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It's wild that there was a feeling when that computer came out of "this is the coolest computer design ever," and then the world moved past that. You can look
by bsimpson 2y ago
It's wild that there was a feeling when that computer came out of "this is the coolest computer design ever," and then the world moved past that.
You can look at the iMac line and see that they moved to a more laptopy everything-in-the-screen design, which got rid of the base altogether. But it's weird and sad that there was a "best" and then things that came after the best that were less fun, and two decades later we all still seem to feel that way.
I suppose part of that was all the attention that shifted to touchscreen phones, and computers becoming thought of as practical work tools.
- SahAssar 2y agoLooking at imac G3->G4->G5 each one was a huge step in design. I think the G4 stands out to me because the "floating" display was something I had never seen before.
- BuildTheRobots 2y agoThe G3 an G4 towers deserve extra special design mention. From a tinkering and engineering point of view, they were _lovely_ to work on.
- cogman10 2y agoWhat's wild to me is that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are basically computer illiterate by and large. The reason old computers were fun is because all the hip young millennials loved them for everything. That has become much less the case as the younger generations do everything with a phone/tablet/or console. Just surfing the internet for my generation was a chore that is hard for the younger generations to understand.
- dylan604 2y ago> What's wild to me is that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are basically computer illiterate by and large. That's something I've realized as well. There was a time where typing was something more and more people could do, but now nobody cares/needs to learn how. The number of households that had at least one computer was something I thought would get to pretty much everyone, but now there are more and more people with the only compute device being their phone. Owning a computer seems to be an age indicator like wearing tube socks.
- fjjjrjj 2y agoI have a teenager and a elementary schooler and both enjoy PC gaming. The elder is interested in game development through his love of Roblox. I hope to help him get started with an IDE for lua, git, and a LLM and turn him loose on it.
- dylan604 2y ago> and a LLM this makes me nervous for proper learning of anything in the future. when the first step to learning is an LLM vs learning the basics with a good understanding and then moving to the "advanced" tools, I don't think this is really learning
- sejje 2y agoThe llm can teach you the basics. It's really good at it. You can't see if it's really learning or not until you see how it's used.
- dylan604 2y agoso now you're implying that everyone that has ever learned anything before an LLM could not see if they were really learning or not? the overly zealous pro-LLM crowd makes me sad that they cannot admit how ridiculous they sound to rationally thinking people
- amatecha 2y agoWell, those wild/creative designs WERE the "practical work tools". Check out the PowerMac G3, this thing looks totally colourful and silly but this was the most powerful machine Apple made at the time: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lhutton/48688728841/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/lhutton/48688728841/ (also dang I still really want one, still haven't found a good deal on one lol)
- hot_gril 2y agoor the G4 Cube
- dylan604 2y agoI owned a G3 that was the last beige box Apple made before that clear plastic Fisher Price looking unit. I didn't mind the colorful iMacs. In my mind, the iMacs were fun things and the colors were okay, but the towers were meant to be serious computers and fun is just not allowed or something moronic. Those towers were just something I never cared for with no real reason. Oh, and the hockey puck mouse that came out around that time. Yuck
- webworker 2y agoThere's a cache of them in a storage unit east of Atlanta. You can still find the listing on Facebook marketplace. I bought a B&W machine from the guy for $50 or $60. Also grabbed a G4 Digital Audio tower. To my surprise, it was a top-end 733 MHz model.
- amatecha 2y agoOh damn, nice! thanks for the tip. I'm up in Vancouver BC though so kind of a stretch unfortunately
- wahnfrieden 2y agoIt's reported to be making a comeback with the upcoming HomePod that has screen that can rotate to follow your presence
- dylan604 2y agothat's not creepy at all. why would that sound like a good idea that someone would want?
- crazygringo 2y agoSo the screen is clearly visible, no matter which side of the kitchen island you're on? Especially if the screen is showing a recipe, unit conversion, timers, etc. If it's silent, that seems like it could be really cool.
- JKCalhoun 2y agoLove to see a cylindrical, wraparound screen. (Very silent.)
- crazygringo 2y agoThat's really interesting. Or a hemisphere. And it only lights up in the direction you're looking at it from.
- wahnfrieden 2y agofor one, people like to record videos or do video calls without needing someone to hold the phone. they helped ship iphone accessories for this already, recently another use case is for watching something or interacting with it via voice when your hands are tied up doing something else or from a distance. same value as vision pro without the goggles or isolation
- firecall 2y agoAt least Framework released a new Desktop And they tried to be fun with it! The 3D printed tiles on the front are a very cool idea and just perfect right now I think! :-) https://frame.work/au/en/desktop https://frame.work/au/en/desktop
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y agoI also like the colored backs on the 12 inch laptop they announced
- remir 2y agoTo me, that kind of product is what sets Apple apart from other companies in the industry. There's an optimism and playfulnes to that design that is refreshing.
- WWLink 2y agoApple always made things for the users. Microsoft always made things to sell to corporations. Dell always did the same, and their consumer offerings were always a shallow and shitty shell over their corporate ones (and this is STILL true! The alienware towers are generally just an ugly veneer on top of an optiflex case/motherboard LOL).
- EndShell 2y agoWhile that all maybe true. All my Apple kit is dead from a decade or more ago except for the G4 Mac Mini (which is useless btw). The Dell and Thinkpads I have all still work and work quite well and are easy to repair. Repairing Apple stuff is always a nightmare and always more expensive.
- divbzero 2y agoThe hardware components have become so small that there is no longer a need to design a creative enclosure. All-in-one computers—phone, tablet, or desktop—can now approach the Platonic ideal of that single flat screen.
- abraxas 2y agoExcept when they can't. A good GPU still won't fit in a flat case that you describe. And things like the current gen imac feel a little pointless as they are basically laptop guts with a larger screen bundled in. I'd rather get a laptop and a second screen for it than one of those.
- thesuitonym 2y agoYou might want that, but there are plenty of people who just want to have their computer sit on their desk.
- sgerenser 2y agoThe ironic thing is, when Steve Jobs introduced this form factor, he made a joke about the “obvious” choice just being a flat slab with the computer guts tucked behind the monitor. But Apple would never do something that boring! https://youtu.be/k74NgDbR7gI?si=zEgsUiQazXB5f1dP&t=3777 https://youtu.be/k74NgDbR7gI?si=zEgsUiQazXB5f1dP&t=3777
- pazimzadeh 2y ago? he clearly explains that they couldn't place the CD/DVD drive vertically without reducing the read/write speeds by a lot
- hot_gril 2y agoAnecdotally, the CD/DVD drive in the G5 was super unreliable.
- chicom_malware 2y ago[dead]
- WWLink 2y agoThe imac g5 that followed was such a boring and ugly design compared to the G4. There was no mistaking that LOL. I don't think anyone liked it.
- tonyedgecombe 2y agoIt looked good on the inside.
- webworker 2y agoThe really should have kept that design around longer, iterated on it. Maybe it just wasn't possible to put a G5 on that small of a logic board, but it's still an absolutely stunning computer. I have one sitting on my kitchen counter right now!
- bsimpson 2y agoI'm realizing that there may be people here who are too young to remember how great the ad for this was: https://youtu.be/b5P3QDm61go?si=eCDEa-9KKjG0b7fQ https://youtu.be/b5P3QDm61go?si=eCDEa-9KKjG0b7fQ
- abraxas 2y agoThe amazing thing is that we currently have all the tech to make that ad work in reality where back when this was shot, it was pure sci-fi.
- mortenjorck 2y agoWhether or not it will ever see the light of day (and what use case it will actually solve) is another question, but it’s basically confirmed that Apple is in fact working on this! https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/19/apple-robot-spotted-in-supply-chain/ https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/19/apple-robot-spotted-in-...
- hot_gril 2y agoIt's wild to me how many very different iMac form factors there were a few years apart. Somehow as a little kid, I remember seeing the iMac G3 and G5 (and the eMac) everywhere but not the iMac G4 until much later. One day was like, wut is that.
- Eric_WVGG 2y ago> and then the world moved past that I’m 100% sure it was just too expensive to keep making. Jobs probably said “price be damned, I love this thing and the manufacturing cost will go down over time” and it didn’t.
- starkparker 2y agoMoving the ports from the stand to the back of the display remains the single most baffling decision of the iMac line, regardless of everything else. The stand is stationary regardless of the display angle and way more conducive to stable cable management. The last few generations of iMac made removing the stand technically not a user-serviceable action, so manufacturing USB-hub stand risers custom-fit to iMacs is practically its own industry. A device still bound by mandates to be unnecessarily thin and light, and with an arbitrarily non-removable stand, can still make the stand a few centimeters thicker, run a fixed line from the logic board and into the stand, and put some or all of the ports inside it. Hell, go wild and make the bottom of the stand a full inch thick, and you could put a user-accessible m.2 port in it,[1] but that damages the justification for upcharging $200 to add 256GB of storage. 1: https://www.amazon.com/PULWTOP-Adapter-Accessories-Docking-Included/dp/B0BWHD9YZL https://www.amazon.com/PULWTOP-Adapter-Accessories-Docking-I...