26 MACWORLD AUGUST 2021
MACUSER M1 i MAC HAS MORE IN COMMON WITH i MAC G3 THAN COLORSeveryone has a preference for one. Apple
was so excited about bringing color to the
Mac that it even made a professional Mac
tower, the Power Mac G3, out of bright
blue plastic. Professional users revolted
(fave.co/3qBoKjU), and Apple relented:
The Power Mac G4 was gray, and even
future iMac G3 models came in sedate
noncolors like graphite and snow.
That was a hard lesson learned and
not forgotten. While Apple is clearly
excited about offering the 24-inch iMac in
six bright colors, it’s also making the
computer available in the same silver
shade that iMacs have worn for 14 years
now. Early reports suggest that silver is
the second most popular color, after blue.
While I am a real champion of brightly
colored Macs, offering a neutral choice is
the right thing to do.COLORFUL PERIPHERALS TO
M ATC H
The original iMac wasn’t the only thing that
Apple made that was Bondi Blue. It made
a keyboard and mouse that matched. And
in that spirit, the 24-inch iMac has a wide
array of peripherals, all available in six
colorful shades, plus good ol’ silver.
This has got to be a nightmare for the
company’s supply chain, but while Apple is
much larger than it was in 1998, it’s been
slowly introducing more iPhone models in
more colors. Apple knows how to do this. (It
helps itself out by limiting the purple, orange,
and yellow models to online orders.)