screen being too heavy, Apple could have modified the base weight to accommodate the heavier display.

I think it was less the base weight, more the support of the arm.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I think it was less the base weight, more the support of the arm.

The support arm did eventually begin sagging and stop working, I’ve seen it with several models. Also, non-traditional PCB layout and design has its limitations and with a round circuit board, there was some waste, possibly too much at some point. It was also a limited size and that may have made it impossible to move to Intel’s socket + PCH in those early days of Apple’s mostly reference design layout for Intel Macs. It was a gorgeous machine, but probably less than practical from a business perspective.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Wife had one of those and she just loved it. Showed her this article and she smiled and talked about how cool it was back in the day and even though she has an updated iMac today it didn't have quite that futuristic vibe as the iLamp was.

 

[mjtomlin71]

 

[howling command]

Is there any display stand out there that mimics this? (And is affordable?)

 

[connor55]

Just caught this thread, but would like to show my tribute to this infamous iMac G4 updated with M1 chip!