Apple Macintosh Then & Now, How the ‘Mac-hine’ Has Evolved
Evolution of the Apple Macintosh over the years. A look at how the machine has evolved since 1984
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Over the year Apple engineers have worked tirelessly to make sure that the Apple desktop is a stellar performer in its segment. Being heralded as one of the best desktop computers, the Apple iMac you see today wasn't always this beautiful and powerful .
The 34-year-old journey has seen a lot of drastic changes in the design, processor and accessories in the iMac. Here's a stroll down memory lane as we look back at how the Macintosh from 1984 has evolved into the iMac Pro today.
1984: Macintosh 128K
The first-ever Macintosh was released for sale back in 1984. The machine comprised of a Motorola 68000 microprocessor, 128Kb of RAM and a 400Kb 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. The first Mac OS introduced was System 1.0 which used the same Finder we see in iMacs today. It also had support for a mouse and a keyboard. The Macintosh was priced at $2,495 which is approximately Rs 1,59,268 (at the current dollar rate).
1995: Macintosh Performa
The Macintosh Performa brought to the table a bit more than its predecessor. It was released in 1995 and came with a 500MB to 1GB hard drive storage capacity. It was basically a re-branding for the then-existing models including the Classic, Centris, LC and Power Macintosh. It ran on the System 7.0 operating system and was housing a PowerPC 603 CPU.
1998: iMac G3
The iMac G3 was a breath of fresh air of the entire Apple fan community. Not only did the Mac welcome a CD ROM drive, but it also welcomed a re-designed mouse and keyboard. Many fell in love with the design of the machine and also it came in various colours. This variant was a revolutionary product and had many upgrades in the years to follow.
2002: iMac G4
Compactness was the priority with the 4th generation of the iMac. The 1-inch thin floating panel gave the users the ability to set the screen according to their comfort. This was a major upgrade over the clunky CRT monitors. The all-in-one machine was running on the PowerPC G4 processor an Nvidia graphics card and the OS X Jaguar.
2004: iMac G5
The 2004 Apple Expo in Paris gave birth to the most funkiest looking iMac of that time with the 5th generation variant being released that year. Apart from being inspired by the Apple iPod in design the company also claimed it to be the world’s thinnest computer at just 2-inch thin.
2006: iMac G5 (with Intel)
2006 was a big year for the Apple iMac as Intel was making its debut on the Apple machine. This collaboration gave birth to a historic partnership between the world’s largest chipset maker and an iconic tech giant. This was the first mac to introduce the iSight camera for video calls and also got the Front Row entertainment software coupled with a remote for viewing slideshows.
2007: iMac (Aluminium)
2007 ushered in the Apple computer with a thinner waistline. It was the year when the iMac got slimmer and sexier. It came with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a widescreen panel. The new iMac also welcomed a new keyboard and a ‘Mighty Mouse’ mouse.
2009: iMac (Aluminium Unibody)
The 2009 iMac brought in the edge-to-edge glass display which looked beautiful. The machine was running on the OS X Snow Leopard and was running on the Intel Core 2 Duo processors and and NVIDIA Geforce integrated graphics card. What was new with this one was that it came with wireless versions of the Mighty Mouse and the keyboard.
2012: iMac (Slim Aluminium Unibody)
The thinnest iMac made its debut in 2012 with the slim aluminium unibody edition. Thanks to the Fusion Drive inside it was taking up 40 percent less space. It came with the third-generation Intel Core i5 processor and 3 thunderbolt and USB ports. The iMac was running on the OS X Mountain Lion.
2015: iMac (Retina display)
In 2015, Apple released its first iMac with a retina display with almost 14.7 million pixels and a resolution of 5120 x 2880, that was four times better than it predecessors. It came with the 6th generation Intel Core processor and an advanced Fusion Drive. This was also for the first time that Apple switched to names of famous mountains instead of animals for their OS, hence the name OS X Yosemite and El Capitan.
2017: iMac Pro (Retina 5K display)
The most expensive iMac till date. The iMac Pro’s cost in India reaches almost Rs 4 lakhs. This machine is loaded and was made for the pros. Dubbed as the most powerful Mac ever, it comes with processors varying between 8, 10 and 18-core chipsets. Storage options are available up to 4TB. It also comes with enhanced stereo speakers with richer bass and more volume.
It is available in a gorgeous Space Grey colour and ergonomically has matching accessories. This machine was introduced at the WWDC in 2017.
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