When Did a Computer's Visual Appearance Become More Important than the Hardware Inside?
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- 2005.12.20
I may be only 17 years old, but I remember a time when computers were tools. You didn't buy a computer because of what it looked like; you bought a computer because of what it did.
These days it seem like more and more people buy computer not because of what they can do but because of what they look like.
Enter the iMac
This change seems to have started in May of 1998 when Apple introduced the iMac. The iMac was supposed to be "the Internet age computer for the rest of us".
Everyone was raving about
how powerful it was, and they were also raving about how cool it
looked. Everyone loved the futuristic looking Bondi blue case.
The iMac came in one configuration - 233 MHz G3, 32 MB RAM, 4 GB hard drive, 24x CD-ROM - so it would be easy for consumers to buy one without making a million decisions.
In January of 1999, Apple
introduced the Rev. C iMac,
the one that came in blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime, and
strawberry.
Steve Jobs thought that people didn't care about megabytes, megahertz, or gigabytes - customers wanted to trust the computer company to sell them a really great computer. The only question they should have to answer is, "What's your favorite color?"
The iMac was popping up everywhere. It was on busses and billboards, in TV and magazine ads, on radio ads, and all over the Internet.
It was everywhere. No one could get enough of it.
About Face
But Steve Jobs was wrong about one thing: People do care about megabytes, megahertz, and gigabytes.
In the summer of 1999, Apple decided it was time to get rid of their easy-to-buy single configuration iMac and introduced the new iMac.
From this point on, it would no longer be as easy for a newbie to buy an iMac. He or she would have to choose from different speeds, not just colors. These were the new models:
iMac (blueberry, $999)
- 350 MHz G3, 64 MB RAM, 6 GB hard drive, slot loading CD-ROM drive
iMac DV (blueberry, grape, tangerine, line, strawberry, $1,299)
- 400 MHz G3, 64 MB RAM, 10 GB hard drive, slot loading DVD-ROM drive
iMac DV SE (graphite, $1,499)
- 400 MHz G3, 128 MB RAM, 13 GB hard drive, slot loading DVD-ROM drive
The iMac kept selling in record numbers, and then Apple went a little crazy in the summer of 2000 with the next set of models. Now if you wanted a certain color, you might have to spend a certain amount of money:
iMac (indigo, $799)
- 350 MHz PowerPC G3
- 64 MB RAM
- 7 GB hard drive
- slot loading CD-ROM drive
iMac DV (indigo, ruby, $999)
- 400 MHz PowerPC G3
- 64 MB RAM
- 10 GB hard drive
- slot loading CD-ROM drive
iMac DV+ (indigo, ruby, sage, $1,299)
- 450 MHz PowerPC G3
- 64 MB RAM
- 20 GB hard drive
- slot loading DVD-ROM drive
iMac DV SE (graphite, snow, $1,499)
- 500 MHz PowerPC G3 Processor
- 128 MB RAM
- 30 GB hard drive
- slot loading DVD-ROM drive
It was out of control. There were just too many models and colors and price points - eight different iMacs in all. These models (and the colors ruby and sage) only lasted a few months before iMacs with the CD-RW drives entered the picture.
Anyone remember the Blue Dalmatian and Flower Power
models? I don't know what Apple was thinking with those two color
schemes, but for some reason they lasted longer than the ruby and
sage. Can someone explain that one to me?
Enter the iPod
Then in October of 2001, Apple introduced the iPod. At first it was a Mac-only accessory, but when Apple developed software so it could run on Windows, it started selling in record numbers. Now it's the #1 selling MP3 player in the market.
People love the way it looks and the way it works, and back then there was only one model to choose from.
As for today's
computers, I don't know if people are buying them because of the
way they work or the way they look.
Apple has a big presence in the world of fashion right now - everyone wants an iPod, and everyone is trying to make their computers look like Apple's computers.
Why did computers become such a big fashion statement?
When you're using your computer, are you really thinking about
how much you like the way it looks? 
Recent Vintage Mac Living articles
- If a Mac Plus can run System 7.5.5, why can't an 800 MHz G4 run Leopard?, 10.19. Apple supported the Mac Plus for over 10 years after its introduction. Why should Leopard cut off support for Macs released 4-6 years ago?
- 60 Mac models left behind: The ridiculously high cost of Leopard, 10.17. Mac OS X 10.5 officially doesn't support any G3 Macs, most G4 Power Macs, most titanium PowerBooks, half the G4 iMacs, early eMacs, or the first 12" G4 iBook.
- What a waste! Some schools would rather store old computers than put them to use, 09.12. Denver Public Schools is one example of a school district so ready to buy new computers that it has tens of thousands of old, usable computers sitting in storage.
- Why I don't want an iPhone - and really want an iPod touch, 09.06. The iPhone offers a lot of capabilities, but at too high a cost for someone who doesn't need a mobile phone or doesn't want to change carriers. The iPod touch is nearly perfect.
- More in the Vintage Mac Living index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Centris 650, Feb. 1993 - The replacement for the Quadra 700 has room for an internal CD-ROM.
- List of the Day: Old Mac MP covers 604-based multiprocessor Macs and clones.
- September 7 in LEM history: 98: Banner exchanges - 00: Tips from the Mac manager - Getting a Mac job - 01: Apple and the gray market - Repositioning the 'Books - 04: Tray loading iMac a good choice for OS X? - Pismo CPU upgrades - 06: Mac mini value equation - Setting up a Mac Classic II - Putting the Intel transition in perspective - 07: Region free DVD viewing, - My Newton - Solving Mac disk and hardware problems - 2 apps every MacBook should have
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- Psystar Strikes Back, Countersues Apple, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 09.03. Psystar is trying to paint Apple as a monopoly and force it to license the Mac OS.
- More links in our archive.
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