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R.I.P. Original iMac: 1998-2003
Joey Patterson writes "CNET News.com reports that, after five years, Apple has stopped selling the gumdrop-shaped iMac to the general public."
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Perhaps now that people realize Apple has stopped selling fruit colored computers we can see the end of all the pink and purple translucent plastic office products...
As long as they keep selling the eMac, how significant is this announcement? I mean, provided that you can spend the extra coin, the eMac seems like a better choice what with the larger CRT and all.
Still, it will be hard to make a fishtank out of the flat-panel iMACs...
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
I wonder if this means the newspaper comic Fox Trot will retire its iFruit computer.
This is the real signature
(Beats those shadows on the cave wall, don't it?)
...and it was like, beep beep beep... and it was, like, gone...
5 years is much longer time than your average x86 PC company would sell a computer for. I'm no Mac fanatic, in fact, I don't even own one, but I guess this goes to show that Apple does make solid products that last for a while.
Apple didn't go away, just the shape. And, if you're tied to a curvy all-in-one system with a CRT, you can still go with the iMac's big brother.
On a more serious note, Apple got lots of praise and lots of flak for producing a translucent computer. They knew it was "trendy" and they knew when to move on. Now everyone making a translucent device that wasn't designed to be translucent should move on, too.
There are all the usual jokes about the vacuum cleaners and the iLamp, but have you heard anyone say, "While the user interface is straightforward and the availability of the BSD architecture is a great plus, I'd never buy one because I think it looks like a lamp." - No. They don't know anything about them, but their friends said Macs suck 15 years ago, so they fall back on the only insults they know.
Sorry for the rant.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
Being a PC tech, I never really get to play with macs too much. I have had 3 with shot monitors come across my desk though.
:(
My buddy bought some Imac with firewire for $150 bucks. AV version I think it was called. Anyways he brought it over, I patched his OS9 to its latest patches. He had it for about 2 weeks until the monitor gave out.
So of course, he brings it back to me. Having never ripped one of these things open I was excited at the prospect of tinkering around with some new hardware. Before I grabbed a screwdriver I called apple.
tech: No matter what the problem is, hold the special programmers button on the side, it erases the nvram which will make your monitor work because it has a bad analog board.
After several attempts at this and failing he gave me something else to try.
tech: press the apple key + q r a t during bootup, again this will fix your problem.
Well, again that lead nowhere.
So with the help of my fine freind google, I found a PDF service manual and some more docs. I converted the imac into a pile of electronic parts, pressed some magic button inside and still, black screen
Eventually I read that the analog boards on these things go out quite frequently, the replacement cost of the board went way above the $150 my friend had originally paid for it. I talked him into getting an external monitor (works now) and things were happy again.
You do know that just because they aren't selling them anymore does not mean that the one on your desk is going to disappear...right?
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
I had one of the original Bondi Blue iMacs. While other people were praising its beauty, I thought it was kinda ugly. As a fashion statement, the blue translucent plastic seemed somehow akin to bell-bottom trousers and leisure suits. The periodic release of new machines with different color schemes seemed to support that view.
But it was a fine computer. The original iMac was a brave departure from the beige boxes we'd all become so accustomed to. The compact all-in-one design simplified things for people who don't want to invest a lot of time in figuring out how everything goes together. (You or I may feel unfulfilled with any computer we haven't built with our bare hands from raw sand, but there are plenty of folks who just want to use the thing.)
The iMac moved things forward in part by turning its back on a lot of legacy stuff. The iMac upset a lot of long-time Mac fanatics who were upset that they couldn't plug their old ADB and serial peripherals into the USB ports. Some people were aghast at the absence of the floppy drive. Now that Dell has embraced the idea of computers without floppy drives, I guess the iMac's work here is done.
Snif... Drat... I promised myself I wouldn't cry...
When all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
Yes, thank God the iMac showed the computing industry that they should focus on style and asthetics over features and functionality. I'm so fucking glad that Dell, IBM, and HP now feel the need to change the form factors of their machines every 3 months, and in the process give me some of the most horrible, badly designed machines ever made. iMac can kiss my ass. Anyway, my favorite iMac story:
I'm working at CompUSSR as a technician. It's a slow day, and I happen to be up at the front counter of the tech department, filling out some paperwork or something. A lady walks in the front door carting an iMac in hand, and from 10 feet away I can see the anger in her eyes. She steps up to the counter, and with one emphatic push, heaves the iMac up onto the counter, where it lands with a deafening *THUD*, loud enough the whole store takes notice. She takes a few moments to catch her breath from the effort, then looks me straight in the eye, and says...
"Jeff Goldblum is a fucking liar!"
It was a good 5 minutes before I could compose myself enough to speak.
And the Amiga's still alive and... um...
*hugs Amiga 1200 to chest and cries*
Escape Pod Films: Sketch Comedy and Web Series
On my machine right now, the mouse is plugged into the keyboard via USB, which is plugged into the monitor via USB, which is plugged into the computer via ADC, which is plugged into the wall. That's it. No other plugs.
:)
I guess if you need to escape out of the window real quick for some reason, you won't have to go looking for rope.
Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
NeXT invented "sexy" computers. I still remember the first time I saw that black magnesium cube and thought this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in computers. Then I saw NeXTStep, an OS to match it's case. I miss both.
Have you ever heard someone talk about an x86 box this way? To many NeXT users even the beloved iMac will not be missed as much.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
Ford no longer sells the 1998 model Taurus and has instead replaced it with the model year 2003 line. Anaylists were left baffled at this move. One remarked, "Who thougth Ford would make such a drastic move as this? Updating their models and not selling the older ones...I'm baffeled!" Similar trends have been noticed in just about every other freakin company on earth! So why is this front page /. news?
SIGFAULT