A completely new iMac was supposed to be ready in July. Unfortunately, production problems at IBM, supplier of the G5 chip for the computer, required Apple to announce a delay until September. What was worse, the production line for the previous models had already closed down, so that iMacs became unavailable as the back-to-school buying season got underway.
By mid August the rumor mills were working overtime, with all sorts of predictions and prognostications buzzing around the Internet. Mac enthusiasts didn't have long to wait. On August 31, with Apple CEO Steve Jobs still recuperating from his pancreatic cancer operation, Senior Vice President Phil Schiller introduced the new iMac during his Paris Apple Expo keynote address.
"A lot of people are going to be wondering 'where did the computer go?'" Schiller said. Instead of an LCD monitor that seemed to float above the domed base, as in the previous version, the new iMac was nothing but the flat panel display, resting on an aluminum foot. Neatly packaged into a two-inch thick case behind the screen was the entire works of the computer.
"Just like the iPod redefined portable digital music players," Schiller said, "the new iMac redefines what users expect from a consumer desktop." Everything -- including a slot-loading optical drive, hard disk, speakers, and even the power supply -- is inside the monitor's case.
The new iMac comes in two 17-inch and one 20-inch versions. The entry-level 17-inch model, priced at $1300, has a 1.6GHz G5 processor and a Combo Drive (CD burner and DVD player). For $400 more, the other 17-inch model increases the processor speed to 1.8 GHz and adds a SuperDrive that also burns DVDs. Both have 80GB hard drives.
At $1900 the 20-inch model has a 1.8 GHz G5 processor and a SuperDrive, but in addition to having a display that is 36 percent larger than the 17-inch monitor, also provides a double-sized hard disk, at 160GB. All models include a 512K L2 cache, 256MB of RAM, Mac OSX v. 10.3 "Panther," the iLife suite of programs, a keyboard and a mouse.
Apple is not the first computer manufacturer to conjoin the computer works with an LCD display. Models from Gateway, IBM, and Sony have used such a configuration in recent years. But just as the iPod makes other MP3 music players look kludgy, the new iMacs have a style and simplicity that gives the impression this arrangement is brand new.