Memories of iconic Apple computer
In 1998 Apple released an iconic computer with the Apple iMac G3. This release is now seen as one of the most important comeback factors for Apple after a period of weak financial results in the early 90s. I was lucky enough to own back in the day, and here are some memories I have of it.
Design
Of course, the most iconic aspect of the iMac G3 is the design of translucent and colored plastic. I also like computers that include the computer and display in one design, so you don't have the need to buy a separate display. The plastic design came in different colors - I had the most common Bondi Blue edition. The iMac G3 is a lot bigger and a lot heavier (17,2 kilogram!) than you might guess from pictures of it. I remember one time I had to let it repair in a shop, and it was quite hard to transport without sweating...
No floppy drive
With the release of the iMac G3 Apple decided floppy discs were obsolete, so they left out a floppy drive. Instead they focused on the CD-ROM technology, with an eyecatching front-loading CD-drive (that sometimes could get stuck, after which you had to monkey about with a stretched-out paperclip in an attempt to open it again). So while Apple declared floppy discs obsolete, in practice a lot of people were still using floppy discs in 1998. My Windows-PC friend made fun of the iMac for not having a floppy drive. Because many people were still using floppy's I also needed one and I guess a lot of other users felt the same way, because a third-party manufacturer released a separate floppy drive station for the iMac G3 (with the same nice translucent plastic design). I remember I still used it a lot...
Mouse
Another point that the iMac G3 got a lot of criticism for was the included mouse, that was soon unofficially labeled as the 'hockey puck' mouse. I had never any problems with it, but users with large hands found it too small. Since it only has one button, it was also very low on functionality, which sometimes was a problem by controlling more complicated games.
Paperclip restart
At the side of the iMac G3 you could remove a large piece of plastic, under which you'd find a microphone port, a speaker port, 2 USB ports, an Ethernet port and a telephone jack. Between the last two ports there were very (very) small holes for the 'Reset Switch' and the 'Programmer's Switch'. I don't know were the latter was used for, but the Reset Switch hole was used a lot. When the iMac crashed or freezed usually all you could do was get off the plastic and put a stretched-out paperclip (once again!) in the Reset hole. Then the iMac would reset. I very often wished the machine had a separate reset button, because I found it quite laborious (the computer crashed a lot when trying to run old Mac games that weren't optimised for the new operating system) and also my Windows-PC's friends made fun of it...
-
Video games!
I believe most original iMac G3 models came with a demo of the dinosaur game Nanosaur, developed by Pangea Software. This game was alright, but I never found it too interesting and a litte too childish. Pangea Software also released Otto-Matic, a robot action-adventure game, that came bundled with later iMac G3 models. Another Pangea game that was popular among iMac G3 gamers was Bugdom, in which you take the roll of a beetle and you have to find and fight your way through different levels. All these three Pangea Software games seem to run on the same 3D graphic engine, since they look very much alike.
Nanosaur - Otto-Matic - Bugdom
--
Another game that may have came bundled with my iMac G3 (but I am not sure of that anymore) was the excellent action-shooter MDK. This game by Shiny Entertainment looked great and still ran fast and offered fun missions and action. Games that I bought separately at the time to play on my iMac were Carmageddon (the infamous violent combat racegame in which you had to run over people for points - the game ran fluently on the iMac G3, but I never had the skill to complete it) and Riven, the sequel to Myst that came on five CD-ROM's. I believe this game gave me some problems with the CD-ROM drive of the iMac, because the game needs to 'auto-switch' between CD-ROM's at some point. The CD-ROM then automatically has to eject from the computer, and that didn't always happen, meaning you were stuck (the trick with the paperclip could get out the CD-ROM but the game wouldn't register it that way).
MDK - Carmaggedon - Riven
--
But the game I have played most on my iMac G3 (I was addicted to it) was... StarCraft! Blizzard released the Mac OS version in 1999 and I spent many, many hours on it... So maybe it isn't what you expected at first hand, but for me StarCraft is one of the games that defined the iMac G3 for me!
-
StarCraft
If you have any similar (or totally different!) memories of the iMac G3, please let me know!
Design
Of course, the most iconic aspect of the iMac G3 is the design of translucent and colored plastic. I also like computers that include the computer and display in one design, so you don't have the need to buy a separate display. The plastic design came in different colors - I had the most common Bondi Blue edition. The iMac G3 is a lot bigger and a lot heavier (17,2 kilogram!) than you might guess from pictures of it. I remember one time I had to let it repair in a shop, and it was quite hard to transport without sweating...
No floppy drive
With the release of the iMac G3 Apple decided floppy discs were obsolete, so they left out a floppy drive. Instead they focused on the CD-ROM technology, with an eyecatching front-loading CD-drive (that sometimes could get stuck, after which you had to monkey about with a stretched-out paperclip in an attempt to open it again). So while Apple declared floppy discs obsolete, in practice a lot of people were still using floppy discs in 1998. My Windows-PC friend made fun of the iMac for not having a floppy drive. Because many people were still using floppy's I also needed one and I guess a lot of other users felt the same way, because a third-party manufacturer released a separate floppy drive station for the iMac G3 (with the same nice translucent plastic design). I remember I still used it a lot...
Mouse
Another point that the iMac G3 got a lot of criticism for was the included mouse, that was soon unofficially labeled as the 'hockey puck' mouse. I had never any problems with it, but users with large hands found it too small. Since it only has one button, it was also very low on functionality, which sometimes was a problem by controlling more complicated games.
Paperclip restart
At the side of the iMac G3 you could remove a large piece of plastic, under which you'd find a microphone port, a speaker port, 2 USB ports, an Ethernet port and a telephone jack. Between the last two ports there were very (very) small holes for the 'Reset Switch' and the 'Programmer's Switch'. I don't know were the latter was used for, but the Reset Switch hole was used a lot. When the iMac crashed or freezed usually all you could do was get off the plastic and put a stretched-out paperclip (once again!) in the Reset hole. Then the iMac would reset. I very often wished the machine had a separate reset button, because I found it quite laborious (the computer crashed a lot when trying to run old Mac games that weren't optimised for the new operating system) and also my Windows-PC's friends made fun of it...
-
Video games!
I believe most original iMac G3 models came with a demo of the dinosaur game Nanosaur, developed by Pangea Software. This game was alright, but I never found it too interesting and a litte too childish. Pangea Software also released Otto-Matic, a robot action-adventure game, that came bundled with later iMac G3 models. Another Pangea game that was popular among iMac G3 gamers was Bugdom, in which you take the roll of a beetle and you have to find and fight your way through different levels. All these three Pangea Software games seem to run on the same 3D graphic engine, since they look very much alike.
Nanosaur - Otto-Matic - Bugdom
--
Another game that may have came bundled with my iMac G3 (but I am not sure of that anymore) was the excellent action-shooter MDK. This game by Shiny Entertainment looked great and still ran fast and offered fun missions and action. Games that I bought separately at the time to play on my iMac were Carmageddon (the infamous violent combat racegame in which you had to run over people for points - the game ran fluently on the iMac G3, but I never had the skill to complete it) and Riven, the sequel to Myst that came on five CD-ROM's. I believe this game gave me some problems with the CD-ROM drive of the iMac, because the game needs to 'auto-switch' between CD-ROM's at some point. The CD-ROM then automatically has to eject from the computer, and that didn't always happen, meaning you were stuck (the trick with the paperclip could get out the CD-ROM but the game wouldn't register it that way).
MDK - Carmaggedon - Riven
--
But the game I have played most on my iMac G3 (I was addicted to it) was... StarCraft! Blizzard released the Mac OS version in 1999 and I spent many, many hours on it... So maybe it isn't what you expected at first hand, but for me StarCraft is one of the games that defined the iMac G3 for me!
-
StarCraft
If you have any similar (or totally different!) memories of the iMac G3, please let me know!
Log in to comment on or rate this article. You can even write your own!
You grew up with coin buddy!
The iMac G3 is a lot bigger and a lot heavier (17,2 kilogram!) than you might guess from pictures of it. I remember one time I had to let it repair in a shop, and it was quite hard to transport without sweating. This is my situation: my iMac G3 (summer 2000 slot drive) has a broken Optical drive, so I can't install another operating system. Is there another way to install OS X? Using an external firewire CD-ROM drive, USB flash. I tried but it's impossible to repair the CD-ROM drive, and I need to install OS X.
I remember seeing these and thought to myself, 'Oh wow!'. They're still as eye catching today as they were in 1998. Thanks for the article!
I owned one, but later on. (2007, G3 Graphite.) I did however get the portable iBook in 1999 at Sears, Bondi blue. I took that sucker with me wherever I went, and got a lot of compliments on it too!
I owned one, but later on. (2007, G3 Graphite.) I did however get the portable iBook in 1999 at Sears, Bondi blue. I took that sucker with me wherever I went, and got a lot of compliments on it too!
Oh man, I remember wanting one of these.
They never made a yellow iMac because Steve Jobs didn't want anyone to associate the brand with 'a lemon.' Personally, I didn't see that happening. I made this about 15yrs ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1bg86ckV78
- The iMac had MAC OS 8.6 pre-installed on it. The processor that powered the computer was the 333 MHz PowerPC 750 (G3) processor. Some versions had the ATI Rage IIc graphics processor that used 6 MB of VRAM while others had the ATI Rage Pro Turbo graphics processor that used 6 MB of VRAM.
- IMac G3 in its original Bondi Blue color. Manufacturer: Apple Inc: Product family: iMac: Type: All-in-one: Release date: August 15, 1998; 22 years ago : Lifespan.
- Taking apart this old iMac g3 for a Hackintosh Build! (COMPUTER IS BROKEN! OTHERWISE I WOULDN'T BE DOING THIS.)Disclaimer:Due to factors beyond the control o.
My dad got my this for christmas one year and Starcraft was the game I played on it the most also.. Brood War FTW!
Buy Imac G3
This isn't a G3. It's actually the first iMac. The G3 was the higher end CPU that looked like this: https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/tut1s6ohmRkMZqAC.large
Imac G3 For Sale
Now I am confused. Isn't that the Power Macintosh G3?
Imac G3 G5 Imac G4 Price
the first iMac was considered part of the third generation of PPC cpu's, hence it was a G3
Yes that is the G3 PowerMac. Yours is a G3 iMac.
Imac G3 G5 Imac G4 Reviews
I remember the first time in Kindergarten seeing and using these in computer class and the school year had just started......
Thanks for your comment! Do you remember what software was used on the iMac in your school?