30 years of Apple Mac evolution

Jan 27, 2014

The Apple Macintosh 128K, launched 1984

The original Apple Macintosh was revolutionary - the first all-in-one consumer PC and the first with a mouse and a graphical user interface. It's also why Apple computers became known as Macs. Although Apple released a host of other computers it also continued to tweak the design of the Mac, adding a color screen in 1993 and a second disk drive and of course upping the memory and processing power.

 

The iMac 3G, 1998

When Steve Jobs came back to Apple, the company was 90 days from bankruptcy so he had to do something and do it fast. One of his first moves was to scrap most of the company's range of computers and go back to basics - a serious pro desktop computer and a seriously designed and considered consumer model - the iMac. It was an instant hit when it launched in 1998. Designed to be exciting, easy to use and above all friendly, it featured a handle on its top. It was possible to pick it up with the handle but the real reason for it was to suggest that the user had total control over the device, there was nothing to be scared of.

 

 

iMac G4 2002

Much of Apple's design is dictated by affordability. As soon as a component is cheap enough to be mass produced, the company embraces it. It is also informed by a need to strip back all fripperies and unnecessary elements In the case of the G4 iMac, launched in 2002, it was flat panel screens that had become affordable and casings that had become unnecessary. The ability to adjust the screen position like an angle-poise lamp earned the computer the nickname of the Sunflower. It was also Apple's first premium consumer desktop to come in white.

 

 

Apple iMac G5 2004

Times change, screens get bigger and in 2004 Apple hit upon the rectangular design for the G5 version of the iMac, which like the Sunflower before it, could be tilted and adjusted. Apple persisted with this shape until 2007, adding an integrated front-facing camera, larger screen sizes, going from 15-inch to 17-inch and eventually 20-inch, and more powerful and efficient Intel processors.

 

Apple 27" iMac 2013

The current iMac is a distillation of everything since the first generation. It is as slim and lightweight as it is powerful. White polycarbonate has given way to aluminium and its unibody design means that it is carved from a single piece of metal, just like its notebook computers. And now screen sizes start at 21-inches. Despite the screen size and the power of the components inside, the latest iMac is just 5mm thick. One thing that hasn't changed is the iMac's ability to influence, directly or indirectly, the design of its competitors' products.

Source: THE STAR ONLINE