iMac iMproved

1999 – I remember the day I first heard of the iMac. I thought to myself, “Hey, this new computer can’t be much cooler.” But I was wrong. At Macworld Expo in San Francisco, one of the coolest new computers was announced, the new iMac.

Beyond Bondi

1999: Apple unleashed the iMac 266 in five fruity flavors last week. Besides yellow (lemon? banana?), the only significant color missing was Bondi Blue, the color of the original iMac.

G4s and More

For all those questions that you have about what runs your Mac, here is the definitive article that explains it all. Here’s lesson number one; it isn’t a little mouse that runs around on a wheel, it’s a ferret, on speed.

Menagerie of Macs #3

Ah, freedom. It truly is amazing that we can put the power of a 45 pound computing ensemble into the case of a book and have it weigh in at about five pounds. The freedom that a laptop gives you is beyond compare. You can write, compile, archive, or even edit that new action flick […]

Upgrades for a Performa or Quadra 630

1999 – ABV writes: Please give pros and cons for the upgrading my current Performa 630 CD. I have System 7.5, 8 MB of RAM plus RAM Doubler, the TV and video tuner, a 250 MB internal hard drive, a 500 MB external drive, and an HP DeskWriter 550C. I’m trying to upgrade the system to […]

Upgrades for a Centris 610

1999 – ME writes: So, my Centris 610 . . . (I can hear you already. Hopelessly outdated; buy a 7500.) Okay, fine. Anyway, my Centris 610 cost me $30. (University surplus store; it’s raining G3 towers on campus right now, so they’re dumping these things like mad.)

Blue and White Power Mac G3

Bold best summarizes the Blue & White Power Mac G3. With an entirely new minitower case design and huge graphics on the side, this Mac would stand out even without the bright color. In a big step forward, these models have 4 PCI slots, one more than previous models, and the B&W G3 is the first […]

266 MHz iMac (Rev. C)

Steve Jobs announced this faster, more feature laden iMac at Macworld Expo 1999 in San Francisco. In addition to a 14% faster CPU and 50% larger hard drive, the 266 MHz iMac shipped in five different colors: tangerine, grape, lime, blueberry, and strawberry. There are rumors that some Bondi blue ones were built in January […]

Mac Musings Archive for 1998

1998 was the Year of the iMac. Announced in May, it didn’t ship until August, and it killed off all those legacy printer, AppleTalk, hard drive, keyboard, and mouse ports with something new called USB. The iMac quickly became the most popular computer on the market.

Resolution Independent Display

1998 – Thanks to utilities like SmoothType, ATM, and the anti-aliasing built into Mac OS 8.5, type today can look better on the screen than ever before. For instance, in the black and white sample to the right, anti-aliasing (courtesy of Photoshop) uses shaded pixels in spots where neither black nor white best fits the […]

iMac Saves Apple?

1998.12: Charles Piller, in Fast-Selling iMac Model Is a Singular Sensation for Apple, writes: “While the sensational new iMac has doubled Apple Computer’s share of the consumer PC market to about 10%, according to the latest data, so far the popular machine has no coattails. Sales of Apple’s more costly and capable G3 desktop computers […]