IMac in the context of "Liquid crystal display"

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⭐ Core Definition: IMac

The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple, sold as part of the company's Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evolved through seven distinct forms. The iMac natively runs the macOS operating system.

In its original form, the iMac G3 had a gumdrop, ADM-3 or egg-shaped look, with a CRT monitor, mainly enclosed by a colored, translucent plastic case. The computer was, at the time, an inexpensive, consumer-oriented computer that would easily connect to the Internet. The second major revision, the iMac G4, moved a design with a hemispherical base containing all the main components and an LCD monitor on a freely moving arm attached to it. The third and fourth revisions, the iMac G5 and the Intel iMac, placed all the components immediately behind the display in a plastic casing, creating a slim unified design that tilts only up and down on a simple metal base. The fifth, sixth and seventh revisions swapped the plastic enclosure for metal and became progressively thinner over each revision.

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In this Dossier

IMac in the context of Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley, best known for its consumer electronics, software and online services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Company by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, the company was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple Computer, Inc. the following year. It was renamed to its current name in 2007 as the company had expanded its focus from computers to consumer electronics. Apple has been described as a Big Tech company.

The company was founded to market Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. Its successor, the Apple II, became one of the first successful mass-produced microcomputers. Apple introduced the Lisa in 1983 and the Macintosh in 1984 as some of the first computers to use a graphical user interface and a mouse. By 1985, internal conflicts led to Jobs leaving the company to form NeXT and Wozniak withdrawing to other ventures; John Sculley served as CEO for over a decade. In the 1990s, Apple lost considerable market share in the personal computer industry to the lower-priced Wintel duopoly of Intel-powered PC clones running Microsoft Windows, and neared bankruptcy by 1997. To overhaul its market strategy, it acquired NeXT, bringing Jobs back to the company. Under his leadership, Apple returned to profitability by introducing the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices; creating the iTunes Store; launching the "Think different" advertising campaign; and opening the Apple Store retail chain. Jobs resigned in 2011 for health reasons, and died two months later; he was succeeded as CEO by Tim Cook.

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IMac in the context of Macintosh

Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh apple. The current product lineup includes the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, and the iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro desktops. Macs are currently sold with Apple's UNIX-based macOS operating system, which is not licensed to other manufacturers and exclusively bundled with Mac computers. This operating system replaced Apple's original Macintosh operating system, which has variously been named System, Mac OS, and Classic Mac OS.

Jef Raskin conceived the Macintosh project in 1979, which was usurped and redefined by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1981. The original Macintosh was launched in January 1984 at US$2,495 (equivalent to $7,600 in 2024), after Apple's "1984" advertisement during Super Bowl XVIII. A series of incrementally improved models followed, sharing the same integrated case design. In 1987, the Macintosh II brought color graphics, but priced as a professional workstation and not a personal computer. Beginning in 1994 with the Power Macintosh, the Mac transitioned from Motorola 68000 series processors to PowerPC. Macintosh clones by other manufacturers were also briefly sold afterwards. The line was refreshed in 1998 with the launch of the iMac G3, reinvigorating the line's competitiveness against commodity IBM PC compatibles. Macs transitioned to Intel x86 processors by 2006 along with new sub-product lines MacBook and Mac Pro. Since 2020, Macs have transitioned to Apple silicon chips based on ARM64.
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IMac in the context of Mac Mini

Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple. It is one of the company's four current Mac desktop computers, positioned as the entry-level consumer product, below the all-in-one iMac and the professional Mac Studio and Mac Pro. From its launch, the device has been sold without a display, keyboard, or mouse, and was originally marketed with the slogan "BYODKM" (Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard, and Mouse). This strategic pitch targeted current owners of Windows desktop computers; by leveraging peripherals users likely already owned, the computer offered a cost-effective way to switch to a Mac.

In January 2005, the original Mac Mini was introduced with the PowerPC G4 CPU. In February 2006, Apple switched to an Intel Core Solo CPU. A thinner unibody redesign, unveiled in June 2010, added an HDMI port and was more readily positioned as a home theater device and an alternative to the Apple TV.

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IMac in the context of Mac Studio

The Mac Studio is a small-form-factor workstation computer developed and marketed by Apple. It is one of four desktop computers in the Mac lineup, sitting above the consumer-range Mac Mini and iMac, and positioned below the Mac Pro. It is configurable with either the M4 Max or M3 Ultra system on a chip.

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IMac in the context of Mac Pro

Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals made by Apple since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of four desktop computers in the current Mac lineup, sitting above the Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Studio.

Introduced in August 2006, the Mac Pro was an Intel-based replacement for the Power Mac line and had two dual-core Xeon Woodcrest processors and a rectangular tower case carried over from the Power Mac G5. It was updated on April 4, 2007, by a dual quad-core Xeon Clovertown model, then on January 8, 2008, by a dual quad-core Xeon Harpertown model. Revisions in 2010 and 2012 revisions had Nehalem-EP/Westmere-EP architecture Intel Xeon processors.

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IMac in the context of Mini-VGA

Mini-VGA connectors are proprietary and non-standard alternative video connectors that were used on some laptops and other computer systems in place of a standard VGA connector. Apple, HP, and Asus each introduced separate connectors using the same moniker of "mini-VGA", but which are otherwise physically incompatible with each other (though all of them are compatible with standard VGA using the correct adapter).

Apple's mini-VGA ports may be found on some older Apple computers, including iBooks, eMacs, certain PowerBooks (e.g., early G4 12-inch), and some iMacs (e.g., iMac G4, G5). In addition to a more compact form-factor, Apple's mini-VGA ports also have the added ability to output composite as well as S-Video, in addition to VGA signals, through the use of EDID. When used for S-Video, S-Video's chrominance (C) and luminance (Y) signals replace VGA's red (R) and green (G) channels, while for composite video, the signal is output through VGA's blue (B) channel. (The horizontal and vertical sync pins of VGA are left unused.)

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