Summary

iMac G4 computer system comprising an hemispherical CPU with articulated arm supporting a 15 inch LCD monitor, keyboard and mouse.

The system was used by the donor's wife at home for word processing, email and web surfing over the period 2005 to 2009.

The iMac G4 is known variously as the Sunflower, lampshade and iLamp.

Physical Description

An hemispherical or dome-shaped base, containing the CPU, from the centre-top of which is a socket from which projects an adjustable cylindrical arm, which at its other end enters a socket at the base of a 15 inch tablet-form LCD monitor, and which provides support for the monitor. The monitor has a transparent rim. A keyboard, mouse and electrical cord are included. Colour of items is Platinum.

Significance

The iMac G4 is an example of the work of British industrial designer, Jonathan Ive. Ive is internationally renowned as the principal designer of the original Bondi Blue iMac G4.

Ive joined Apple in 1992. He became Vice-President of Industrial Design in 1998, the year after Steve Jobs' return to Apple.

Ive was involved in the design of such items as the PowerBook G4, the iBook and the iPod.

This was the first all-in-one computer that did away with cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and was therefore a step towards Apple being more environmentally aware.

This computer represents a developmental phase that succeeded the egg-shape of the iMac G3 series and is notable for the shape of its CPU and for the design of the articulated arm that supports its newly introduced LCD monitor. Apple advertised it as having the flexibility of a desk lamp and it was also nicknamed the 'iLamp'. Its design was superseded with the introduction of the iMac G5 in 2004, which incorporated the CPU behind the LCD monitor in 'tablet' form.

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