This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Apple’s colorful iMac G3, the computer Steve Jobs said looked good enough to lick. While Apple has long since moved away from this fun design in favor of the sleekly minimalist iMac of today, Apple fans still remember the G3 fondly. One of those fans, talented designer Antonio De Rosa, recently paid homage to Apple’s first-gen iMac by putting together some retro iMac concept art for what a new iMac in the same style might look like.
Check out De Rosa’s designs below and ask yourself: Would you buy one?
Retro iMac concept art takes Apple computer back to the future
Photo: Antonio De Rosa
Photo: Antonio De Rosa
Photo: Antonio De Rosa
A nod to the past
Personally, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Apple’s aluminum-centric unibody designs. Sure, they’re sleek and minimalist. And the ability to mill a piece of cutting-edge technology from a single piece of aluminum is astonishing. But they also look a bit austere for my tastes. When I think back to the Apple personality I love, it’s the fun icons Susan Kare designed for the Mac, the original Macintosh with its smile design, and the colorful iMac G3 and iBook laptop that Apple introduced after Steve Jobs returned in 1997.
Antonio De Rosa’s retro iMac concept art therefore hits a lot of sweet spots for me. When Jobs unveiled the original iMac in 1998, computers made by most other companies looked like generic beige boxes. Ironically, the iMac’s success helped to turn Apple into the market leader. As a result, everyone copies Apple’s modern iMac design for inspiration these days. A colorful, fun computer would stand out as much as it did in 1998.
Concept art shows updated iMac with cool colors — and retro ‘hockey puck’ mouse
Not everything is practical about this iMac concept art, of course. The bulky, retro design pays homage to the now-outdated CRT monitor of the original iMac, although it’s admittedly nowhere near as fat. As cool as it looks, I’m also not convinced that a touch-based keyboard (which De Rosa says could double as a second display) would be practical for a desktop computer. As much as I love vintage Apple design, I also enjoy a bit of travel and physicality to my keyboard.
And, please god, if Apple ever does create a new iMac in this style, please don’t bring back the terrible “hockey puck” mouse! That pathetic peripheral made our list of the worst Apple accessories of all time.
However, for the most part, I would totally shell out my hard-earned cash for a computer like this. Who wouldn’t want to pay homage to one of Apple’s most iconic designs? Would you join me in my visit to the Apple Store to pick this up? What do you make of Antonio De Rosa’s retro iMac concept art? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Antonio De Rosa
