No list of classic Macs is complete without reference to the big, blue bubble that saved Apple and the Mac OS. Neale Monks takes a look at the G3 iMac.

A good argument can be made that the original G3 iMac was the computer that saved Apple and the Macintosh operating system. Prior to the release of the iMac, Apple had become a marginal player compared with the likes of Dell and Compaq, with a steadily shrinking market share and no obvious influence on software development or industrial design. While Apple certainly made many good computers, they also made a lot of mediocre ones, especially at the low end. Looking at the good first, the PowerBook 3400 (1997) and then the G3 “Wall Street” machines (1998) had both set new standards in mobile computing, consistently trumping anything the Wintel world had to offer. But on the downside, a succession of undistinguished beige boxes didn’t do nearly so well at attracting sales in the important home, small office, and education markets. The budget Power Mac 4400 (1996) for example was as dull and insipid as anything the likes of Elonex or Gateway had turned out. It was obviously cheaply made, offered only fair performance, and unlike the low-end PCs, forced you into buying relatively expensive Mac-only peripherals like printers and keyboards.

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