512 Pixels

Thomas Brand discusses what was a must-have accessory for most iMac G3 owners.

Gabe was nice enough to have me on his excellent podcast to discuss empathy and charity. It’s a conversation that was a little weird to have on a show, but I think it turned out great.

I’m getting more and more excited about this update. Since April 21, 2011, I’ve invoked Alfred on my MacBook Pro 15,634 times. That’s an average 25.9 times per day.

On Ignore the Code:

You can’t make a complex application simple by adding a veneer of simplicity on top of it. in fact, that will just add to the confusion, because now you’re sending the user misleading signals about what’s really going on. Apple promised a «dramatically simplified new interface». They were right; the interface does look more simple. Unfortunately, this just makes the rest of iTunes all the much worse.

Even after a couple of weeks of daily use, I’m still uncomfortable in the new iTunes.

On May 6, 1998, Steve Jobs took the stage and announced the iMac G3, a consumer counterpart to the G3-powered PowerMac and PowerBook, the only remaining computers in Apple’s lineup after he had slashed all other machines, including the popular Performa line.

“The back of our computer,” he said, “looks better than the front of the other guys’. It looks like it’s from another planet. A good planet. A planet with better designers.”

August 1998: The Bondi-Colored Savior

The original iMac was introduced in 1998. In typical Jobs style, the keynote was something to behold.

“iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh,” he said. Internet usage was “the number one use” consumers wanted, and the iMac was built to make that easy.

The iMac started the “i” revolution. Jobs said the i stood for:

• internet
• individual
• instruct
• inform
• inspire

In addition to the consumer, Apple aimed the iMac at the education market, one of the company’s few remaining strongholds in the market at the time.

With the iMac, Apple returned to Jobs’ vision of an all-in-one computer, with all of the guts in the same case as the display. In a world of messy PCs, the iMac stood out as a simple, elegant computing solution.

While most of the computers at the time were beige boxes — including Apple’s other desktops — the iMac G3 was bondi blue, curvy and translucent.

The iMac G3 was built around its 1024x768, 15-inch CRT. The shape of the CRT defined the machine, with a slightly curved front. The original iMac featured a 233 Mhz G3 processor, with a 512KB backside cache, coupled with 32 MB RAM, a 4 GB hard drive and a 24x tray-loading CD-ROM drive.

The big news with the original iMac, however, was the I/O. Apple stripped away all of its previously-used ports, including SCSI, ADB Behind the door on the side, Apple had a 100 Mb Ethernet port, modem and up front an IR port.

…aaaand a pair of USB ports, which made the old-timers light their hairs on fire, but paved the way for easy, plug-n-play support for loads of peripherals like cameras, scanners, floppy drives and more.

January 1999: The Five Flavors

The original iMac shipped in August 1998. In January 1999, Apple offered the machine in five distinct colors. These machines shipped with a more powerful 266 Mhz G3 processor, coupled with a ATI Rage Pro Turbo graphics card with 6 MB SGRAM. The IR port was scrapped, as was the internal mezzanine slot.

The colors were as follows, clockwise:

• Tangerine
• Lime
• Strawberry
• Blueberry
• Grape

These machines followed a mostly-silent “Rev. B” upgrade that happened just two months after the initial iMacs shipped. This upgrade featured Mac OS 8.5 and a ATI Rage Pro graphics card with 6 MB of SGRAM.

The Five Flavor iMacs sold for $100 less than Rev. A & B machines, at just $1199.

The Five Flavors got a spec bump to 333 Mhz in April 1999, and were replaced in October 1999, when Apple released the iMac (Slot Loading) line.

October 1999: Slot-Loading iMacs

In October 1999, Apple started shipping a slot-loading optical drive in the iMac, marking the start of the second batch of updates to the machine. These machines shipped with 8 MB of video RAM, thanks to a new ATI Rage 128 VR card. The Slot-Loading line also shipped with a base of 64 MB RAM, up for the first time since the original iMac (with a maximum capacity of 1 GB of RAM).

With this update, Apple split out the line in to “Good, Better and Best” models.

At the base, a 350 Mhz model sold at the elusive $999 price point, and was available only in Blueberry.

The 400 Mhz models included FireWire support, and wore the “DV” badge. These machines shipped in Blueberry, Grape, Strawberry, Tangerine and Lime, as the “Five Flavor” iMacs before them.

The “DV SE” was the same machine, but in Graphite, which, in my opinion, is the best-looking of all the iMac colors.

All of the slot-loading iMacs weigh in at 34.7 pounds / 15.7 kg, with dimensions of 15.0 x 15.0 x 17.1 inches / 38,1 x 38,1 x 43,5 cm.

The previous tray-loading iMacs were slightly larger at 38.1 pounds / 17.2 kg and 15.8 x 15.2 x 17.6 inches / 40,1 x 38,6 x 44,7 cm.

July 2000: Summer 2000 iMacs

In July 2000, Apple revved the iMac G3 line once again. These machines got new processor and hard drive options, and added support for Apple’s new AirPort cards. These iMacs required Mac OS 9.0.4, and support up to OS X 10.4 Tiger, except for the base model, due to its lack of FireWire 400 ports.

Gone were the Five Flavor colors.

At an all new $799 level, Apple had an all-new Indigo iMac running at 350 Mhz, with no FireWire and no AirPort support. At 400 Mhz and $999, the iMac DV (Summer 2000) was available in Indigo and Ruby. These were the first iMacs to ship with Apple’s Pro Keyboard and Mouse, in black.

The iMac DV+ (Summer 2000) was the only iMac to ship at 450 MHz. It was available in Indigo, Ruby, and Sage. A slot-loading DVD-ROM was standard.

This generation of iMac also had a “DV SE” option, in the previously-used Graphite, as well as a new Snow color.

February 2001: Early 2001 iMacs

Welcome to what I call the “WTF Phase” of the iMac G3.

With this generation, all models gained FireWire 400 ports. Apple dropped Sage and Ruby in favor of “Blue Dalmatian” and “Flower Power”, two new patterns that were molded into the iMac’s case using a technique which took Apple 18 months to perfect. Bonkers.

The low-end option was basically a “DV (Summer 2000) with a 400 Mhz processor at $899.

On the high-end, the new iMac picked up a CD-RW drive, leading to the “Rip. Mix. Burn.” campaign. These machines came with 20 GB hard drives and 500 Mhz G3 processors, as well as new video cards. These machines required OS 9.1

July 2001: Summer 2001 iMacs

In July 2001, Apple revved the iMac G3 for the last time.

Thankfully, Flower Power and Dalmatian didn’t make it past that single generation.

At the low end, running at 500 Mhz, Apple had an iMac in Indigo and Snow, with and ATI Rage 128 Ultra (AGP 2X) graphics card with 16 MB of VRAM, an an optional CD-RW drive. This machine sold for $999, an increase over previous low-end machines.

At 600 Mhz, the middle of the road iMac came with a 40 GB hard drive, CD-RW drive and the same video card as the low-end model. It sold in Graphite and Snow for $1299.

A 700 Mhz model was also for sale for a short time, making it the fastest CRT-based iMac of all time. In Graphite and Snow, it came with a 60 GB hard drive, but otherwise was the same as the mid-range model. This machine came with Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X 10.0.4, the only original iMac G3 to come with OS X.

The Final Chapter

In January 2002, with the release of the iMac G4, Apple re-arranged the iMac G3 line, keeping it for sale for a short time.

The low-end $799 model had its RAM bumped to 128 MB, and shipped with Mac OS X 10.2 as the default OS.

The G3/600 saw a price drop to $999.

The G3/700 was discontinued.

Conclusion

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the iMac G3. The iMac G3 ushered Apple in to the future, and on its translucent back, Steve Jobs rebuilt the company. While it was already under early development when Jobs returned to Apple, he took the project and made it the single machine he would re-launch the Macintosh family with. Before the iMac G3, Apple had numerous, conflicting product lines, and afterwards, just a handful of complementary ones.

Image via Wikipedia

Update:

Years after this blog post went up, I did a lot more with the iMac G3 than just write about it.

This is a good move.

Another sweet looking mail client for iOS is on its way. When will Apple let users change the default app?

This week, Myke and I return to their discussion of Apple’s new iMac, then talk more about the huge number of keyboard I have purchased and returned over the last few weeks. Finally, we talk about my first iPhoneless month, and the iPod touch I bought and might return.

Show Notes:

- Stephen’s office

- Stephen DON’T NEED NO SMARTPHONE

- Chair prank photo

- Wrapped desk prank photo

- Ars Reviews The New iMac

- Marco on the new iMac

- Thomas Brand on the new iMac

- Das Keyboard Model S Professional

- Microsoft Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000

- Microsoft Keyboard Driver Image

- The Loop: On the pleasure of using a ‘dumb’ phone

- iPod touch

- iPod touch Camera Image

Lots of goodies for the popular CMS.

Wikipedia:

Star Trek was to be a version of the Macintosh operating system running as a GUI on Intel-compatible x86 personal computers on top of Novell’s next in-development version of the DR DOS operating system in a similar fashion as Microsoft Windows 3.x would run on top of DOS (including DR DOS). (At that time, the Mac OS ran only on Apple’s own computers based on the Motorola 68000 architecture.) The project was named after the Star Trek science fiction franchise with the slogan “To boldly go where no Mac has gone before.”

While work on the project was cancelled after just a year or so, but by the end of it, System 7.1 could be booted on an Intel 486 PC, albeit with no apps.

As cool as this project is to read about, when thought about in the context of what would happen with NeXT just a few years later, it’s pretty mind-blowing. What if Apple and Novell had succeeded in this?

James Galbraith at Macworld:

The new iMac steps into the future, with cutting-edge design (literally), updated processor and RAM, better sounding speakers, and reduced-glare (but still glossy!) screens. Unfortunately, the new iMac also follows Apple’s trend towards less repairable and upgradeable Macs and the elimination of useful features such as optical drives and FireWire 800 ports. I think it’s reasonable to drop the optical drive from laptops, where the benefit of reduced size and weight can be immediately appreciated when you walk around with a laptop in your bag. On a desktop computer like the iMac, it’s unclear what the benefits are of going without these conveniences in order to have a thinner and lighter iMac at your desk — unless you’re admiring the iMac from the side, of course.

If I hit my head against my desk any longer over these iMacs, I will be dead. JUST LIKE THE PLACE THE IMAC USED TO HAVE IN MY HEART.

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