- The iMac was announced on May 6, 1998, 25 years ago
- This computer helped Apple avoid bankruptcy
- Today there is only one model with a 24-inch screen
On May 6, 1998, Apple introduced the iMac to the public for the first time. The device then surprised even the highest tech spheres by revealing the motherboard components with its translucent shell in broad daylight. The original model had a screen of 15 inches, a PowerPC 750 (G3) processor – which would later earn it its nickname – and just 4 gigabytes of internal memory. For comparison: The iMac M1 available in stores today has at least 256 gigabytes of memory.
Today, therefore, the iMac range celebrates its 25th anniversary, an opportunity for us to revisit five significant figures that we owe to this emblematic collection, not only at Apple but in the PC market in general. Let’s go.
$1,299
This is the price of the first iMac when it was released. Taking inflation into account, this still equates to no less than around $2,399 today, or the equivalent of nearly €2,140 at the current exchange rate (at the time of writing). And how much does the iMac M1 cost in comparison? $1,299 in the United States, in fact.
However, this is the base price, which may increase slightly depending on the configuration chosen. In France, the iMac returns here €1,549, then with 8GB of RAM and two Thunderbolt ports on the back. The manufacturer also supplies the keyboard and mouse in the box, and doubling the working memory is possible with a paid option for 230 euros.
5.112
This is the number of iMacs sold per day (on average) between May 6, 1998, when the first version was released, and April 19, 2001, when Apple announced this five million units have been sold since the beginning of the collection, first released in the United States before later arriving in Europe and then Japan.
Today, Cupertino no longer communicates its sales figures by product, but the iMac is by far the product that would have saved the company from bankruptcy. Just launched after Steve Jobs returned to the company’s controls, the device will indeed have conquered the masses around the world while Apple’s coffers were almost empty. A success that will be repeated just a few quarters later with the arrival of the iPod.
11.5 millimeters
The latest iMac, powered by the M1 processor, has a 24-inch screen that’s just 11.5 millimeters thick. A record that will have made a name for itself, especially if the jack connection had to be moved to the edge for this reason. So to that number we certainly have to add the dimensions of the foot, which calls for more depth on a desk, but still: it’s impressive.
But that doesn’t mean that the quality of the slab has to be shelved, quite the opposite. In fact, with the iMac M1, Apple still offers us a 4.5K display (4480 x 2520 pixels) with a density of 218ppi, which supports no less than a billion different colors. According to the official data sheet, the brightness reaches 500 nits.
27 inches
This is the diagonal of the Biggest iMac never marketed by Apple. However, this model, which first launched in October 2009, will be discontinued in March 2022 when the iMac M1 is released, now available in one size. Even the iMac Pro, also sporting a 27-inch display, was left behind after just over three years of faithful service.
This is by no means the end of the big iMacs. In fact, for many months, hints have indicated that Apple is preparing one New version likely larger with the design arriving in 2021. The only downside, and last but not least: the project would continue to be alternately postponed or canceled internally, indicating that we won’t see the color of it right away…
Apple iMac 24″ M1 256 GB at the best price Base price: €1,449