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iMac turns 10

by Scott McNulty May 6th 2008 at 1:00PM

It was ten years ago today that Steve Jobs mounted the Flint Center auditorium near Apple's campus and revealed the product that would save Apple, and become the best selling computer of all time: the iMac. It is hard to believe that this cute little guy is ten years old, but it is true.

The original iMac came stocked with a 233MHz G3, 32MB of SDRAM (though you could bump it up to a whopping 128MB), a 4 gig harddrive, 2 USB ports, a CD-ROM drive (not a CD burner, Apple was late to that party), and an IrDA port. These specs might not make your heart skip a beat nowadays, but the iMac is the product that started Apple's amazing turn around. It was the first mainstream computer to break with the past and offer only USB ports, no legacy connectors here. And it is worth noting that the iMac can also be attributed as the killer of the floppy disk.

I recall the howls from the tech community about the iMac's lack of a floppy drive. 'People love their floppies!' 'This is nothing more than an expensive toy!' All charges leveled against the iMac, but the decision actually helped create a market for USB accessories as most people bought their iMac and a USB floppy drive (I know I did. I used that floppy drive twice: once to make sure it worked, and another time to copy a file).

The iMac wasn't available for purchase until August of 1998 (for the base price of $1299), but today is a date that should be circled in Bondi Blue for any true Mac fan.

Check out our gallery of screenshots that show Apple's website the day after the iMac announcement. All screenshots was taken using the Wayback Machine.

iMac 1998



Thanks, Shane, for reminding us of the date!

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It was ten years ago today that Steve Jobs mounted the Flint Center auditorium near Apple's campus and revealed the product that would save...
 

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oldskool

It would be fun to read all the pundit's articles from back then. Like how it was just a toy, it was going to fail miserably, that the usb ports were pointless since there weren't any usb accessories available, how the floppy was too important to omit.
Or even better, a gallery of the PC knockoffs that followed suit, and were soon squashed.

May 07 2008 at 8:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dan

My Blueberry Rev D is still kickin' running Panther. First Mac I ever got.

Here is a cool compilation I found on YouTube honoring the 10 year anniversary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=545o2BHBh7w

May 06 2008 at 8:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jasonirish

Still got my Rev A. Runs iTunes well enough to be a jukebox in the office. CD drive died years ago, but everything else still works.

May 06 2008 at 4:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to jasonirish's comment
James F

You know, you can get a replacement CD drive for under $20 now on ebay and some parts sites. I replaced mine recently.

I still have my loveable iMac, which brought me back into the mac fold. rev/a and Bondi blue. I remember it was a PowerMac, and it was so very fast at the time, running MacOS 8.

May 07 2008 at 3:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
john

There's no step three...

May 06 2008 at 3:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Billy K

LOL. I still have my Bondi Blue Rev. A iMac. Happy birthday, little guy.

May 06 2008 at 2:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
elby

Thanks for making us click, "Skip commercial" in between every single screen shot. That was special. (Not)

May 06 2008 at 1:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
El Fez

Just this last weekend I was changing storage units and was thinking about what to do with my BondiMac. My friend is taking it to give to his 5 yr. old for a computer. Works as good as day one and really hate to just toss it out. Bought it a few months after it came out as my first new computer.

I do miss all those transparent and blue accessories that came out for a while after this computer hit the market though.

May 06 2008 at 1:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Techtistic

"It is had to believe that"
"233MHz G3, 32MD of SDRAM"

Proofread... please.

I don't mean to be a dick, I just notice more and more of this when it comes to bloggers. You are considered to be journalists by some you know.

May 06 2008 at 1:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Techtistic's comment
Techtistic

"Even journalists make typos. Thanks for pointing them out. I'm fixing the post now."

Scott

You're right, I sound like a snooty a-hole. Sorry for taking my frustrations with the blogosphere out on you. Good post. Cheers. :)

May 06 2008 at 2:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MeatyPi

"The product that started Apple's Amazing Turnaround"

Ever heard of the iPod? Apple was still struggling mightily in 99-01 until the iPod came out.

May 06 2008 at 1:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rob

Flint Center is part of De Anza College's campus, not Apple's.

May 06 2008 at 1:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Rob's comment
Scott McNulty

Thanks for pointing that out! I've corrected the post (I just changed 'on' to 'near').

May 06 2008 at 1:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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