iMac (2006 to present)
Ever-thinner designs and increasingly powerful innards are the order of the day as Apple perfects its iMac recipe
For years, Apple had packed its iMacs with PowerPC processors, developed with IBM and Motorola. First debuting in the Power Macintosh and Performa models of 1994, the PowerPC chip was a mainstay of Apple desktop computers for 12 years before being phased out.
Apple had long been railing against what it called the ‘megahertz myth’ that it said led to inaccurate assessments of its computers. While PowerPC chips often came with slower clock speeds than their rivals, they just as often matched or outperformed them, since calculating a processor’s power is about far more than just its megahertz count.
However, Apple was clearly thinking about moving beyond PowerPC. Indeed, Apple’s press release announcing the Intel-based iMac seemed to admit that PowerPC chips weren’t up to scratch. It promoted the 2006 iMac as being ‘twice as fast’ as its predecessor, despite having an almost identical clock speed, suggesting that the older PowerPC chips were not as capable as their Intel equivalents.
Packing more punch
Shifting to Intel meant more than just updating hardware – software made by both Apple and thirdparty developers would have to be rewritten to work with the new chips. To counteract this, Apple wrote a piece of software called Rosetta to automatically translate apps built for PowerPC onto Intel’s platform.
Despite all of the upheaval over the internals of Intel-based iMacs, by outward appearances they were identical to the G5 that preceded them. Perhaps this was Apple’s way of reducing consumer concern over the new chips – ‘business as usual’ was the message.
Just over a year and a half later, in August 2007, came that missing case redesign. The most obvious change was in the materials used. No longer did the iMac look like an iPod on steroids; now it was clad in sleek aluminium with a plastic back. The display sizes also got a boost, up from 17 and 20 inches to 20 and 24 inches.
Apple’s obsession over simplicity came to the fore in the aluminium iMac, which only had one visible screw on the entire enclosure, used to secure the panel that covered the memory slots.
As beautiful as the iMac was, Apple knew it could do better. In October 2009 it overhauled the body, unveiling a full unibody design made from a single piece of aluminium.
Display sizes were again increased, this time up to 21.5 inches and 27 inches. Interestingly, the aspect ratio was changed from 16:10 to 16:9, a move Apple touted as making the iMac ideal for viewing movies and photos. The unibody iMac was also the first to ship with Apple’s Magic Mouse, its first mouse with the Multi-Touch technology that had already been featured in the iPhone and the MacBook’s trackpad. The most recent revision (in terms of case design) came in 2012. Even by Apple’s standards, the new slimline iMac was a design marvel, measuring just 5mm at its thinnest point. Apple left display sizes the same, but added USB 3.0 ports for the first time. On 21.5-inch models, the memory was soldered in place and couldn’t be changed without taking the iMac apart (although the 27-inch models retained a panel to access the memory). The iMac Pro features the same exterior look, albeit in a space grey shade. Nearly six years after its last redesign, the iMac is surely due an update; what will Apple unleash on the world next?