I always liked the G4 ad were the person was walking past a store and the computer came to life like the lamp from the Pixar intro Just made the computer look so fun
The G4 iMac was everywhere, and it was great. It's what my high school had for our multi-media class to learn to edit on. It was powerful, compact, had a great screen, and the hinge on said screen was phenomenal. To this day it might be my favorite Apple Computer.
it still looks amazing, 20 years later. it also solves the problems with the current iMac with the tilt mechanism. I would love to see this revisited. I had a beige PC when this came out and I remember this so clearly, it was what made me pay attention to Apple
For those unaware, QuickTime was ported to Windows by San Fransisco Canyon Company. Intel and Microsoft then bought a bunch of QuickTime code from SFCC and put it into Video for Windows. Which SFCC wasn't supposed to give them.
In 2003, When Microsoft sold the non-voting shares of Apple stock that they bought for their $150 million, they sold it for around $550 million, making a decent profit on the stock. Making money thanks to Apple was a nice bonus on top of having deflected legal challenges with their investment.
God I love that old footage of you and Marques. Your enthusiasm for tech is so contagious, I love when your excitement comes through in your videos. I don't usually go in for unboxing videos but you made this informational and enjoyable! :)
There is a RUclipsr who explains how to dismantle it to gain access to the LCD to convert to DVI and then you can fit in an Intel NUC or a tiny motherboard to bring it up to today's performances. I have tried this, but I'm having trouble getting the DVI to receive the signals. It's one of those projects that you start I never finish...
I had one of these and it was my favorite Mac. The damping on the neck/arm was absolutely perfect and effortless to move. The material of the base was absolutely beautiful. I don’t even know how to describe it. Such an amazingly unique design.
I literally bought an iMac G4 from eBay after watching this video. It arrived today and boy... that design is just timeless. It really is a peace of art.
So just had this thought come to mind. Seeing Steve Jobs integral roll in Pixar, and his integral roll in the development roll in the G4 mac. I would wager to say that the G4 design was a homage to the Pixar Lamp from the intro credit of Pixar movies. As they share very similar design elements in the way both the lamp and computer move.
This is my favorite kind of content you produce. Lots of nostalgia remembering using those great computers. And what a time to be alive where it seemed like nearly every keynote there was some mind blowing innovation. Those were the days!
You could right click the mighty mouse without the side buttons. You can see right in the screen shot 8:59 that despite it not having two buttons you still get two buttons (3 including clicking the roller ball which was amazing, 4 if you include the side buttons). The design was just too good that I guess it confused a lot of people. I loved that mouse and the wireless version.
“Too good that it confused people” is contradictory. If it’s confusing people, if it’s unintuitive, it wasn’t well designed. Nothing against the mouse, just that statement is a paradox.
I might be trailing an old road, or jut plain wrong, but does anyone else, or have you Quinn, noticed the resemblance with Moonwind from Pixar's Soul? Energy, vibe, and likeness, uncanny...
The dream of that iMac lives on today with the iPad Pro, using a Twelve South iPad stand, working as a display for a nearby Mac Mini. I’d love for you to do a video showing off the dream of Jobs, realized with his last unveiled product, the iPad.
If Apple can unify their their operating systems and actually have everything run across platforms, that would be great. Seems like you are either compromising though by not being able to run iPad apps on the Mac, or not being able to run full featured apps with window Management on the iPad.
@@stevenswall There are two ways to answer your question. Assuming Apple Sidecar is being used to make the iPad extend the Mac desktop (because there are other apps and other ways to do it too)… If the Mac hardware and OS version support installing and running iOS apps, then you can start an iOS app in macOS and drag it over to the secondary display (the iPad). This is about running iPad apps in macOS, and showing them on the iPad alongside whatever other macOS apps you show there through Sidecar, not using any iPad resources to run those apps. On the iPad, Apple Sidecar is just another app, so for example, if the iPad is currently using Sidecar to show the macOS desktop, you can use any iPad OS app switch gesture to go to any app on that iPad. This is about running iPad apps on the iPad behind Sidecar, not using any Mac resources, the opposite of the previous paragraph.
It's a nice stand and a nice idea, but the design aesthetic doesn't quite match. Also, the iPad Pro (even the larger 12.9" one) is too small to serve as a comfortable desktop display. The modern iMac's display is nearly 4 times the size.
Just grabbed a mint iMac G4 and rebuilding the system, from external FireWire SSD and potentially internal legacy SSD. An a firewire audio interface for hifi playing. True piece of Art.
First family computer. Recently fired ours up from 2003 when I was 12. What a gem of a machine to learn on. GarageBand and Logic both run surprisingly well on it still.
I'm baffled about the superb condition of all the items in that box. Everything was still white, cables clean and no raffling, breaking or brittle rubber. Amazing
I was working for Apple in a sales role at the time that these came out, and I cannot overstate how much customers *loved them.* I recently picked one up for myself again when a neighbor offered me theirs, complete in its original box. It's just as stunning and whimsical and graceful today as it was then, and I also hold it in very high regard as one of Apple's all-time best designs. Wonderful video, and congrats on your "Sunflower" G4!
I remember when the 15 inch iMac with an lcd came out. I kind of liked it. When the 17 inch version came out, I used it once at UCSC. The extra two inches of screen length made a big difference as far as making it easier to organize my work load. That is what made me like the iMac.
I lived in a quad-Plex apartment in Raleigh, NC, when this came out. My neighbor had one of these and it was sitting in his window, where I would adoringly gaze at the back of it every day when I left the apartment….
I absolutely love the iMac G4, one of my favourite tech product designs ever! Some may describe it as "goofy" and "dated" and to a degree, they'd be right, but I just absolutely adore it's design. To me personally, it still looks great today
I still remember the Apple iMac G4 due to its use by the Roads & Traffic Authority of NSW until around 2013, they actually kept a few iMac G4’s running just to do the computer based tests (for Learners to get their supervised driving licence, and also the Hazard Perception test when getting your Provisional licence)
Interesting fact: the UI buttons (volume/brightness up/down etc) on the 1st gen apple keyboard that came with the 2002 models works with both MacOS 9 AND OSX, whereas the later 2003 keyboard only works with OSX. If you're looking for a G4 that natively runs OS9 then look for one with that first gen keyboard
Excellent, I own the 1.2Ghz 20" version of this iconic computer, speakers and all - fully loaded up with RAM, running 10.4.11, and just love it... It produces the majority of my design work, still to this day... thanks to Adobe CS Suite that was offered free of charge from Adobe when Mac PPC went to INTEL. Thanks for this great video, and the introduction for me, to the 2022 version of OS X Tiger - can't wait to try that!
I am typing this comment on an iMac M1, which I absolutely love. I have been a loyal iMac user since 2006 when Apple switched to Intel. I had the Intel Core Duo, then the aluminium model with SuperDrive, then the thinner model with the fusion drive and then the one I have now. I love this thing. THIS BEING SAID. I purchased an old 2002 used iMac G4 locally for $90. It solely exists to me as a piece of history and art. It DOES boot up and connect to the Internet, but everything is wildly out of date. I truly truly love the design to this day. It's heavy as hell compared to today, but I just love the way it looks. 22 years after release it STILL looks like it came from 70 years in the future.
I had a super-drive, wide-screen version of this in the early to mid 2000s to replace my previous Gen3. I fondly remember fondling the round base and its smooth surface and warmth. In fact both might be still in boxes somewhere in my house.
A modern version of this: - A 21", 24" and 28" versions of it. Extremely thin displays, like from M3 Macbooks. - Three SATA/NVMe slots, one by default for OS X, two for additional or even RAID. - 6-8 USB ports, 4 of USB 3.1 and 2-4 of USB-C. - Apple M3 processor and 8 GB RAM, upgrade possibility up to 32 GB. - Something magical? Add a small in-built battery, as a UPS for power cuts for 5-8 min power time. - best WiFi you can have for it, + the RJ-45 port with gigabit connection. It would be marvelous... Pricing: 499/599/799 for the display size.
Our first Mac was iMac 24-inch released in late 2006. It looked striking in its all-white unibody design. Friends laughed at us for going with a Mac, but its design language spoke volume to us. My sister and I used to fight as kids for whose turn was it to finally use it. It slept only during nighttime. We still have it tucked inside its retail box. I'll go fire it up next week to see how it's doing.
I have one of these iMacs in my house. It's actually set up at a desk and plugged in. I'll definitely have to give Shuriken a try since I've not heard of it until now. The thing is currently basically useless and has only stuck around because I couldn't bring myself to get rid of a computer with such a unique form factor. No idea why they didn't keep this design going for a few generations. And a word on the Mighty Mouse: It has *four* buttons. The normal left-click, a right-click (which is disabled by default for some baffling reason), a middle click with the scroll ball (which is awesome and way better than a scroll wheel), and then the side click that was mentioned in the video. As far as I can tell it's the best mouse Apple ever made; people just never used it to its full potential because the default settings for it in OS X were dumb.
I agree, this is the most beautiful computer Apple has made. I have bought one of these and it is a great retro experience to play CDs and listen to the Harmon Kardon speakers (which still give it function; running Mac OS 10.4 Tiger). I would love to see this design on a current computer, perhaps with a mini-like computer at the base and with an option to expand with drives or GPUs and a magnetic way to attach an iPad as a second screen.
I can’t tell you the no of times I stood in front of an Apple Store and drooled over this Mac. By the time I took the plunge into Mac, the sunflower was discontinued. If they bring this back ..take my money now! They should.. beats the current design hands down any day!
Ive been loving seeing the upgrades and mods to those old G4 iMacs. Putting sleeper ITX PCs in them, or the new m-series Mac minis in the base. I’m fairly sure someone has put an OLED or IPS display into one by now.
I just got rid of my g4 last year, after holding on to it for waaayy longer than I should have. It was such a cool thing and I had so many happy memories of it. I really didn't want to discard such an iconic device. While it was functioning well , only one of the USB ports worked and it was so slow that I couldn't find a use for it. I studied all the ways I could substitute the innards for a NUC or equivalent system , but finally decided that I was just being too sentimental.
I came across one of these in about 2015 in working condition. I was just a few years out of high school at that point and when I realized there wasn’t much you could do with it, I got rid of it… I wish I hadn’t. Im sure I’d have a use for it today.
OMG if they took the guts of a modern Mac Studio and put it in a new version of this I would buy it instantly. I have the 17" version of this and it is my favorite all time Mac.
They offered the Imac G4 in a 20 inch version but it is almost impossible to find today. The big problem with the G4 was the arm would break down and it was really hard to fix it.
I bought this very computer the day it was released and it still works perfectly (although it's certainly not my main computer, which is a late 2015 27" iMac which desperately needs replacing...).
I've got the 20" version of this. It's an awesome piece of design, but there's a reason every iMac since has just put the logic board on the back of the LCD and called it a day. The base made sense when slim optical drives (especially DVD-RWs) were expensive, and the iMac needed to accommodate a 5.25" model to save costs. But once these (and large LCDs) plunged in price, the rationale wasn't there any more. To stop the iMac from tipping over, it's base also needed to be made from a heavy lead alloy, which would have increased shipping costs. Plus the spread out configuration needed a big cube box, rather than a slim trapezoid, taking up more space in stockrooms. Having said that, Apple's designs in the 1998-2002 era were really cool; they screamed "design" and essentially did double duty as marketing for Apple. Once Apple was back on their feet, they calmed down and everything just became a slim aluminium rectangle, up to the present day. I do miss the whimsy of the 2000's-era designs.
Thank you for point out that it was in their fight for survival that lead to so much great innovation like this. Just look at how much the iMac / eMac accomplished from 1998 - 2004. It blows away any progress made from 2004-2024.
This is my favorite mac, and I have couple of them, but completely broken. I hope someday I can use modern Mac to power it because the form factor is so cool.
I had (and loved) a Cube back in the day. I never thought it was as nice as this iMac, but I was always impressed with the looks, performance and those Harmon Kardon speakers.
It would,ve been amazing if this form factor returned with M series chips, being able to adjust the display so freely is great. I wonder how hard would it be to DIY it with a mac studio
I never heard of Shuriken before, I'll have to try it on my G4 Quicksilver running Tiger OS X 10.4.11, you should add the download details to your video description. I believe your LCD display uses CCFL tubes, and can be replaced as they can on the 23 and 30 inch Cinema Displays from 2005.
Thank you for the waves of happy nostalgia! I thought about making a scaled-up version with larger screen. The drawings I did, it looked ungainly? I'm question marking, there, because I can't find my original drawings. Have you tried at your end to see what it would look like? A huge plum pudding with scaled-up arm and screen size. It sort of worked, I figured that oversized plum pudding would have lots of room to hide external storage and at one point I even considered making a built in bass/mid speaker (down-firing, with the electronics shielded from the vibrations) and hiding tweeters within the enlarged monitor's housing. I couldn't figure out how to make an enlarged version of the arm, I don't have the metal working skills. If anyone has made an oversized version, I would love to see that. I know that's a lot of work but if you took that on, you'd be a legend! I mean, there are up-dated versions out there but I think you're right, one with a decent sized screen could be a huge seller for Apple.
If they released another iMac like that I would buy it without hesitation I wasn’t aware that a modern os replacement is available for the iMac G4. It’s time to take mine of the shelf and put it back to work.
grab yours while its cheap. I got the 20" model a couple years back for $50. even if you find one not working (as long as the monitor is working) you mod it and put a Mac mini with m1 or m2 inside and have the coolest looking modern computer.
I have a 800Mhz one and love it, not for it's specs but for it's design. All other mainstream desktop computers are basically cubes. Sure the imac before it was sort of not a cube having it's sides rounded and squeezed and there are some custom PC's that are different but I don't think any one can find a mainstream computers that brakes the moulde quite as well.
Great video and I agree that the G4 is the best iMac! Have you seen the mods where people put a M1 Mac Mini inside it? It would be cool if you attempted to do that project at some point lol
I tried to buy one of these used back in 2005ish but never got it. I've had many version of the iMac over the years. Using a 14yr old iMac right now. Works fine for regular tasks.
As a vintage Mac collector, I've sworn off the iMac G4. I've had a couple and installed SSDs in both, but they're so fragile - specifically, the TMDS cable is so damn delicate. I'm not too sad, though, as I technically have an iMac G4: the eMac, which is basically the iMac G4 with a cheaper CRT screen and iMac G3-style case design. Moreover, I upgraded my eMac with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB Samsung mSATA SSD. The 80 GB mechanical hard-drive is too sick to boot and VERY HARD to access, but the optical drive is pretty easy to access, so I replaced the optical drive with an SSD. :D I also have a graphite slot-loading iMac G3, which I upgraded with 1 GB of RAM and a 128 GB Compact Flash card for an SSD, and an iMac G5, which I upgraded with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB SATA SSD.
I worked for an ad company that was putting a bunch of these on a pallet to be scrapped. You better believe I hopped on one and begged to keep it. I took the electronics out of it. But I have it on the shell just as a piece of industrial art. I keep intending to use it as an ipad holder or put new PC guts into it.
That was without a doubt the best iMac design ever. I loved mine and was quite disappointed when they went to the computer behind the screen versions. If they came out with a new iMac with that design I would certainly buy it.
APO AE 09142 (Mine is 09114) is an address to a now deactivated US Army Installation, which was called “ O’Brien Barracks”, which was located around Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. This was most likely a US Army Soldier who’d received their bonus, given it was 2002, they had most likely just received a major bonus for enlisting and spent it on the G4 iMac. That, or the Soldier had just returned from a combat deployment with a year’s worth of untaxed bonuses and salary. The tradition of privates blowing their paychecks all at once never dies.
Always thought that’s the most beautiful Mac they ever made. Never had one though, just the first G3 and then the 2009 and the 27” I think also 2009 which I still have.
I had the widescreen model back starting around 2003 or 4 I think. I loved it, and those speakers were no joke. It was a really exciting time because iLife came out soon after I got this computer and I fell in love with GarageBand for recording guitar… so many good memories with this computer
This is super interesting! Obviously this was a long time ago, but I started covering consumer electronics in 2004. I remember seeing one of these at my friend’s house prior to that - but I swore that was several years prior. Crazy how this was out just a couple of years before I got into this business. This, and the capacitive iPod, were amazing pieces of tech from that era!
Small detail: FRA more likely stands for Frankfurt Airport in Germany.
That seems much more credible hahahaha
There are two US Army Bases just a short drive from FRA so this would make sense
Yup- looks like it went to Sembach Kaserne Army base (AKA sembach air base) 19ish miles from Ramstien).
Mr Elvis Presley was stationed at Friedberg (not too far from Frankfurt am Main)
End the occupation lol
This with a retina screen and the internals of a mac mini or studio is my dream computer
S A M E
YES!!
I would love to see a custom build like that. Especially for the version of this with the bigger screen.
all you need is a screwdriver, an imac g4, and an m3 macbook pro
@@Cragdognamedbear I believe that has been done before!
I always liked the G4 ad were the person was walking past a store and the computer came to life like the lamp from the Pixar intro
Just made the computer look so fun
This was on purpose, Steve Jobs was a founder of Pixar
Great era 🎉❤
😂😂🤙🏽
The G4 iMac was everywhere, and it was great. It's what my high school had for our multi-media class to learn to edit on. It was powerful, compact, had a great screen, and the hinge on said screen was phenomenal. To this day it might be my favorite Apple Computer.
it still looks amazing, 20 years later. it also solves the problems with the current iMac with the tilt mechanism. I would love to see this revisited. I had a beige PC when this came out and I remember this so clearly, it was what made me pay attention to Apple
Insanely expensive though, 1499 dollars in 2002 is about 2500 dollars now, for an all in one, that is super expensive.
Specifically, that $150 million from Microsoft was part of the settlement deal for a lawsuit against them relating to QuickTime
For those unaware, QuickTime was ported to Windows by San Fransisco Canyon Company. Intel and Microsoft then bought a bunch of QuickTime code from SFCC and put it into Video for Windows. Which SFCC wasn't supposed to give them.
MichaelMJD did a whole episode specifically on this oft-repeated statement that just wasn’t true.
Bad research, unfortunately…
no
In 2003, When Microsoft sold the non-voting shares of Apple stock that they bought for their $150 million, they sold it for around $550 million, making a decent profit on the stock. Making money thanks to Apple was a nice bonus on top of having deflected legal challenges with their investment.
No, untrue.
God I love that old footage of you and Marques. Your enthusiasm for tech is so contagious, I love when your excitement comes through in your videos. I don't usually go in for unboxing videos but you made this informational and enjoyable! :)
Thanks so much, Travis!
When Steve introduced this Mac, he declared that he thought it was the best thing they’d ever done up to that point. He was not wrong.
I don't know if it could be topped
Don't forget that Newsweek I think leaked the device before the official announcement by Steve. I think he mentioned it in his keynote.
@@spadesman_the_first3296 correct! It was Time Magazine!
He said that at every product launch.
I'm sure his estranged daughter was thrilled at that though.
There is a RUclipsr who explains how to dismantle it to gain access to the LCD to convert to DVI and then you can fit in an Intel NUC or a tiny motherboard to bring it up to today's performances. I have tried this, but I'm having trouble getting the DVI to receive the signals. It's one of those projects that you start I never finish...
I saw that video 👍
I had one of these and it was my favorite Mac. The damping on the neck/arm was absolutely perfect and effortless to move. The material of the base was absolutely beautiful. I don’t even know how to describe it. Such an amazingly unique design.
I literally bought an iMac G4 from eBay after watching this video. It arrived today and boy... that design is just timeless. It really is a peace of art.
So just had this thought come to mind. Seeing Steve Jobs integral roll in Pixar, and his integral roll in the development roll in the G4 mac. I would wager to say that the G4 design was a homage to the Pixar Lamp from the intro credit of Pixar movies. As they share very similar design elements in the way both the lamp and computer move.
This is my favorite kind of content you produce. Lots of nostalgia remembering using those great computers. And what a time to be alive where it seemed like nearly every keynote there was some mind blowing innovation.
Those were the days!
You could right click the mighty mouse without the side buttons. You can see right in the screen shot 8:59 that despite it not having two buttons you still get two buttons (3 including clicking the roller ball which was amazing, 4 if you include the side buttons). The design was just too good that I guess it confused a lot of people. I loved that mouse and the wireless version.
I still use one! I love it. You just have to lift your left finger so it registers a right click.
That’s what I get for going off script! We made an editors note haha sorry for the mistake
I came here to say this
“Too good that it confused people” is contradictory. If it’s confusing people, if it’s unintuitive, it wasn’t well designed. Nothing against the mouse, just that statement is a paradox.
Used these in my high school and can confirm. Had to change that setting to right click too many times
I might be trailing an old road, or jut plain wrong, but does anyone else, or have you Quinn, noticed the resemblance with Moonwind from Pixar's Soul? Energy, vibe, and likeness, uncanny...
same batch of magic mushrooms?
The dream of that iMac lives on today with the iPad Pro, using a Twelve South iPad stand, working as a display for a nearby Mac Mini. I’d love for you to do a video showing off the dream of Jobs, realized with his last unveiled product, the iPad.
If Apple can unify their their operating systems and actually have everything run across platforms, that would be great.
Seems like you are either compromising though by not being able to run iPad apps on the Mac, or not being able to run full featured apps with window Management on the iPad.
Does the iPad as a second display let you run iPad apps and Mac OS apps?
@@stevenswall There are two ways to answer your question. Assuming Apple Sidecar is being used to make the iPad extend the Mac desktop (because there are other apps and other ways to do it too)…
If the Mac hardware and OS version support installing and running iOS apps, then you can start an iOS app in macOS and drag it over to the secondary display (the iPad). This is about running iPad apps in macOS, and showing them on the iPad alongside whatever other macOS apps you show there through Sidecar, not using any iPad resources to run those apps.
On the iPad, Apple Sidecar is just another app, so for example, if the iPad is currently using Sidecar to show the macOS desktop, you can use any iPad OS app switch gesture to go to any app on that iPad. This is about running iPad apps on the iPad behind Sidecar, not using any Mac resources, the opposite of the previous paragraph.
It's a nice stand and a nice idea, but the design aesthetic doesn't quite match. Also, the iPad Pro (even the larger 12.9" one) is too small to serve as a comfortable desktop display. The modern iMac's display is nearly 4 times the size.
Just grabbed a mint iMac G4 and rebuilding the system, from external FireWire SSD and potentially internal legacy SSD. An a firewire audio interface for hifi playing. True piece of Art.
Loved the video. My first Mac was an iMac G4. I loved that machine and it's the reason I still use Macs today. Good times. Thanks for the memories.
The very fact that this looks so modern even now is a testament to how much Apple was innovating at the time
First family computer.
Recently fired ours up from 2003 when I was 12.
What a gem of a machine to learn on. GarageBand and Logic both run surprisingly well on it still.
I will never let go of my lampshade iMac. It can just sit there and be art.
I'm baffled about the superb condition of all the items in that box. Everything was still white, cables clean and no raffling, breaking or brittle rubber. Amazing
I LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEE the iMac G4. One of my favorite computers of all time. Had so many great memories with it.
There's a skit on Rick and Morty about 'True Level'. That's what it was like moving the monitor arm on the iMac G4.
I’ve still got mine somewhere in storage, absolutely loved this computer.
I was working for Apple in a sales role at the time that these came out, and I cannot overstate how much customers *loved them.* I recently picked one up for myself again when a neighbor offered me theirs, complete in its original box. It's just as stunning and whimsical and graceful today as it was then, and I also hold it in very high regard as one of Apple's all-time best designs. Wonderful video, and congrats on your "Sunflower" G4!
Quinn, you should do a mod where you put a Mac mini in the bottom part of the case and attach a modern monitor to the stand.
I remember when the 15 inch iMac with an lcd came out. I kind of liked it. When the 17 inch version came out, I used it once at UCSC. The extra two inches of screen length made a big difference as far as making it easier to organize my work load. That is what made me like the iMac.
I lived in a quad-Plex apartment in Raleigh, NC, when this came out. My neighbor had one of these and it was sitting in his window, where I would adoringly gaze at the back of it every day when I left the apartment….
Jobs missed something there. He should have charged 1000 bucks for the stand 🤣
I absolutely love the iMac G4, one of my favourite tech product designs ever! Some may describe it as "goofy" and "dated" and to a degree, they'd be right, but I just absolutely adore it's design. To me personally, it still looks great today
I still remember the Apple iMac G4 due to its use by the Roads & Traffic Authority of NSW until around 2013, they actually kept a few iMac G4’s running just to do the computer based tests (for Learners to get their supervised driving licence, and also the Hazard Perception test when getting your Provisional licence)
9:33 I was not expecting the ominous jump-scare from the cameraman when you started looking at the specs on the box
It really is one of the most beautiful pieces of machinery ever made. It looks almost like a high end art piece.
Interesting fact: the UI buttons (volume/brightness up/down etc) on the 1st gen apple keyboard that came with the 2002 models works with both MacOS 9 AND OSX, whereas the later 2003 keyboard only works with OSX. If you're looking for a G4 that natively runs OS9 then look for one with that first gen keyboard
I wish we could get a modern version of this and the Cube. These designs were generations ahead of the hardware they shipped with.
I had one of these (new) years ago. Fantastic futuristic design. That arm was a serious hunk of metal.
Excellent, I own the 1.2Ghz 20" version of this iconic computer, speakers and all - fully loaded up with RAM, running 10.4.11, and just love it... It produces the majority of my design work, still to this day... thanks to Adobe CS Suite that was offered free of charge from Adobe when Mac PPC went to INTEL. Thanks for this great video, and the introduction for me, to the 2022 version of OS X Tiger - can't wait to try that!
I think this is the first computer I ever used. Many memories with this one
I am typing this comment on an iMac M1, which I absolutely love. I have been a loyal iMac user since 2006 when Apple switched to Intel. I had the Intel Core Duo, then the aluminium model with SuperDrive, then the thinner model with the fusion drive and then the one I have now. I love this thing.
THIS BEING SAID. I purchased an old 2002 used iMac G4 locally for $90. It solely exists to me as a piece of history and art. It DOES boot up and connect to the Internet, but everything is wildly out of date. I truly truly love the design to this day. It's heavy as hell compared to today, but I just love the way it looks. 22 years after release it STILL looks like it came from 70 years in the future.
I had a super-drive, wide-screen version of this in the early to mid 2000s to replace my previous Gen3. I fondly remember fondling the round base and its smooth surface and warmth. In fact both might be still in boxes somewhere in my house.
I love the design of the imac g4
A modern version of this:
- A 21", 24" and 28" versions of it. Extremely thin displays, like from M3 Macbooks.
- Three SATA/NVMe slots, one by default for OS X, two for additional or even RAID.
- 6-8 USB ports, 4 of USB 3.1 and 2-4 of USB-C.
- Apple M3 processor and 8 GB RAM, upgrade possibility up to 32 GB.
- Something magical? Add a small in-built battery, as a UPS for power cuts for 5-8 min power time.
- best WiFi you can have for it, + the RJ-45 port with gigabit connection.
It would be marvelous...
Pricing: 499/599/799 for the display size.
Our first Mac was iMac 24-inch released in late 2006. It looked striking in its all-white unibody design. Friends laughed at us for going with a Mac, but its design language spoke volume to us. My sister and I used to fight as kids for whose turn was it to finally use it. It slept only during nighttime. We still have it tucked inside its retail box. I'll go fire it up next week to see how it's doing.
I have one of these iMacs in my house. It's actually set up at a desk and plugged in. I'll definitely have to give Shuriken a try since I've not heard of it until now. The thing is currently basically useless and has only stuck around because I couldn't bring myself to get rid of a computer with such a unique form factor. No idea why they didn't keep this design going for a few generations.
And a word on the Mighty Mouse: It has *four* buttons. The normal left-click, a right-click (which is disabled by default for some baffling reason), a middle click with the scroll ball (which is awesome and way better than a scroll wheel), and then the side click that was mentioned in the video. As far as I can tell it's the best mouse Apple ever made; people just never used it to its full potential because the default settings for it in OS X were dumb.
watching this i get to believe that people really can time travel. decades later someone still have the origila foam for the display... thats insane
I agree, this is the most beautiful computer Apple has made. I have bought one of these and it is a great retro experience to play CDs and listen to the Harmon Kardon speakers (which still give it function; running Mac OS 10.4 Tiger). I would love to see this design on a current computer, perhaps with a mini-like computer at the base and with an option to expand with drives or GPUs and a magnetic way to attach an iPad as a second screen.
It was my very first mac. I absolutely adored it, and I wish I kept it when I upgraded
I think you have me legitimately more excited about the robot mopping vacuum than I am about the iMac.
I can’t tell you the no of times I stood in front of an Apple Store and drooled over this Mac. By the time I took the plunge into Mac, the sunflower was discontinued. If they bring this back ..take my money now! They should.. beats the current design hands down any day!
I've always wanted a I mac, because I thought it looks/ed so freaking cool.
0:35 its crazy how that's literally modern apple... yet they are worth the most they have ever been. Something is genuinely wrong with society.
Ive been loving seeing the upgrades and mods to those old G4 iMacs. Putting sleeper ITX PCs in them, or the new m-series Mac minis in the base.
I’m fairly sure someone has put an OLED or IPS display into one by now.
I just got rid of my g4 last year, after holding on to it for waaayy longer than I should have. It was such a cool thing and I had so many happy memories of it. I really didn't want to discard such an iconic device. While it was functioning well , only one of the USB ports worked and it was so slow that I couldn't find a use for it. I studied all the ways I could substitute the innards for a NUC or equivalent system , but finally decided that I was just being too sentimental.
I came across one of these in about 2015 in working condition. I was just a few years out of high school at that point and when I realized there wasn’t much you could do with it, I got rid of it… I wish I hadn’t. Im sure I’d have a use for it today.
Loved the G4 cube back then! Such a wonderful machine (minus the problems)
Fun fact: some fans modded this iconic G4 lamp imac into a fully functional M1 with high res display
OMG if they took the guts of a modern Mac Studio and put it in a new version of this I would buy it instantly. I have the 17" version of this and it is my favorite all time Mac.
They offered the Imac G4 in a 20 inch version but it is almost impossible to find today.
The big problem with the G4 was the arm would break down and it was really hard to fix it.
0:12 I think we are in 2024 by now, since the Macintosh was released in 1984 (40 years ago) :)
I LOVEEEEEEE my G4's sooooo much. is an amazing piece of art sitting on my desks, soooo purdy
I bought this very computer the day it was released and it still works perfectly (although it's certainly not my main computer, which is a late 2015 27" iMac which desperately needs replacing...).
I bought one a few years ago. Maxed out the RAM. It plays Sim City 2000 and Civ2 VERY WELL. I also have fun doing basic web browsing in a mobile mode.
I've got the 20" version of this. It's an awesome piece of design, but there's a reason every iMac since has just put the logic board on the back of the LCD and called it a day. The base made sense when slim optical drives (especially DVD-RWs) were expensive, and the iMac needed to accommodate a 5.25" model to save costs. But once these (and large LCDs) plunged in price, the rationale wasn't there any more. To stop the iMac from tipping over, it's base also needed to be made from a heavy lead alloy, which would have increased shipping costs. Plus the spread out configuration needed a big cube box, rather than a slim trapezoid, taking up more space in stockrooms.
Having said that, Apple's designs in the 1998-2002 era were really cool; they screamed "design" and essentially did double duty as marketing for Apple. Once Apple was back on their feet, they calmed down and everything just became a slim aluminium rectangle, up to the present day. I do miss the whimsy of the 2000's-era designs.
Thank you for point out that it was in their fight for survival that lead to so much great innovation like this. Just look at how much the iMac / eMac accomplished from 1998 - 2004. It blows away any progress made from 2004-2024.
This is my favorite mac, and I have couple of them, but completely broken. I hope someday I can use modern Mac to power it because the form factor is so cool.
I had two of those. I loved them. I had the small screen and then the 17 inch screen.
I had (and loved) a Cube back in the day. I never thought it was as nice as this iMac, but I was always impressed with the looks, performance and those Harmon Kardon speakers.
There are still places I go to that have the Mighty Mouse and its abysmal default cursor speed. I am so glad you didn’t get stuck with one of those.
It would,ve been amazing if this form factor returned with M series chips, being able to adjust the display so freely is great. I wonder how hard would it be to DIY it with a mac studio
This was my first desktop. I had a Windows 7 laptop as a kid and a family member gave me their iMac G4. I asked to have it gone within the month
I never heard of Shuriken before, I'll have to try it on my G4 Quicksilver running Tiger OS X 10.4.11, you should add the download details to your video description.
I believe your LCD display uses CCFL tubes, and can be replaced as they can on the 23 and 30 inch Cinema Displays from 2005.
Still got my fully specked out G4. It was my first apple computer I ever bought. Although, in college we used the G3s, so that was cool.
Thank you for the waves of happy nostalgia! I thought about making a scaled-up version with larger screen.
The drawings I did, it looked ungainly? I'm question marking, there, because I can't find my original drawings. Have you tried at your end to see what it would look like? A huge plum pudding with scaled-up arm and screen size. It sort of worked, I figured that oversized plum pudding would have lots of room to hide external storage and at one point I even considered making a built in bass/mid speaker (down-firing, with the electronics shielded from the vibrations) and hiding tweeters within the enlarged monitor's housing. I couldn't figure out how to make an enlarged version of the arm, I don't have the metal working skills.
If anyone has made an oversized version, I would love to see that. I know that's a lot of work but if you took that on, you'd be a legend! I mean, there are up-dated versions out there but I think you're right, one with a decent sized screen could be a huge seller for Apple.
My favorite iMac, I hope bought one someday, really beautiful design
If they released another iMac like that I would buy it without hesitation I wasn’t aware that a modern os replacement is available for the iMac G4. It’s time to take mine of the shelf and put it back to work.
grab yours while its cheap. I got the 20" model a couple years back for $50. even if you find one not working (as long as the monitor is working) you mod it and put a Mac mini with m1 or m2 inside and have the coolest looking modern computer.
Modding a mac mini with an iPad for the screen in a case like this... That idea gave me goosebumps
I have a 800Mhz one and love it, not for it's specs but for it's design. All other mainstream desktop computers are basically cubes. Sure the imac before it was sort of not a cube having it's sides rounded and squeezed and there are some custom PC's that are different but I don't think any one can find a mainstream computers that brakes the moulde quite as well.
picked up a 800mhz g4 imac a while back for like 60 bucks, i love this little thing, it's such a beautiful computer
That is my favorite Apple keyboard of all time. Used mine until about a year ago. Like the travel and feel of the keys.
Great video and I agree that the G4 is the best iMac! Have you seen the mods where people put a M1 Mac Mini inside it? It would be cool if you attempted to do that project at some point lol
I tried to buy one of these used back in 2005ish but never got it. I've had many version of the iMac over the years. Using a 14yr old iMac right now. Works fine for regular tasks.
As a vintage Mac collector, I've sworn off the iMac G4. I've had a couple and installed SSDs in both, but they're so fragile - specifically, the TMDS cable is so damn delicate.
I'm not too sad, though, as I technically have an iMac G4: the eMac, which is basically the iMac G4 with a cheaper CRT screen and iMac G3-style case design. Moreover, I upgraded my eMac with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB Samsung mSATA SSD. The 80 GB mechanical hard-drive is too sick to boot and VERY HARD to access, but the optical drive is pretty easy to access, so I replaced the optical drive with an SSD. :D
I also have a graphite slot-loading iMac G3, which I upgraded with 1 GB of RAM and a 128 GB Compact Flash card for an SSD, and an iMac G5, which I upgraded with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB SATA SSD.
I worked for an ad company that was putting a bunch of these on a pallet to be scrapped. You better believe I hopped on one and begged to keep it. I took the electronics out of it. But I have it on the shell just as a piece of industrial art. I keep intending to use it as an ipad holder or put new PC guts into it.
That was without a doubt the best iMac design ever. I loved mine and was quite disappointed when they went to the computer behind the screen versions. If they came out with a new iMac with that design I would certainly buy it.
The iMac G4 has always been my favorite Mac!
I remembered the G4 iMac which the Design looks great.
This with a touchscreen (and modern components like Quinn said) 🥵
I'd be very proud to have this beauty on my desk. Everything today is so cold and soulless.
Loving the Mao Zedong fit Quinn, best of luck with the cultural revolution
This style I liked the most, although the size of monitor was limited. I'm now watching on a 27-inch from 2013 that I bought used.
APO AE 09142 (Mine is 09114) is an address to a now deactivated US Army Installation, which was called “ O’Brien Barracks”, which was located around Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany.
This was most likely a US Army Soldier who’d received their bonus, given it was 2002, they had most likely just received a major bonus for enlisting and spent it on the G4 iMac. That, or the Soldier had just returned from a combat deployment with a year’s worth of untaxed bonuses and salary.
The tradition of privates blowing their paychecks all at once never dies.
My keyboard is so yellowed. Wow! Yours is in great condition!
Those speakers sounded amazing, better than the harmon kardon sound sticks.
Always thought that’s the most beautiful Mac they ever made. Never had one though, just the first G3 and then the 2009 and the 27” I think also 2009 which I still have.
I had the widescreen model back starting around 2003 or 4 I think. I loved it, and those speakers were no joke. It was a really exciting time because iLife came out soon after I got this computer and I fell in love with GarageBand for recording guitar… so many good memories with this computer
This beauty, the 3rd gen iPod, the 2nd gen iPod nano, and the 12" powerbook g4 to this day remain my favourite apple products!
This is super interesting! Obviously this was a long time ago, but I started covering consumer electronics in 2004. I remember seeing one of these at my friend’s house prior to that - but I swore that was several years prior. Crazy how this was out just a couple of years before I got into this business. This, and the capacitive iPod, were amazing pieces of tech from that era!
I hate to break it to you, brother, but you’re old. 😝 Thanks for the comment, Dru!
I remember my dad unboxing this same iMac!! Bring back the great accessories this came with