28 MACWORLD AUGUST 2021
MACUSER M1 i MAC HAS MORE IN COMMON WITH i MAC G3 THAN COLORSLike the original, the new iMac dumps the
old ports like USB-A and only has USB-C–
style connectors (two with Thunderbolt),
and the more expensive models have two
additional USB-3 ports.
THE iMAC IS ALWAYS ABOUT
TH E D I S PL AY
If there’s been one fundamental of iMac
design through the years, it’s that the
display is at the center of things. For the
original iMac, that was a bulbous CRT. But
Apple’s design embraced the CRT,
exposing its wiring via translucent plastic,
and curving the entire iMac around the
shape of the back of the tube.
The advent of flat-panel technology
allowed Apple to
try something
different with the
iMac. The iMac G4
stuffed the
computer in a
half-sphere, with
the screen floating
above on a chrome
arm. It’s a gorgeous
design, but as flat
screens got bigger
and heavier, it
turned out to be an
untenable one. So
in 2004, Apple
redefined the iMac
as a single flat slab on a stand, a display
and a computer all wrapped up in one.
That was probably a tough decision,
and while it was pragmatic, it had one
huge trade-off: The iMac was thick. Over
the years, Apple has tried to get it thinner,
but even the most recent move to a
unibody aluminum enclosure kept a lot of
bulk and tried to hide it by tapering the
edges of the iMac.
In some ways, the 24-inch iMac feels
like a mixture of the idealism of that
floating iMac G4 design and the
pragmatism of ensuing models. It’s
shockingly thin and light and entirely flat,
making it feel more like a 24-inch iPad on
a stand.