The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

DealsOnTheWeb Daily Deal: 80GB iPod Classic: $209 Delivered

Editorial - iMac Ten Years Later: Another Dent in the Universe

by , 5:00 PM EDT, May 7th, 2008

Ten years ago this week, Apple introduced the iMac with no SCSI port, no Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) and no 3.5 inch floppy drive. Pandemonium broke out. Then they sold like hot cakes.

On May 6, 1998, Andrew Gore and Anita Epler at Macworld wrote "Considering all these amenities, the most shocking part of the iMac isn't what it offers, but what it lacks. The iMac has no floppy drive, which might be forgivable if there were a Zip drive or other removable-media option, but there isn't.

"And most dramatically, this new consumer offering has no SCSI port, no standard serial ports, and no ADB ports. Apple has opted to replace these familiar connections with USB, a high-speed serial architecture that has suffered from slow adoption on the Wintel platform despite its technical advantages. Currently, no USB devices exist for the Mac," the authors noted.

And that was a big deal. At the time, there were exactly zero Mac peripherals that supported USB. The round condemnation of the iMac was that it would take time, much time, for vendors to write new drivers.

However, the sales of the iMac went of the charts and write drivers they did. Fast. I didn't buy one at the time because I had my trusty PowerMac 8500. However, I felt the same way as the authors did and would have said so publicly.

The history of the iMac adds a lot of perspective to the MacBook Air. And how Apple puts a dent in the universe, one Mac at a time.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:cgrscott Posts: 21 Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Subject:

I really like these old iMacs. They are very sturdy for children. My son has an old slot-loading DVD Graphite iMac and my daughter has an old slot-loading DVD Tangerine version. They are great. The Pangea Super Pack games run real nice in Tiger and they can boot back to OS 9 to play some older games like the older Rescue Hero games and Grand Turismo and some other Play Station One games under Connectix Virtual Game Station.

My daughter uses the Tangerine iMac mostly for watching DVDs. They are very nice machines if you want to get your kids set up with Mac hardware for next to nothing.

Close Name:computerbandgeek Posts: 42 Joined: 09 Jun 2006
Subject: Great

Up until last year I was using this original iMac as my primary (and only) machine! The only thing I had trouble with was the video editing. And the fact that I had to hang cables out of the side to add another hard drive/optical drive. But hey, that's 10 years of use out of an all-in-one.

And while I'm on the topic, at my school we have just about a million eMacs (I know a bit later, but same basic design). One of them was dropped during moving and literally rolled down two flights of cement stairs. I almost had a heart attack seeing a macintosh do that. But the amazing thing: they plugged it in and it worked perfectly. The only evidence of it's little escapade is a small crack in the plastic case. Amazing.

Close Name:Aftermac Posts: 42 Joined: 25 Sep 2001
Subject:

I pre-ordered my original iMac from ClubMac 3 months before it was released (May 1998) to replace my aging IIsi. At the time I was only 18 years old. I had been on my own for a year, just barely making enough money to rent a room from someone... I didn't even have enough money to pay for the iMac.

Fortunately, ClubMac didn't require payment until the iMac shipped. So, for 3 months I earned and saved every bit of money I could to raise the $1,297 + tax I needed. By the time I paid for the iMac in August I had $13 to my name, but I had my new computer.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Not Quite the Same
View Name:Guest
Subject:
Comment on this Article


You cannot edit your comments.   You cannot delete your comments.
Log in | Register | Having Problems? Reset TMO Cookies & Try Again
Username:   Password:   Log me on automatically each visit   

You are not logged in, and this post will appear as "Guest." Log in with your username and password from the TMO forums. If you do not have a username, you can register here.
Please note that guests are limited to including a maximum of two URLs per post.


Post A Comment
  Subject


  Your Comments



Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.


Recent Headlines - Updated Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Tue., 5:00 PM
iPodObserver - CW: AT&T's 3G Network Leaves Verizon, Sprint in the Dust
4:00 PM
Montage 1.5 Gets New Styles System, Scene Navigation Enhancements
3:45 PM
RIM's Empire Strikes Back at Apple
3:00 PM
C|Net: Remote Possibilities for Apple
2:55 PM
Mac Gaming News - World of Warcraft Patched to 2.4.2 - Class Changes, Mac Fixes
2:20 PM
Apple Publishes Details on WWDC Keynote
1:40 PM
Office 2008 for Mac Sales Soaring
11:50 AM
Apple Gives Retail Store Site a New Look
11:10 AM
Mac Gaming News - Friction Games Ships Penumbra: Black Plague
10:40 AM
Hot Forum Topic - The Mighty-dirty Mouse
10:05 AM
Adobe Updates DNG Specification with Camera Profiles
9:35 AM
iPodObserver - HBO Joins iTunes with Two-tier Pricing
8:35 AM
Apple Rolls Out "New Get a Mac" Ads
8:10 AM
PageSender 4.3 Enhances Menu Options, More
7:40 AM
Podcast - Apple Weekly Report #125: iPhone Expansion, NBC and Zune, Apple's Eco-stance
3:10 AM
MS Office 2008 SP1 Improves Stability, Security, More
3:05 AM
Microsoft Says Visual Basic Returning to Office
 

The Mac Observer Reader Specials

Apple Stock Quote

  • AAPL: $189.96. Change Today: +1.80.
  • (Prices delayed up to 20 minutes.)
  • Discuss in our Apple Finance Board

Hot Topics

Top Deals From DealsOnTheWeb