The original iMac was very different from what people expected from a computer sitting on their desk. While everyone else was selling boring beige boxes, Apple said, “Hey, we’ve got this translucent, gummy all-in-one computer that’s, well, cool.” And it was.
It was nowhere near the most powerful computer you could buy at the time, but it was colorful and fun. It was approachable and friendly – you could pick up the whole thing with a handle on the top. It was, well, playful.
I think you could say that the iMac’s personality made it – in a sense – the most personal personal computer. Over the past 20 years, the iMac has evolved, but it has almost always retained that sense of playfulness, even though it lost its color.
Released in 2002, the G4 version was one of the most iconic desktop computers of all time. That’s the one with a 17-inch LCD screen that floats on a stainless steel arm above a hemispherical dome that served as the base and housed the computer’s ‘guts’.
But if we’re really being honest, the iMac has lost that playfulness over the years. It still has a personality, but as the silver aluminum industrial design became thinner and more refined, the iMac’s personality changed.
It’s still a better looking computer than almost any other desktop, but it’s starting to show its age. It has large bezels around the screen and a chin that makes it look like a caricature of what a cool all-in-one could look like – seven years ago. Plus, it hadn’t seen a color that isn’t gray or dark gray in years.
On Tuesday, Apple announced the latest version of the iMac. The highlight was that it now includes Apple’s M1 processor. That is certainly a major problem, and it should not be overlooked. After all, Apple had promised to transition all of its Macs to Apple Silicon within two years, and we’re almost halfway on that promise.
Plus, the M1 is an order of magnitude faster than the Intel chips it replaces, making the new iMacs an incredible all-round computer. In fact, the M1 meant Apple could slim down everything about the new iMac. It has thinner edges, a smaller chin, and there is no longer a bulge on the back to accommodate all the computer’s guts.
To be honest, though, I think a much bigger deal is that the new iMac is now available in seven colors.
Welcome back, personality.
It may not seem like adding color is all that important, but I think it’s brilliant, especially for the iMac. If the explosion of personalization that happened on the iPhone when Apple made it possible to customize your home screen and add widgets is any indication, our devices are more of an extension of our own personality than ever before.
And most of us would probably rather think our personalities are colorful – not gray. It’s as if Apple is telling its customers that you no longer have to choose gray or grayer-gray. Now you can choose the color that suits you just like you can with an iPhone.
This latest design brings back what made the iMac so popular in the first place. In this case, in addition to the fun, you also get one of the most powerful Macs the company has ever made. That’s not a bad deal at all, and I suspect Apple will probably sell a lot of it. That is brilliant.