Collection › iMac G3/233 Original – Bondi (Rev. A & B)

D183 · Apple Heritage Museum · Lugano

iMac G3/233 Original – Bondi (Rev. A & B)

● Vintage 1998 · iMac era iMac

Introduced

1998

Original price

$ 1299

Processor

PowerPC 750 (G3)

Original OS

Mac OS 8.1 (Rev. A) / Mac OS 8.5 (Rev. B)

Colors

Bondi Blue

1976

1984

1998

2001

2007

2020

2026

Pre-Mac

Mac era

iMac era

iPod era

iPhone era

Silicon

Processor

ProcessorPowerPC 750 (G3)

Speed233 MHz

ArchitectureColumbus architecture

Cache512k backside level 2 cache

System bus66 MHz

Memory & graphics

Standard RAM32 MB

Max RAM128 MB (officially); 384 MB (Rev. A) / 512 MB (Rev. B) unofficially

RAM typePC66 SDRAM

Memory slots2 DIMM sockets

GPUATI Rage IIc (Rev. A) or ATI Rage Pro Turbo (Rev. B)

VRAM2 MB VRAM (Rev. A) / 6 MB VRAM (Rev. B)

Display15-inch CRT (13.8-inch viewable)

Resolutions640x480 at 117 Hz, 800x600 at 95 Hz, 1024x768 at 75 Hz; up to 1600x1200 on external monitor

Storage

Storage4.0 GB EIDE (ATA-3) hard drive

Connectivity

USB2 USB 1.1 ports

Ethernet10/100BASE-T Ethernet

Audio inAudio line in

Audio outAudio line out, 2 headphone ports

Modem56k modem

Infrared4 Mbit/s IrDA infrared port

Software

Original OSMac OS 8.1 (Rev. A) / Mac OS 8.5 (Rev. B)

Apple statusVintage

Power

Expansion slotsInternal mezzanine slot

Identifiers

Model IDiMac,1

Model N°M4984

Order N°M6709LL/A (Rev. A), M6709LL/B (Rev. B)

Lifecycle

Introduced1998

Apple statusVintage

History

Announced in May 1998 and distributed in August, the iMac was Apple's computer for the new millennium. Aimed at the low-end consumer market and designed with the Internet in mind, the iMac was positioned by Apple as the newest computer most original since the original Mac of 1984, and came in an elegant new case design, with translucent "Bondi Blue" plastics. The iMac included a 4 Mbps IrDA port and an internal 56 Kbps modem (a 33.6 kbps modem had initially been announced in May, but was upgraded to 56 Kbps during MacWorld). It used two 12 Mbps Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports as the sole means of external expansion, and included a newly designed USB keyboard and mouse. Although it lacked other serial or SCSI ports, numerous manufacturers promised to make available a variety of USB peripherals by the time of distribution in August, and largely kept this promise. A "Rev B." model was released a few months later, with 6 MB of VRAM and several hardware bug fixes. The iMac was sold for $1,299 US dollars. This iMac Rev. B was replaced by the Rev. C in January 1999.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_(Apple_silicon) · Wikipedia

Trivia

• The original 1998 iMac was the first Apple computer to use USB ports exclusively, completely abandoning traditional serial and SCSI connectors, revolutionizing the concept of peripheral expansion. • The celebrated transparent "Bondi Blue" design was not merely aesthetic: it represented Apple's willingness to position the computer as a symbol of modernity and technological transparency for the new millennium. • Announced in May 1998 but shipped only in August, the iMac included an internal modem that was upgraded from 33.6 kbps to 56 kbps right during development, demonstrating the crucial importance of the Internet in Apple's vision for the future.

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D183 · APPLE HERITAGE MUSEUM · LUGANO

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