Five years after its debut, the original iMac, which many credit for restoring Apple Computer to fiscal health and profitability, is being pulled from the shelves. Also, following in the footsteps of larger competitors that sell Intel-based products, Apple Computer has begun offering a version of its server that can be linked in groups, or clusters, capable of tackling mammoth computing tasks.
Apple Pulls Plug on Original iMac, Announces XServe for Clusters
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Well The iMac’s time has definitly come. Without a doubt Apple would be no where near were it is today without it, maybe not here at all. But it just doesn’t have anything to offer any more. The iMac brought macs to many many people. The effect of them will help apple for a long time. The most common group that had iMac’s was young people like Highschoolers who it was there first computer. Those people will go on over the next few years to buy newer highend mac’s. The iMac was very much a seeding tool for new life time customers. I do wish though apple would just go nuts and have a 500 bucks a pop blow out sale though. But then again I don’t know if that would be worth it. They will probably just offload them to schools.
Nice to hear the Xserve updates though. Does anyone know if there is any form of Mosix clustering for OSX, or FreeBSD? Beowolf just seams clunky and rudimentary.
Bring back Zilla!
http://www.apple.com/scitech/research/papers/acg/
looking at the current line up and noticed that the good old imac was not there (was thinking of a good gift to give). I told myself “maybe they pulled the plug on the old imac”. A few minutes ago, I went to slashdot and osnews and confirmed it.
While I didn’t get an iMac at all (I opted for an iBook), I’ll always remember that bondi blue and flower power models I’ve always wanted.
It didn’t really make sense to offer both the CRT iMac and the eMac. As soon as Apple decided not to limit the eMac to just the education market, there was no point in offering both. From a value standpoint, the classic iMac was great. The eMac, though, was a better computer all around.
The eMac is the new iMac. Face it, the old iMac wouldn’t sell without a quartz extreme compatable graphics processor. Not to mention the 17″ monitor and G4 processor that the eMac throws in for minimal extra $$.
We still have our original Bondi Blue. We take immaculate care of it and it looks new. We always knew it would be something to keep. It is absolutely astonishing what the iMac did, not only for Apple, but for industrial design over all.
It was so exciting when it came out. Apple had just about tanked and Jobs came back. Mac fans had had nothing to cheer about for so long. It’s funny now too – our Bondi Blue looks dated though it was radical five years ago. I think it has 4 MB VRAM and fonts look terrible. And, of course, you could only really use it ay 800 x 600. The hockey puck mouse. System 8. Lord have mercy! 🙂
I’m considering getting an iMac as a Linux machine.. has anyone put a recent PPC linux distro on a 333mhz iMac and what’s the speed like?
There was a link to exactly such a review one or two months ago on OSNews. Search the archives.
Is it just me that has a problem with the term “pulled from shelves”? That implies Apple is recalling all unsold units and the original iMac will no longer be sold in any stores – this I highly doubt! What it should *actually* say is that Apple will cease production of the original iMac, and no longer sells it directly. This is almost as bad a statement for factualiity as the nay-sayers who condemn BeOS as dead because Be Inc ceased to exist as an OS company.
Before I get flamed, the article at ZD does not state that the iMac is being recalled, just that *Apple* is going to stop production (if it hasn’t already) and that the *Apple* online store no longer lists it. It does say “Apple does not plan to keep selling it publicly”, but this is *not* the same as saying it is being “pulled”, not by a long chalk. That statement actually implies that once dealers run out and Apple runs out of stockpiled units, it will no longer be available for sale.
I think that Apple owes alot to the original imac, I never cared for them much, not a big fan of all-in-one type computers. I dont like the flat panel imac, to me it just looks ridiculous, in fact the only all-in-one that I have is the Gateway Profile, but anyway, it wasnt my trusted friend but I remember all the hype and Apple propaganda behind it.
Might be a good time for you to go buy one, as a discontinued item they will be lucky to get $100 bucks for one of those units.
Only 800×600? I upgraded the video memory to a whopping 6meg and by the time I sold mine, I had it under the desk with the back off hooked up to an external 19″ monitor running an expansive 1152×864.
I did try yellowdog and mandrake I think on the bondi blue just before I sold it. They installed okay, but I couldn’t find a way to adjust the image position on the screen and when it came up it was about 80 pixels off the left of the screen. It got formatted again and was in the paper the next day.
IMO the eMac’s CRT screen simply isn’t good enough – its visual clarity simply doesn’t match up with many of the low-end 17″ CRT monitors available today e.g. Syncmaster 753DF. Also, I’m not certain many consumers would be willing to purchase a built-in-CRT computer at a time when LCDs are touted to be the next “in” thing. If they’re going to use CRTs at all, they’d probably rather hold on to their current monitors. At the same time, I don’t forsee the prices of iMac G4s falling drastically any time soon either, especially with the (admittedly declining) premium LCDs currently command.
So what’s the alternative? Apple needs to introduce a cheap MONITOR-LESS desktop machine (iDesk or whatever
). It doesn’t need to have the expansion slots of the PowerMac – expandability could be limited to memory and airport card options. As for CPU – perhaps a lower-end G4 or a G3 of the same speed as current iBook? Graphics chip definitely needs to have Quartz Extreme support though – something the G3 iMac, even in its last incarnation, didn’t have.
Or better yet sell an ATX mac mother board for $400 with a copy of OS X
Has anyone confirmed the absolute reliability of the “IVAD cable fix” for the eMac’s notorious “Raster Shift” issue? That is the reason I won’t buy an eMac, aside from the fact we don’t have a local dealer here in our small town of Sierra Vista, AZ. Closest dealer is gonna be in Tucson, AZ, about 1.5 hrs. away at best.
>>>”Is it just me that has a problem with the term “pulled from shelves”?”
Of course, we all do, but you have to remember… this is both OS News AND a Post from Eugenia… (A double Whammy) you have to factor in the anti Apple rhetoric that needs to be implied for a relatyively neutral Apple-specific story. This is the OS News-Eugenia way.
Yes, they did isolate it to that. They used to replace the whole video module. But, I had heard Apple was planning to change the CRT completely…it might be good to find out if they’ve done that before buying.
@Roberto – lol, it wasn’t propaganda that made the iMac take off, it was a cultural phenomenon.
Used 333MHz imacs still sell for about $400 and are probably a bit too slow to run OSX. 500MHz models are $700ish. If you are going to spend that much, you might as well just pick up a new (supported) 700MHz G4 emac for $1000. Used macs retain value like a BMW. You are better off to just buy new.
so my questions is this: What will apple do to address the low-end? It would be really really dumb to cut out the low-end entirely because that eliminates the first time adapters who could then purchase a second and more expensivev apple. No low-end also means no chance for PC homes to buy that one imac for the backroom. I would think (though the emac is still there) that many schools also appreciated the low price of the classic imac.
I also have a hard time beleiving that apple’s margin’s were below 20% on that thing. Will we see a new cheap imac? Apple really should have something on that low end.
We still have a rev b Stawberry imac at home. We use it as a net machine. It is still one of the most elegant pieces of furniture we have here and it is not going away anytime.
Jim. it’s interesting, I’ve noticed, even before this dropping of the “old” iMac, that original Bondi Blues in good shape having been going for pretty high prices on eBay. The’re getting to be collector’s items.
I’ve been hoping Jobs will bring back The Cube and use it as the entry level Mac. The thing about it is, all the design costs are already done with and they really wouldn’t have to change that much. Put in an 800 MHz G4, 256 MB RAM, good sized hard drive, 32 MB video card, and a CD-RW/DVD drive. Sell it at rock bottom prices. Apple will lose money on it, but it would be the coolest enticement to new users ever – the Cube is still ultra cool. People could get a 17″ Studio Display, but Apple shoud make bundling deals with other monitor vendors so people could get an inexpensive monitor. Apple will never gain market share as long as they don’t have something to entice new users and switchers that is in the same price range as Dell low end systems. The Cube at those prices and OS X could do that, I believe.
Jay,
Indeed apple needs to bring back somehting like the cube. If failed because it was horrible over priced. What should have been a base model was sold as a top end model. I couldn’t belive how much it cost when i found out. I had been thinking it would be cheap and then to see it was expensive was a turn off. Plus it feel into the looks great in pictures but in person looks ugly trap that much of apples hardware seems to do. But something like the Cube would be good. Look at a shuttle XPC, if apple made something like that, with 1 agp, 1 pci, and a 5.25 bay in it with a middle of the road G4 and able to handle a fair bit of ram. they could have something. Or like others say just sell a new iMac with no screen. Just a lump you plug your monitor into. Apple says they want to increase market share, well thats how to do it. People having monitors, the don’t want to buy what they don’t need. I guess apple just doesn’t want to see there computers being hooked into “ugly” none apple monitors. I think thats a lot of the issue. It’s a styling image thing for apple. If they sell you everything then you will have this stylish setup on your desk for others to see. If they sell you just the tower and you shove that under a desk, then your Mac is just like any other computer in the world. Be curious how many Powermac Buyers use apple monitors.
Apple really should bring back something like the Cube or a G4 Mac the size of a microATX tower. The form factor of the eMac is actually a good successor to the iMac if they can just fix the quality of the CRT which I have found somewhat lacking but still very useable.
Apple should create a micro G4 with: a single processor, standard quiet ATX power supply, 2-DDR RAM slots, AGP4X, 1 or 2-PCI slots, analog in out audio ports, 2-USB1, 1-FW400, 1-3.5 inch drive bay for a HD, 1-5.25 drive bay for a combo or CDRW, 10/100 NIC on board and support for Airport.
The system would need to be in an intelligent form factor, not just be a smaller G4. The G4 needs to cater to buinesses that want a Mac office desktop but need external video options more flexible than eMac or iMacG4. It also needs to be IT staff friendly, i.e. easy to open and upgrade memory, video, HD or CDROM. The system will also be good for switchers who have already invested quite a bit in their display for home or work but don’t need an MDD.
I’m sorry, but the iMac is the ugliest computer ever. Apple never things of aesthetics, they just design computers to look “cute” to appeal to women and gay men.
dell designs the best looking computers I have ever seen. they are easy to work with and well constructued, while apples are shottily constructued and use inferior parts like maxtor hard drives. why anyone would buy an expensive computer built with cheap parts is beyond me.
I can hardly judge how computer look. It’s usually in the rack in cold room. But those Itanium2 DELLs are really look like something you want to work on, not just pet. I’m not sure if iMac appeals to gay men, all my friends are sraight. But it surrely caught attention of girls. Reading the “I still love you” comments here makes me wonder if Apple could even more humanize the piece of metal. How about pMac (plush Mac) or tbMac (teddybear Mac) ?
Apple should trash the whole goddamn lineup for all I care.
Yeah, that’s it, trash the whole fucking lineup, do their own Apple branded x86 box, release OS X86 and be done with it.
I really don’t get the way Mac users get all misty eyed over a 1 GHz machince when x86 has been enjoying 2.5GHz+ for *awhile* now…
And those prices!!!!!!!! Goddamn, talk about highway robbery!!
I must say, I do love their interfaces on OS X though.
“Apple should trash the whole goddamn lineup for all I care.“
As is self-evident from the last part of your statement, you don’t care about Macs. Why bother commenting on them?
Yeah, that’s it, trash the whole fucking lineup, do their own Apple branded x86 box, release OS X86 and be done with it.
Done with what? Apple is just biding their time waiting for PPC970… there is absolutely no way that Apple will ever switch to x86.
I really don’t get the way Mac users get all misty eyed over a 1 GHz machince when x86 has been enjoying 2.5GHz+ for *awhile* now…
Well, let’s just see how things look in 2005 when Macs supporting Power5-derived consumer processors are benchmarking at twice the performance of the nearest x86 competator.
I really don’t get the way Mac users get all misty eyed over a 1 GHz machince when x86 has been enjoying 2.5GHz+ for *awhile* now…
Well, let’s just see how things look in 2005 when Macs supporting Power5-derived consumer processors are benchmarking at twice the performance of the nearest x86 competator.
No, let’s not…
2005?!!?! By then x86 cpu’s will probably be hitting 15GHz..
You wait if you want to because the rest of world sure wont!