iMac G4(K)
30 comments
·February 26, 2025bsimpson
cogman10
What's wild to me is that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are basically computer illiterate by and large.
The reason old computers were fun is because all the hip young millennials loved them for everything. That has become much less the case as the younger generations do everything with a phone/tablet/or console. Just surfing the internet for my generation was a chore that is hard for the younger generations to understand.
dylan604
> What's wild to me is that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are basically computer illiterate by and large.
That's something I've realized as well. There was a time where typing was something more and more people could do, but now nobody cares/needs to learn how. The number of households that had at least one computer was something I thought would get to pretty much everyone, but now there are more and more people with the only compute device being their phone. Owning a computer seems to be an age indicator like wearing tube socks.
firecall
At least Framework released a new Desktop
And they tried to be fun with it!
The 3D printed tiles on the front are a very cool idea and just perfect right now I think! :-)
yjftsjthsd-h
I also like the colored backs on the 12 inch laptop they announced
amatecha
Well, those wild/creative designs WERE the "practical work tools". Check out the PowerMac G3, this thing looks totally colourful and silly but this was the most powerful machine Apple made at the time: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lhutton/48688728841/ (also dang I still really want one, still haven't found a good deal on one lol)
dylan604
I owned a G3 that was the last beige box Apple made before that clear plastic Fisher Price looking unit. I didn't mind the colorful iMacs. In my mind, the iMacs were fun things and the colors were okay, but the towers were meant to be serious computers and fun is just not allowed or something moronic. Those towers were just something I never cared for with no real reason. Oh, and the hockey puck mouse that came out around that time. Yuck
SahAssar
Looking at imac G3->G4->G5 each one was a huge step in design. I think the G4 stands out to me because the "floating" display was something I had never seen before.
wahnfrieden
It's reported to be making a comeback with the upcoming HomePod that has screen that can rotate to follow your presence
dylan604
that's not creepy at all. why would that sound like a good idea that someone would want?
crazygringo
So the screen is clearly visible, no matter which side of the kitchen island you're on?
Especially if the screen is showing a recipe, unit conversion, timers, etc.
If it's silent, that seems like it could be really cool.
classichasclass
Still have a 15" 1.25GHz iMac G4 on my desk, still works, runs Tiger. I mostly use it as a terminal and for Classic apps, but it does very well at both. Occasionally it plays DVDs or music CDs for the kitchen with a set of Pro Speakers.
jasongill
"there is noticeable color banding on the screen"
The LCD panel in the G4 iMac is only 6 bits per pixel, compared to 10 bits per pixel on a modern Macbook Pro or similar, so the banding is just the dithering required to display the gradient shadow
js2
Really? Apple sold the device as capable of displaying "millions of colors" which you don't get to with 6 bits per pixel.
ilamont
I had one of these! I think the common nicknames were “lampshade” or “half dome” at the time. I wrote my graduate thesis on it.
It was a very capable Mac that could even play 3D games smoothly - Wolfenstein and a bundled game for kids about escaped aliens who crash landed out west.
One of the best features was the swivel screen, which you could easily whip around to show something to someone else in the room.
joecool1029
BTW, this site has the flying toaster screensaver if you leave it open long enough. Nice easter egg!
locusofself
This is certainly fun and that iMac definitely has a cool design, but I'll keep my 27+ inch monitor and 4k (or better yet Retina)..
amatecha
If I could choose only one computer design to have for the rest of my life, it would be this one. So cool. I hope jcs sold the spare parts or is otherwise hanging onto them for future use/donation/sale (rather than scrapping them). Parts for older computers are harder to find every day, unsurprisingly.
voidfunc
This was my favorite iMac design.
fredoralive
I'm kinda split between it and the original G3 range (slot loading preferably, but in the original bright transparent colours before it got weird with stuff like "blue Dalmatian"). The anglepoise Mac is kinda near beginning of the rather sterile Apple aesthetic that has never gone away, but it's also incredibly neat in a packaging sense that a CRT could never be. I kinda want a combination, but I'm not sure if you could get away with the colour bits on an all-in-one without the large area needed for the CRT neck...
The Blue and White PowerMac G3 is my ultimate best looking Mac, there's something about the giant G3 on the sides, and the bold colours for what is a "professional" system. Sadly it all got toned down for the G4...
voidfunc
The G3 were cool in a different way. I miss the playful coloring of late 90s devices. Computers grew up but did we also need our game consoles to become soulless rip offs of Apple industrial design?
Edit: I want a translucent atomic purple phone damnit!
amatecha
Yeah, I have two of the G4's and while they are really nice, I'd love a PowerMac G3 sometime. I have G5's as well, and again they are cool, but not in the way the G3 was -- just so striking and IMO creativity-inspiring.
MarcelOlsz
For a (somewhat) short period of time, school/college computer labs were awesome to walk into. It was fun seeing tons of multi colored G3's.
NegativeLatency
I was in nearly the sweet spot for this in school computer labs as a kid so it felt like a long time to me. They only started to get boring looking when I graduated from high school.
floren
Conveniently color-coded so you could tell at a glance which were the older crappier ones!
andrekandre
i feel like this imac design is a kind of statement somehow... its interesting that apple at their most desperate was so risk-taking and bold with designs, but now when they are so successful the boldness is more on the inside (m1, neural engine etc) than outside....
recursivedoubts
no reason computers couldn't have personality again
xqcgrek2
This computer is older than my graduate student...
It's wild that there was a feeling when that computer came out of "this is the coolest computer design ever," and then the world moved past that.
You can look at the iMac line and see that they moved to a more laptopy everything-in-the-screen design, which got rid of the base altogether. But it's weird and sad that there was a "best" and then things that came after the best that were less fun, and two decades later we all still seem to feel that way.
I suppose part of that was all the attention that shifted to touchscreen phones, and computers becoming thought of as practical work tools.