Macs > iMac
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Key dates
- August 15, 1998 — The iMac goes on sale.
- October 26, 1998 — The Rev B iMac appears with an improved graphics chip and redesigned reset button.
- January 5, 1999 — The iMac is bumped to 266MHz and now available in 5 fruit flavours. The new models have larger hard disks but no IrDA or PCI Mezzanine slot.
- April 14, 1999 — iMac quietly bumped to 333MHz with no other significant changes.
- October 5, 1999 — iMac DV models introduced with slot-loading drives, fanless enclosure, optional FireWire and AirPort and new Snow and Graphite flavors.
- July 19, 2000 — A recomfigured iMac line is launched with processors up to 500MHz and new colors. Low-end models are Sage, Ruby or Indigo. High-end models are Snow or Graphite.
- February 22, 2001 — iMacs becomes available in Flower Power and Blue Dalmation colors with CD-RW drives as standard and processors up to 600MHz.
- July 18, 2001 — Apple drops the Flower Power and Blue Dalmation iMacs. New models now have processors up to 700MHz.
- October 1, 2001 — A $799 CD-ROM iMac is quietly added to the lineup.
- January 7, 2002 — An all-new iMac with a 15-inch LCD and 700MHz or 800MHz G4 is announced. A SuperDrive option is now available.
- March 20, 2002 — iMac prices are increased $100 to cover rising component costs.
- July 17, 2002 — A new 17-inch Flat Panel iMac is added to the line up. The top-end 15-inch model is made $100 cheaper and the G3 iMac line is reduced to single Snow model.
- August 13, 2002 — The eMac line is expanded to two models, with the choice between a Combo drive or a SuperDrive. Meanwhile, the 15-inch CD-RW and Combo drive iMacs get their prices lowered by $100.
- October 7, 2002 — The 15-inch SuperDrive iMac price is lowered by another $100.
- February 4, 2003 — The 17-inch iMac gets a 1GHz processor, DDR memory, an audio input and optional AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth. The 15-inch model gets a bigger hard disk but no other improvements.
- March 18, 2003 — The last G3 iMac is discontinued.
- September 8, 2003 — The iMac gets processors up to 1.25GHz. Both model now have USB 2.0, DDR memory and optional AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth.
- November 18, 2003 — A 20-inch iMac is added to the lineup.
- August 31, 2004 — The iMac G5 is introduced in a new fully-integrated enclosure.
- May 3, 2005 — Faster eMacs and iMacs are introduced. The iMac G5 now goes up to 2GHz and features AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet as standard, plus an Ambient Light Sensor added to control sleep light brightness. The eMac is bumped to 1.42GHz and gets a Radeon 9600 graphics chip.
- October 12, 2005 — The iMac G5 gets a new slimmer enclosure with a built-in iSight and support for Front Row.
- January 10, 2006 — The iMac becomes Apple's first Intel-based product with Core Duo processors as standard but the same enclosure. It now has a Mini-DVI port.
- February 1, 2006 — The 20-inch iMac G5 has its price reduced by $300.
- March 13, 2006 — The 17-inch iMac G5 is removed from the Apple Store.
- March 20, 2006 — The 20-inch iMac G5 is removed from the Apple Store.
- July 5, 2006 — A new cut-price iMac is made available to education customers only. It features Intel GMA 950 graphics, a Combo drive, no bundled Apple Remote, no Bluetooth and other cost-saving measures.
- September 6, 2006 — Apple introduces a new Core 2 Duo iMac lineup with a new 24-inch model. An updated version of the iMac for Education is now available to consumers.
- August 7, 2007 — Apple switches iMacs to a news im aluminum enclosure with faster processors, and drops the 17 inch model.
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