IMac

Not to be confused with eMac or IMAX.

For other uses, see IMAC.

iMac

Front face of blue iMac (24-inch, M4, 2024)
Developer	Apple Inc.
Product family	Macintosh
Release date	August 15, 1998;26 years ago (1998-08-15) (G3)
Operating system	macOS (see § Supported operating systems for previous)
Related	Mac Mini, Mac Pro
Website	apple.com/imac

The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc. operating on the MacOS. Introduced by Steve Jobs in August 1998 when the company was financially troubled, the computer was an inexpensive, consumer-oriented computer that would easily connect to the Internet. Since that time, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings and evolved through seven distinct forms.

The design of the iMac has been seen as both controversial and trendsetting. From its introduction, the computer has eschewed many entrenched legacy technologies, notably becoming an early adopter of the USB port, and removing floppy disk and later optical disc drives.

In its original form, the iMac G3 had a gumdrop or egg-shaped look, with a CRT monitor, mainly enclosed by a colored, translucent plastic case. The second major revision, the iMac G4, moved a design with a hemispherical base containing all the main components and an LCD monitor on a freely moving arm attached to it. The third and fourth revisions, the iMac G5 and the Intel iMac, placed all the components immediately behind the display in a plastic casing, creating a slim unified design that tilts only up and down on a simple metal base. The fifth, sixth and seventh revisions swapped the plastic enclosure for metal and became progressively thinner over each revision.

The most recent revision, the Apple Silicon iMac, uses Apple's own processors (silicon) and is 11.5 millimeters (0.45 in) thick. Between 2017 and 2021, Apple also sold a workstation-class version of the computer called the iMac Pro.

History

The timeline of iMac from 1998 to 2021, comparing it with the original Macintosh 128K (1984). This chart shows the change in the physical characteristics and appearance of the product.

Apple was facing bankruptcy in the mid-1990s, with its market share cannibalized by Windows-based PCs and Macintosh clones. The company had tried and failed to ship a modern operating system for its hardware. Looking instead for an outside product to acquire, Apple announced its purchase of NexT, Inc. in 1996. Alongside Next's products and software came Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder who had been ousted from the company years earlier. Jobs initially was brought on at Apple as an adviser, but Jobs replaced Gil Amelio as interim CEO in 1997 and began a reorganization of the company. He reduced Apple's multitude of confusing computer options to just four: one laptop and one desktop model for consumers, and another laptop and desktop model for professionals. What became the iMac began as Apple's effort to develop the consumer desktop to fill that product gap.^{[ citation needed ]}

Apple's head of design Jony Ive and the rest of the design team developed sketches for a distinctive, all-in-one computer that was to be a legacy-free PC focused on ease of use and internet connectivity. The design team made the new computer colorful and translucent, built around a cathode-ray tube display wrapped in a curved plastic case. Ad agency director Ken Segall suggested the "iMac" name: it was short, had "Mac" in it, and the "i" prefix suggested the internet. Jobs initially hated it, but the name ultimately stuck. ^{[1] : 109–110} Apple later adopted the 'i' prefix across its consumer hardware and software lines, such as iPod, iBook (later MacBook), iPhone, iPad and various pieces of software such as the iLife, iCloud suite and iWork and the company's media player/store, iTunes.^{[ citation needed ]}

Three of the seven iMac colors available in 2024—blue, green and pink—with corresponding Magic Keyboards

Despite mixed reviews from the tech press, the iMac was a major commercial success at a time when Apple desperately needed a hit product. ^[2] The iMac ultimately sold more than six million units, being revised multiple times and appearing in 13 different colors and patterns.^{[ citation needed ]} The iMac was "designed to make it easy for home users to connect to the Internet." ^[3] A commercial, dubbed "Simplicity Shootout", pitted seven-year-old Johann Thomas and his border collie Brodie, with an iMac, against Adam Taggart, a Stanford University MBA student, with an HP Pavilion 8250, in a race to set up their computers. Johann and Brodie finished in 8 minutes and 15 seconds, ^[4] whereas Adam was still working on it by the end of the commercial.

As the prices of flat-screen liquid crystal displays (LCDs) began to fall, Apple conceived of an update to the iMac. Inspired by a sunflower, the iMac G4 put the computer in a semi-hemispherical base, with the display sitting above it on a stainless steel arm. The arm allowed the display to be easily tilted, rotated, and raised and lowered by a touch. The exuberant colors of the old iMac was replaced by stark white.^{[ citation needed ]}

Ever-increasing screen sizes led Apple to make the iMac G5 a more conservative design, with the components of the computer attached to the back of the display and raised above the resting surface with an aluminum foot.^{[ citation needed ]}

By 2005, it had become more and more apparent that IBM's development for the desktop implementation of PowerPC was grinding to a halt. Apple announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference that it would be switching the Macintosh to the x86 architecture and Intel's line of Core processors. The first Intel-equipped Macs were unveiled on January 10, 2006: the MacBook Pro and a new iMac, which outwardly looked identical to the iMac G5. Within nine months, Apple had smoothly transitioned the entire Macintosh line to Intel. The Intel-based iMac was redesigned in 2007 with an aluminum enclosure, which was gradually refined and slimmed down in the following years. In 2014, the iMac added high-resolution "retina" 4K and 5K displays, and a more powerful, professional-oriented model, the iMac Pro, was introduced in 2017.

Apple announced a shift from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon in June 2020. Apple announced redesigned iMacs with a 24-inch display and Apple M1 chip in April 2021. These new models harkened back to the colorful iMac G3s, coming in seven colors. The iMacs were updated in 2023 to use the Apple M3 chip. ^[5]

Influence

The original iMac was the first legacy-free PC. ^[6] It was the first Macintosh computer to have a USB port but no floppy disk drive. Subsequently, all Macs have included USB. Via the USB port, hardware makers could make products compatible with both x86 PCs and Macs. Previously, Macintosh users had to seek out certain hardware, such as keyboards and mice specifically tailored for the "old world" Mac's unique ADB interface and printers and modems with MiniDIN-8 serial ports. Only a limited number of models from certain manufacturers were made with these interfaces and often came at a premium price. USB, being cross-platform, has allowed Macintosh users to select from a large selection of devices marketed for the Wintel PC platform, such as hubs, scanners, storage devices, USB flash drives, and mice. After the iMac, Apple continued to remove older peripheral interfaces and floppy drives from the rest of its product line.

Borrowing from the 1997 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, the various LCD-based iMac designs continued the all-in-one concept first envisioned in Apple's original Macintosh computer. The successful iMac allowed Apple to continue targeting the Power Macintosh line at the high-end of the market. This foreshadowed a similar strategy in the notebook market when the iMac-like iBook was released in 1999. Since then, the company has continued this strategy of differentiating the consumer versus professional product lines. Apple's focus on design has allowed each of its subsequent products to create a distinctive identity. Apple avoided using the beige colors that were then common in the PC industry. The company would later drift from the multicolored designs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The latter part of the decade saw Apple using anodized aluminum; glass; and white, black, and clear polycarbonate plastics among its build materials. Today many PCs are more design-conscious than before the iMac's introduction, with multi-shaded design schemes being common, and some desktops and laptops available in colorful, decorative patterns. ^[7]

Apple's use of translucent, candy-colored plastics inspired similar industrial designs in other consumer products. ^[8] Apple's later introduction of the iPod, iBook G3 (Dual USB), and iMac G4 (all featuring snowy-white plastic), inspired similar designs in other companies' consumer electronics products. The color rollout also featured two distinctive ads: one called 'Life Savers' featured the Rolling Stones song, "She's a Rainbow" and an advertisement for the white version had the introduction of Cream's "White Room" as its backing track^{[ citation needed ]}.

Reception

iMac has received considerable critical acclaim, including praise from technology columnist Walt Mossberg as the "Gold Standard of desktop computing"; ^[9] Forbes magazine described the original candy-colored line of iMac computers as being an "industry-altering success". ^[10] The first 24" Core 2 Duo iMac received CNET's "Must-have desktop" in its 2006 Top 10 Holiday Gift Picks. ^[11]

Apple faced a class-action lawsuit filed in 2008 for allegedly deceiving the public by promising millions of colors from the LCD screens of all Mac models while its 20-inch model only held 262,144 colors. ^[12] This issue arose due to the use of 6-bit per pixel Twisted nematic LCD screens. The case was dismissed on January 21, 2009. ^[13]

While not a criticism of iMac per se, the integrated design has some inherent tradeoffs that have garnered criticism. In The Mythical Midrange Mac Minitower, Dan Frakes of Macworld suggests that with the iMac occupying the midrange of Apple's product line, Apple has little to offer consumers who want some ability to expand or upgrade their computers, but do not need (or cannot afford) the Mac Pro. ^[14] For example, iMac's integration of monitor and computer, while convenient, commits the owner to replace both at the same time. For a time before the Mac mini's introduction, there were rumors of a "headless iMac" ^[15] but the G4 Mac mini as introduced had lower performance compared to the iMac, which at the time featured a G5 processor. ^[16] Some third party suppliers such as Other World Computing provide upgrade kits that include specialized tools for working on iMacs.

Similarly, though the graphics chipset in some Intel models is on a removable MXM, neither Apple nor third parties have offered retail iMac GPU upgrades, with the exception of those for the original iMac G3's "mezzanine" PCI slot. Models after iMac G5 (excluding the August 7, 2007, iMac update^{[ according to whom? ]}) made it difficult for the end-user to replace the hard disk or optical drive, and Apple's warranty explicitly forbids upgrading the socketed CPU. While conceding the possibility of a mini-tower cannibalizing sales from the Mac Pro, Frakes argues there is enough frustration with iMac's limitations to make such a proposition worthwhile. This disparity has become more pronounced after the G4 era since the bottom-end Power Mac G5 (with one brief exception) and Mac Pro models have all been priced in the US$1999–2499$ range, while base model Power Macs G4s and earlier were US$1299–1799. The current generation iMac has Intel 5th generation i5 and i7 processors, ranging from quad-core 2.7 GHz i5 to a quad-core 3.4 GHz i7 processor, ^[17] however it is possible to upgrade the 2010 edition of the iMac quite easily. ^[18]

Timeline

Generation	Form factor	Display	Processor	Included HDD	Included Mac OS version [19]	Released	Discontinued
iMac G3		15″ CRT	PowerPC G3	4 GB to 60 GB [20]	8.1, 8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2	August 15, 1998	March 2003
iMac G4		15″, 17″, or 20″ LCD	PowerPC G4	40 GB to 160 GB	9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3	January 2002	July 2004
iMac G5		17″ or 20″ LCD	PowerPC G5	40 GB to 500 GB	10.3, 10.4	August 2004	March 2006
Polycarbonate Intel iMac		17″, 20″, or 24″ LCD	Intel Core Duo/Core 2 Duo	80 GB to 750 GB	10.4	January 2006	August 2007
Aluminum iMac		20″ or 24″ LCD	Intel Core 2 Duo	250 GB to 1 TB	10.4, 10.5, 10.6	August 2007	August 2011
Unibody iMac		21.5" or 27" LCD	Intel Core 2 Duo/i3/i5/i7	256 GB to 2 TB	10.6, 10.7, 10.8	October 2009	March 2013
Slim Unibody iMac			Intel Core i3/i5/i7	256 GB to 3 TB	10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11	November 2012	October 2021
Retina iMac			Intel Core i3/i5/i7/i9	256 GB to 3 TB	10.10, 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 11, 12	October 2014	March 2022
iMac (Apple silicon)		24" LCD	Apple M series	256 GB to 2 TB	11, 12, 13, 14, 15	April 2021	—

Timeline of iMac and eMac models (sorted by screen sizes) v t e
See also: List of Mac models

For more detailed timelines, see the articles for each individual generation.

Supported operating systems

Supported Apple operating system releases

macOS Sequoia, the current release of macOS, will work with Wi-Fi and graphics acceleration on unsupported iMac computers with a compatible patch utility. ^[21]

Supported macOS releases on iMac

OS release	PowerPC-based													Intel-based																		Apple silicon
	G3 (tray loading)		G3 (slot-loading)				G4				G5			Polycarbonate			Aluminum			Unibody			Slim Unibody			Retina						Colors
	1998	Early 1999	Late 1999	Mid 2000	Early 2001	Mid 2001	Early 2002 15"	Mid 2002 17"	Early 2003	Late 2003	Mid 2004	Mid 2005	Late 2005	Early 2006	Mid 2006	Late 2006	Mid 2007	Early 2008	Early 2009	Late 2009	Mid 2010	Mid 2011	Late 2012	Late 2013	Mid 2014	Late 2014	Mid 2015	Late 2015 [M 1]	2017 [M 1]	2019	2020	M1, 2021	M3, 2023	M4, 2024
Mac OS 8		8.5.1	8.6	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Mac OS 9				9.0.4	9.1		9.2.2		Emulation only					—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.0 Cheetah	With 128 MB RAM					10.0.4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.1 Puma	With 128 MB RAM						10.1.2	10.1.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.2 Jaguar	With 128 MB RAM								10.2.3	10.2.6 (15" and 17")	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.3 Panther	With 128 MB RAM									10.3.1 (20")	10.3.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.4 Tiger	Patch		With 256 MB RAM										10.4.2	10.4.4	10.4.7		10.4.10	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.5 Leopard	With G4 processor upgrade						Patch		17" with 512 MB RAM 15" with patch	With 512 MB RAM								10.5.2	10.5.6	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.6 Snow Leopard														With 1 GB RAM						10.6.1	10.6.3	10.6.6	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.7 Lion														Patch [M 2]		With 2 GB RAM							—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.8 Mountain Lion																Patch	With 2 GB RAM						10.8.1	10.8.4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.9 Mavericks														Patch [M 2]	Patch [M 2] [M 3]	Patch	With 2 GB RAM								10.9.3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.10 Yosemite														Patch [M 2] [M 3]		Patch [M 3]	With 2 GB RAM										10.10.3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10.11 El Capitan																	With 2 GB RAM												—	—	—	—	—	—
10.12 Sierra																	Patch [M 2]	Patch											10.12.5	—	—	—	—	—
10.13 High Sierra																		Patch												—	—	—	—	—
10.14 Mojave																		Patch												10.14.3	—	—	—	—
10.15 Catalina																		Patch													10.15.6	—	—	—
11 Big Sur																	Patch [M 2] [M 4] [22]	Patch														11.3	—	—
12 Monterey																		Patch															—	—
13 Ventura																		Patch [22]															13.5	—
14 Sonoma																		Patch [22]																—
15 Sequoia																		Patch [22]																15.1

1. Includes 21.5" non-Retina models released in the same date.
2. Requires processor upgrade.
3. No graphics acceleration.
4. No Bluetooth.

Supported Windows versions

Supported Windows versions

OS release	Polycarbonate		Aluminum	Unibody			Slim Unibody	Retina
	Early 2006	Mid 2006-Early 2009		Late 2009	Mid 2010	Mid 2011	Late 2012-Mid 2015		Late 2015	2017–2020
Windows XP 32-bit [W 1] [23] [24]				Partial [W 1]
Windows Vista 32-bit [W 2] [23] [24]				Partial [W 2]
Windows Vista 64-bit [W 2] [23]				Partial [W 2]
Windows 7 32-bit [W 3] [23] [25]
Windows 7 64-bit [W 4] [23] [26]
Windows 8 [W 5] [W 6] [23]					Partial, Patch [W 7]
Windows 8.1 [W 8] [W 6] [27] [26]					Partial, Patch [W 7]
Windows 10 [W 9] [W 6] [28] [26]					Patch	Patch
Windows 11 [W 10]

1. Windows XP can only be installed on Macs built up until late 2009 with Boot Camp 3 or earlier, excluding the late 2009 high-end 27-inch model. This includes Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier and copies of Mac OS X 10.7 that have not been updated to Boot Camp 4.
2. Windows Vista can only be installed on Macs built up until late 2009 with Boot Camp 3 or earlier, excluding the late 2009 high-end 27-inch model. This includes Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier and copies of Mac OS X 10.7 that have not been updated to Boot Camp 4.
3. The 32-bit version of Windows 7 can only be installed on Macs with Boot Camp 3.1 to 6.0. This includes OS X 10.11 and earlier.
4. The 64-bit version of Windows 7 can only be installed on Macs with Boot Camp 3.1 or later, running macOS High Sierra or earlier. Later versions of macOS no longer support Windows 7.
5. Windows 8 can only be installed on Macs with Boot Camp 5.0 to 6.0. This includes OS X 10.11 and earlier.
6. Only 64-bit versions of Windows are supported for Windows 8 and later.
7. Only the 27-inch model of the Mid-2010 iMac supports Windows 8 and 8.1. The 21.5-inch model is not supported.
8. Windows 8.1 can only be installed on Macs with Boot Camp 5.1 or later, running macOS High Sierra or earlier. Later versions of macOS no longer support Windows 8.1.
9. Windows 10 can only be installed on Macs with Boot Camp 6.0 or later. It is the only supported version of Windows on macOS Mojave and later.
10. Windows 11 is not officially supported for use via BootCamp by either Apple or Microsoft.

References

1. Segall, Ken (2013). Insanely simple: the obsession that drives Apple's success (2nd ed.). The Penguin Group. ISBN   978-1-5918-4621-5.
2. Snell, Jason (December 28, 2020). "20 Macs for 2020: #1 – iMac G3". Six Colors. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
3. McIntosh, Jane; Chrisp, Peter; Parker, Philip; Gibson, Carrie; Grant, R. G.; Regan, Sally (October 2014). History of the World in 1,000 Objects. New York: DK and the Smithsonian. p. 382. ISBN   978-1-4654-2289-7.
4. "iMac Review: It's a Mac". Washington Apple Pi. December 13, 1998. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
5. Apple ‘Scary Fast’ Mac launch event: the 4 biggest announcements, Emma Roth, The Verge, October 31, 2023
6. Spooner, John G. (December 16, 1999). "Compaq Hopes to Follow the iMac". ZDNet . Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
7. "Eight ways the iMac changed computing". Macworld . August 15, 2008. Archived from the original on December 22, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2008.
8. Edwards, Benj (September 15, 2008). "10 Years of Cuddly, Friendly iMacs". Wired. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
9. Walt Mossberg; Katherine Boehret (November 30, 2005). "A New Gold Standard for PCs". All Things Digital. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
10. Jon Swartz (April 14, 2000). "Resurgence Of An American Icon". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2006.
11. Rich DeMuro (November 22, 2006). Must-have desktop: Apple iMac Core 2 Duo (24-inch, 2.16 GHz). CNET (Internet). Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
12. "Apple hit with another "millions of colors" lawsuit". AppleInsider . March 31, 2008. Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
13. Sanders v. Apple Inc., 672F.Supp.2d978 ( N.D. Cal. January 21, 2009).
14. Frakes, Dan. "The Mythical Midrange Mac Minitower". Macworld. Archived from the original on September 11, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
15. Bangeman, Eric (December 29, 2004). "Apple supposedly prepping cheap "headless iMac"". ARStechnica. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
16. Berger, Jennifer (January 26, 2005). "Mac mini: Perfect Bookshelf Box for Mac Minimalists". Macworld . Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
17. "iMac Technical Specifications". December 10, 2012. Archived from the original on July 28, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
18. Rawlins, Stephen (April 15, 2012). "Upgrade iMac Intel Core i3 CPU to Core i7". EnglandGreen. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
19. "Mac OS X versions (builds) included with Intel-based Macs". Apple. April 21, 2010. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
20. "iMac G3".
21. "Supported Models | OpenCore Legacy Patcher". dortania.github.io. Archived from the original on February 1, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
22. "OpenCore Legacy Patcher Supported Models". OpenCore Legacy Patcher. Dortania. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
23. "System requirements to install Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp". March 10, 2015. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
24. Keizer, Gregg (August 2, 2011). "OS X Lion requires Windows 7 for Boot Camp". Computerworld . Retrieved August 2, 2011.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
25. Hu, Jonathan (August 12, 2015). "Apple Released Boot Camp 6.1 with Windows 10 Support". nextofwindows. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
26. "System requirements to install Windows using Boot Camp for macOS". Apple Support. December 6, 2018. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
27. "Use Windows 8.1 on your Mac with Boot Camp". Apple Support. September 24, 2018. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
28. "Install Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant". Apple Support. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2020.

External links

• iMac – official site
• Apple – Support – Specifications
• Apple – Support – How to identify your iMac
• Apple Developer Connection – Comprehensive technical details (Latest developer notes)