iMac G4

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "IMac G4" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

iMac G4

iMac G4 with a 15" screen
Manufacturer	Apple Computer
Product family	iMac
Type	All-in-one
Release date	January 2002; 22 years ago (2002-01)
Lifespan	January 2002-August 31, 2004 (2 years and 237 days)
Introductory price	US$1,299 (equivalent to $2,200 in 2023) - US$1,799 (equivalent to $3,047 in 2023)[1]
Discontinued	August 31, 2004 (2004-08-31)
Predecessor	iMac G3
Successor	iMac G5

The iMac G4 is an all-in-one personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from January 2002 to August 2004. It was announced at Macworld San Francisco in January 2002. It replaced the iMac G3 and was succeeded by the iMac G5.

The iMac G4 was the first iMac to have a liquid-crystal display built in, replacing the CRT display of previous iMacs.

Overview[edit]

The iMac G4 is an all-in-one personal computer. The machine has an integrated, flat Liquid-crystal display (LCD) mounted on an adjustable stainless-steel arm above a base, which contains the internals such as hard drive, optical drive, and motherboard. The arm allows the display to tilt the monitor up and down across 35 degrees, and swivel the monitor 180 degrees side to side.^[2] The 10.5-inch diameter base is dense enough to support the display, with the neck strong enough to hold the weight of the entire computer for carrying.^[3]

The machine was sold with the ice-white Apple Pro Keyboard and Apple Pro Mouse, which were later redesigned and renamed the Apple Keyboard and Apple Mouse, respectively. Optional Apple Pro Speakers, which were better quality than the internal speakers, were also available. The Apple Pro Speakers used a unique adapter, designed to work only with a select few Apple Macintosh models.

Development[edit]

The iMac G3, first released in 1998, was a major success for Apple, shipping five million units by 2001. It helped reverse a dire financial picture for the company, marked the first major collaboration between returning CEO Steve Jobs and head of design Jony Ive, and was manufactured using new methodologies at Apple that would be applied to their future products.^[4][5] After the iMac's initial release, Apple proceeded to revamp its product offerings for other consumer segments, including the Power Mac G3 and G4 and the iBook. Apple's industrial designers increasingly held more sway within the company, with the engineering department seeing significant turnover in the wake of the industrial design group's demands.^[6] In 2001, the design team moved from a building across the road from Apple's main campus to a new space in the main headquarters, offering a larger space to generate ideas, prototype models, and showcase them to Jobs.^[7]

Eighteen months after the iMac's release, Ive's team began considering a redesign that swapped the computer's bulky cathode-ray tube screen, around which the computer was designed, with a thin, flat Liquid-crystal display (LCD).^[8] Ive produced a prototype that attached the computer components behind the screen, similar to his work on the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh.^[9] The design came with drawbacks; the hard drive and optical drive would be less performant in a vertical orientation, and the added heat produced by the G4 processor would necessitate a fan that would be noisy positioned so close to the user. There would also be no easy way to tilt and swivel the display without moving the entire machine.^[10] Jobs hated the design, which he felt lacked purity. "Why have this flat display if you're going to glom all this stuff on its back?" he asked. "We should let each element be true to itself."^[11] When Ive visited Jobs' house to talk over the issue, Jobs suggested basing the computer on a sunflower, which were growing in his garden. The suggestion of a narrative in the design appealed to Ive, who began sketching out designs drawing on the sunflower shape.^[12][a] The machine took two years to develop.^[10]

Ive and the design team first tried to attach the screen to the base with a series of vertebrae held together by spring-loaded cables. A clamp on the back of the screen applied tension to the cables and allowed the spine to loosen or stiffen. This design required two hands to grab the screen and release the clamp, and proved difficult for some users to adjust.^[14] Ive solicited feedback from design consultancy firm IDEO, who recommended ditching the spine idea in favor of a more practical design with two rigid arms. Doug Satzger suggested that they did not need the amount of flexibility the two-arm design offered, and when Jobs also suggested the same the second arm was dropped. The final arm was made of stainless steel with an internal spring that balanced the screen while being free enough to be moved by the touch of a finger.^[15] The designers added a clear plastic "halo" ringing the screen that offered space for adjustment without touching the display, and minimized the look of a thick bezel around the edges. The computer components of the machine were put in the weighted base, which borrowed work done for the ill-fated Power Mac G4 Cube to cool the machine by drawing air from the bottom and expelling it out the top.^[16] The playful design suggested a sunflower or a Luxolamp. Jobs was so taken with the design that, in an uncommon move, he listed himself as the primary inventor on one of the design patents for the machine.^[12] Whereas the iMac G3 had been made of translucent plastics in a variety of colors, the new iMac was mostly opaque white, following from decisions Jobs had made to make the iPod music player all white. Ive called the color "pure and quiet", and Jobs felt the color made consumer products feel more premium, rather than disposable.^[17]

Release[edit]

The iMac G4 was unveiled at Macworld San Francisco on January 7, 2002.^[18] Rumors had predicted a flat-panel iMac since the previous summer, as pundits considered the iMac due for a revamp amid declining sales.^[19][20] On stage, Jobs declared the machine "the best thing I think we've ever done [...] it has a rare beauty and grace that is going to last the next decade." Ive surreptitiously walked the show floor to gauge the public's reaction.^[18] Apple positioned the computer as the center of its "digital hub" strategy, where the Mac connected multimedia peripherals like the iPod and organized and edited audio and video.^[21][22]

Apple stagger-launched the iMac G4; initially only the high-end 15-inch model was available in January, followed by the cheaper configurations in February and March.^[23] Apple said it received more than 150,000 preorders for the iMac in the first month,^[24] and produced more than 5,000 iMacs a day to meet the initial demand. Higher prices for RAM and LCDs caused the company to raise the price on iMac configurations by $100, though existing orders were honored at the original price.^[25]

A model with a larger 17-inch display released in August.

It was originally known as the New iMac, while the existing iMac G3 continued to be sold for several months. During this time, Apple had all but eliminated CRT displays from its product line. However, the LCD iMacs were unable to match the low price point of the iMac G3, largely due to the higher cost of the LCD technology at the time. The iMac G3 was obsolete by this point, but low-cost machines were particularly important for the education market. Because of this affordability issue, Apple created the eMac in April 2002 and ended production of the iMac G3. The iMac G4 was then marketed as the "iMac" until its discontinuation, then was retroactively labeled iMac G4 to distinguish itself from the succeeding iMac G5 in August 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Apple advertised the iMac G4 as having the adjustability of a desk lamp. One of the advertisements for the machine featured it sitting in a store window "reacting" to every move made by a passer-by on the street. At the end, when the man sticks out his tongue, the iMac responds by opening its optical drive.^[26]

Reception and legacy[edit]

The iMac G4 was positively received. Critics noted that the flat-screen design allowed them to forget the rest of the computer was there, as well as the ergonomics of adjusting the screen.^[23][2] Peter Wilson of The Australian felt that the iMac was a better value than the lower-end Power Mac G4s.^[27] While some critics liked the desk lamp look, others found it ungainly, with Mossberg left with the sense it was always likely to tip over.^[27][23]

The large port selection was also praised.^[2]

The performance improvements of the G4 processor were also noted, with Jason Snell of Macworld writing that compared to the more basic consumer iMac G3, the new iMac was fast enough for more demanding users who did not need the expansion options of a Power Mac.^[2]

Critics criticized the placement of the computer's ports on the back of the base, since it made it harder to plug and unplug peripherals.^[20][23] Other complaints included the limited options for expansion,^[23][27] and low amount of RAM on the entry-level models.^{[citation needed]} Mossberg specifically called out the lack of a wireless option for the mouse and keyboard;^[23] Apple would not offer wireless peripherals until 2003.^{[citation needed]}

The 20-inch models were much heavier and the arm much stiffer to support the larger display, which made the monitors harder to manipulate and position.^[28] The iMac G4 helped rehabilitate Apple's public image after the failure of the G4 Cube,^[18] and proved that Apple's success with the iMac G3 was not a fluke.^[29]

The iMac has been called one of the best computers Apple has made.^[29][30] Despite the positive reviews, the design language would not last three years. The design was challenged by larger displays, and the G4 processor's successor, the G5, ran much hotter and needed more cooling. The iMac G5 would feature the "computer on the back of the screen" design Jobs previously derided, and proved to be the template later models would reflect. ^[30]

The design won a gold International Design Excellence Award in 2002, with Apple winning more awards that year than any other company.^[31]

Specifications[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Michaels, Philip (March 2002a). "The iMac: Flat Is Where It's At". Macworld. pp. 29–32. ISSN 0741-8647.
• Michaels, Philip (June 2002b). "The Price is Right?". Macworld. p. 24. ISSN 0741-8647.
• Snell, Jason (May 2002). "iMac G4/800; Bold System Avoids the Sophomore Slump". Macworld. pp. 52–53. ISSN 0741-8647.
• Isaacson, Walter (2013). Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-4854-6.
• Kahney, Leander (2013). Jony Ive: the genius behind Apple's greatest products. Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-5918-4617-8.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to iMac G4.

• Apple Support Page
• Video of Jobs launching the iMac G4 at Macworld 2002 (starts at 59 minutes)