The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. .. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings Since its introduction in 1998, and has evolved through five distinct forms.
In its original form, the iMac G3 had a gum-drop or egg-shaped look, with a CRT monitor, Mainly enclosed by a colored, translucent plastic case, Which was Refreshed early on with a sleeker design notable for ITS slot-loaded optical drive. The second major revision, the iMac G4, moved the design to a hemispherical base Containing all the main components and year on the LCD monitor Freely moving arm attached to it. The third / fourth major revision, the iMac G5 and the Intel iMac Placed Immediately all the components behind the display, a slim unified design Creating That tilts only up and down on a simple metal base. The current iMac shares the same form as the previous model, the leg is thinner and uses anodized aluminum and a glass panel over the entire front. Also it adds Directly under the year SDXC slot slot-loading SuperDrive. The newest version features quad-core Intel processors across the line, 1 (on 21.5 ") or 2 (on 27") Thunderbolt ports, FaceTime HD and the camera, features introduced on the early 2011 MacBook Pro updates.
History
The announcement of the iMac in 1998 was a source of discussion and anticipation among commentators, Mac fans, and detractors. Divided Opinions were over Apple's drastic changes to the Macintosh hardware. At the time, Apple was trying to Improve ITS retail strategy. Apple declared that "the back of our computer looks better than the front of anyone else's". [5]
Apple declared the 'i' in iMac to stand for "Internet", it Also represented the product's focus as a personal device ('i' for "individual"). [6] Attention was given to the out-of-box experience: the user Needed to go through only two steps to set up and connect to the Internet. "There's no step 3!" was the catch-phrase in a popular iMac commercial narrated by actor Jeff Goldblum. [7] Another commercial, dubbed "Simplicity Shootout", pitted seven-year-old Johann Thomas and his border collie Brodie, with year iMac, against Adam Taggart, a Stanford University MBA student, with year HP Pavilion 8250, in a race to set up off their computers. Johann and Brodie finished in 8 minutes and 15 seconds, [8] Whereas Adam was still working on it by the end of the commercial. Apple later ADOPTED the 'i' prefix across ITS consumer hardware and software lines, Such as the iPod, iBook, iPhone, iPad and various pieces of software Such as the iLife suite and iWork and the company's media player / store, iTunes.
Updates
In 2005, as more and more apparent it That Became IBM's development for the desktop Implementation of PowerPC was grinding to a halt, Apple Announced 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 Intel iMac and the MacBook Pro introductory. Within nine months, Apple had smoothly transitioned the entire Mac line to Intel. One of the highly touted side benefits of this switch was the Ability to run Windows on Mac hardware.
On July 27, 2010, Apple updated line of iMacs to STI feature the new Intel Core processors across the line. The 21.5 "models, Including the high end 27" now feature the Core i3 processor, But These is upgradable to the Core i5. The high end 27 "features a Quad-Core i5 processor, Which is upgradable to a Quad-Core i7. On this date Also Announced Apple STIs new" Apple Magic Trackpad "peripheral, a trackpad similar to That of the MacBook Pro for use with the iMac, or any other Apple computer. Their They Also introduced first ever AA NiMH battery charger Intended to simplify the use of batteries In its new peripherals. Apple offers year option to use a solid state hard drive INSTEAD of a large mechanical drive.
On May 3, 2011, Apple updated the iMac line with the ITS introduction of Intel Thunderbolt technology and Intel Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge processors as well as a 1 mega pixel high definition FaceTime camera, features were first introduced in Which the MacBook Pro line in February 2011.
Influence
The original iMac was the first legacy-free PC. [10] It was the first Macintosh computer to have a USB port But no floppy disk drive. Subsequently, all Macs have USB included. Via the USB port, hardware makers Could make products compatible with both PCs and Macs x86. Previously, Macintosh users had to seek out Certain hardware keyboards and mice Such as 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 manufacturers Certain These were made with interfaces, and often at a premium price cam. 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. This cam at a price, however. As USB was slower Than a lighthouse number of ports available at the time Such as SCSI, unmodified iMacs and iBooks were badly crippled until replacements Adequate Such as FireWire and USB 2.0 standard Became. After the iMac, Apple Continued to remove older peripheral interfaces and floppy drives from the rest of STI 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 this strategy of differentiating Continued the consumer versus professional product lines. Apple's focus on design has allowed each of STIs Subsequent products to create a distinctive identity. Apple avoided using the beige colors pervading the PC industry THEN. Would the company later drift from the multicolored designs of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The later part of the first decade of the 21st century saw Apple using anodized aluminum, glass, and white, black, and clear polycarbonate plastics. Today many PCs have more design-conscious Than Before the iMac's introduction, with multi-shaded design schemes being common, desktops and laptops and Some available in colorful and decorative patterns. [11]
Apple's use of translucent candy-colored plastics inspired similar designs in other consumer devices. For example, grilling machines, portable electronics, pencil sharpeners, video game consoles and peripherals (including the Nintendo 64, Which was released in special edition 'Funtastic' colors) featured the translucent plastic. Apple's later introduction of the iPod, iBook G3 (Dual USB), and iMac G4, all featuring snowy white plastic, inspired similar designs in consumer electronic products. The color rollout Also featured two distinctive ads: one Called 'Life Savers' featured the Rolling Stones song "She's a Rainbow" and year advertisement for the white version had the introduction of Cream's "White Room" as STI backing track.
Reception
The iMac has received considerable critical acclaim, Including praise from technology columnist Walt Mossberg as the "Gold Standard of desktop computing" [12] Forbes magazine described the original candy-colored line of iMac computers as being year "industry-altering success". [13] The first 24 "Core 2 Duo iMac received CNET's" Must-have desktop "in Their 2006 Top 10 Holiday Gift Picks. [14]
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 STI 20 inch model only held 262,144 colors. [15] This issue Arosa due to the use of 6 -bit per pixel Twisted nematic LCD screens, INSTEAD of higher quality technologies. The case was Dismissed on January 21, 2009. [16]
While not a criticism of the iMac per se, the iMac's integrated design has inherent tradeoffs that have garnered Some 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 to expand or upgrade Ability Some off their computers, but do not Need (or CAN ' t afford) the Mac Pro. [17] For example, the iMac's integration of monitor and computer, while convenient, commits the owner to replacing both at the same time. For the time Before the Mac mini's introduction, there were Rumors of a "headless iMac" [18] But the G4 Mac mini as introduced had lower performance compared to the iMac, Which at the time featured the G5 processor. [19]
Similarly, though the graphics chipset in Intel Some models is on a removable MXM, neither Apple nor third parties have retail iMac GPU upgrades Offered, with the exception of Thos original iMac G3's for the "mezzanine" PCI slot. Models after the iMac G5 (excluding the August 7, 2007 iMac update) made it difficult for the end user to replace the hard drive or optical drive, and Apple's warranty explicitly forbids upgrading the socketed CPU. While conceding the Possibility of a minitower 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 was since the bottom-end Power Mac G5 (with one brief exception) and Mac Pro models have all Been priced in the $ 1999 - $ 2499 range, while base model Power Macs G4S and earlier were $ 1299 - $ 1799.
