Why dont they just average the thickness and remove the chin on the newer designs? Actually wondering now that there is an iMac Pro, they look the same(other then color) now, wonder if they will try to differentiate look.
Why dont they just average the thickness and remove the chin on the newer designs? Actually wondering now that there is an iMac Pro, they look the same(other then color) now, wonder if they will try to differentiate look.
Nobody knows why.
The industrial design of the current iMac started with the Late 2013 model. That’s getting pretty long in the tooth. The display sizes of 21.5 and 27 inches are stretching even longer, and they go back all the way to 2009. The chin has been there all the way back since 2004. Looks like it is a feature of the design, not necessarily driven by the need for more area to place components in back. Maybe the chin has something to do with servicing the machine? Who knows.
Those ages likely mean the time is nearing for a new iMac industrial design. Maybe the iMac Pro, the retiring of the Time Capsule and the stagnancy of the Mac mini is heralding Apple is dropping spinning disk drives all together now, and the 2018 iMac and Mac mini (if updated) will only have SSDs, like the iMac Pro and in the laptops. No HDD means than can make it thinner. Hopefully larger displays come with both models.
Bought one the first week it went on sale. I still use the bondi blue speakers I bought back then. That iMac eventually was stuffed in a 1u rackmount case and ran as a server for years. Loved that Mac.
The iMac is due for a redesign, having had the same design since 2007 (with some evolutionary changes). Apple is playing it too safe and other brands have proven to be really good at industrial design as well (but never had the same reaction as Apple). I would like to see a greener iMac, where the monitor is still part of the same computer design-wise, but can be detached from the computer (and therefore replaced). No more chin but bevel-less. Something fresh and new.
The iMac was as this article states truly revolutionary, and I hope the product will evolve for the years to come!
I don't really see Apple making the display detachable. Not only is that totally not the purpose of an iMac, it also introduces a major point of failure down the road. As Maestro said, iMacs are already the greenest computers on the market so I'm not sure how much better you can possibly get. These computers last for ages, not just a couple of years so I don't subscribe at all to the theme where iMacs are throwaway computers. They're no different from a regular computer in that respect and like I said, they last for years and years.
Also, if Apple were to make the display detachable, wouldn't that make things worse? I'd think you'd just have more influx of displays to be recycled or thrown out since you can just detach it and put a new one on. By the time you think you need a new display, its also time for a new computer as well. Today's screens are 4-5K screens. I'm sure 8K or better is coming down the road, but you will also need a far better computer to do things with that resolution too...something better than what is in an iMac today.
I don't think it's too hard to imagine a design where the entire laminated display could be attached by magnets, as the glass was in the 2011 era models, instead of everything being glued shut as they are currently. This could ostensibly allow basic access to repair/upgrade parts as well, which I did many times on our office's 2011 iMacs where I added an SSD on the secondary SATA connector. The display itself was screwed on, but the glass would come off with a windshield suction cup — today's laminated display assemblies could be potentially attached similarly so they could be detached/reattached.
Changed the world? Stretching it rather far there.
Only if you’re in denial. Apple’s design language changed the world of computers and consumer electronics. Everything in the ‘90s and ‘00s came in translucent plastic after the iMac. Who didn’t have a translucent alarm clock (remember what those were?)?
I built my own see-through acrylic LED clock back in the 80's from a magazine project. Translucent existed before the 90's.
It's too bad the one thing that stands out through all the generations of iMac including right now, are the fat bezels.
KITA said: What does that have to do with the lack of a chin?
The chin is what currently allows a user to put the iMac on a swing-arm mount. You can't do that with the PC all-in-one designs you've shown. Sure, they eliminated the bezel and chin, but doing so required them to put a lot of the hardware in a base that can't be separated from the screen. The iMac base isn't required for operation.
I am looking at my Bondi Blue iMac right now. It still runs though I think the power supply is slowly failing. I have 10.4 on it IIRC. I booted it a few months ago. I need to copy a few things off it.
I bought it the very first day it was available in August 1998 (for the whole market, not just the education market) at Computer City. I used it for years. It was my main non-dev machine. (I was doing webobjects on OpenStep/OPENSTEP and dev on Rhapsody using the OpenStep APIs which were not immediately available on the iMac).
I eventually bought a G4 aftermarket upgrade for it but never installed it. Still NIB.
I am looking at my Bondi Blue iMac right now. It still runs though I think the power supply is slowly failing. I have 10.4 on it IIRC. I booted it a few months ago. I need to copy a few things off it.
I bought it the very first day it was available in August 1998 (for the whole market, not just the education market) at Computer City. I used it for years. It was my main non-dev machine. (I was doing webobjects on OpenStep/OPENSTEP and dev on Rhapsody using the OpenStep APIs which were not immediately available on the iMac).
I eventually bought a G4 aftermarket upgrade for it but never installed it. Still NIB.
I had the G3 Bondi as well... fantastic Mac. First thing to check before your power supply is the power unit battery. Looks like a watch battery. Easy to replace.
for everyone griping about the currently stale iMac design: if there’s any truth to the ARM Mac rumors, then they would certainly wait for the transition before changing the exterior. Otherwise they’d have to do it twice, as the internals will be vastly different.
I remember launch day vividly; August 16. I was working for CompUSA at the time, and was considered the Apple guy at the store (and later worked for Apple until retiring six years ago), and our store, in Novi, MI, sold 37 iMacs that day, and could have sold more, if we'd had them in stock. That was unheard of then.
I had recently bought my first Mac, a Quadra 660AV, and the iMac literally changed my life, as I went on to sell thousands of them over the years.
Maybe the chin has something to do with servicing the machine? Who knows.
Those ages likely mean the time is nearing for a new iMac industrial design. Maybe the iMac Pro, the retiring of the Time Capsule and the stagnancy of the Mac mini is heralding Apple is dropping spinning disk drives all together now, and the 2018 iMac and Mac mini (if updated) will only have SSDs, like the iMac Pro and in the laptops. No HDD means than can make it thinner. Hopefully larger displays come with both models.
Never thought it would take 3 years from May 2018 to get to a new iMac industrial design. Thought it would be 1 year, 2 years tops, and, thought they would keep a large display model.
The iMac 24 returned the AIO back to its roots all the way back to 1998. Occupies price tiers between $1000 to $2000, colors, consumer features and prices. Strictly consumer. It's still missing an M1 Pro option, just like the Mac mini. Hopefully there will be a 24" 4.5K external display from Apple soon too, and the M2 iMac models can drive 2 external displays.
And, we can conclude the chin is all about branding. No technical reasons.
I walked into CompuUSA on launch day and bought one. Didn’t need a pre-order or reservation (though they had been offered). Became my main “home” computer after the startup I was contracting at had failed, and where I was using it for my main non/engineering computer (email, web, media).
I had a 9600 and a Umax clone and we were doing Rhapsody (and OPENSTEP under Windows) so zu had some intel PC machines as well but the iMac quickly became my non-dev machine.
I put OS X on it from 10.0 and I still have it. Booted it last year. The power supply is a little flaky. I bought a G4 upgrade CPU kit but never installed it. Still have it NIB.
I never got a later iteration and didn’t buy another iMac until 2017 when my MacBook Pro failed and I had a deadline. The 2019 iMac is still the main machine for me. Though it will get replaced by a Studio.
On May 6, 1998 the iMac changed Apple -- and the entire world
And just like today, twenty four years later, the nerd herd and faux techies were apoplectic in their denunciation and condemnation of that iMac. It didn’t have a 3.5 floppy drive and that was inexcusable. It was designed as an internet appliance and that was an abomination. It had a CD drive which was deemed useless. You plugged it in, turned it on, and used it. That threatened the technorati of the day.
Comments
The industrial design of the current iMac started with the Late 2013 model. That’s getting pretty long in the tooth. The display sizes of 21.5 and 27 inches are stretching even longer, and they go back all the way to 2009. The chin has been there all the way back since 2004. Looks like it is a feature of the design, not necessarily driven by the need for more area to place components in back. Maybe the chin has something to do with servicing the machine? Who knows.
Those ages likely mean the time is nearing for a new iMac industrial design. Maybe the iMac Pro, the retiring of the Time Capsule and the stagnancy of the Mac mini is heralding Apple is dropping spinning disk drives all together now, and the 2018 iMac and Mac mini (if updated) will only have SSDs, like the iMac Pro and in the laptops. No HDD means than can make it thinner. Hopefully larger displays come with both models.
Loved that Mac.
Or beige with a hint of turquoise, as my college Mac was:
It's too bad the one thing that stands out through all the generations of iMac including right now, are the fat bezels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcBpXYI1r3Q
The iMac 24 returned the AIO back to its roots all the way back to 1998. Occupies price tiers between $1000 to $2000, colors, consumer features and prices. Strictly consumer. It's still missing an M1 Pro option, just like the Mac mini. Hopefully there will be a 24" 4.5K external display from Apple soon too, and the M2 iMac models can drive 2 external displays.
And, we can conclude the chin is all about branding. No technical reasons.
And just like today, twenty four years later, the nerd herd and faux techies were apoplectic in their denunciation and condemnation of that iMac. It didn’t have a 3.5 floppy drive and that was inexcusable. It was designed as an internet appliance and that was an abomination. It had a CD drive which was deemed useless. You plugged it in, turned it on, and used it. That threatened the technorati of the day.