The iMac Channel

iMac vs. the Macintosh

14 August 1998 - Dan Knight

The iMac is Apple's most important product rollout since the Macintosh. A column by Jim Davis on Cnet (The iMac's ancestors) reminded me how like and unlike the two computers are. Here's a comparison of features.

Model	Macintosh	iMac
CPU	8 MHz 68000	233 MHz G3
Speedometer 3	0.9	175 (est.)
RAM	128KB, fixed	32,000KB, expandable
screen	9" 1-bit b&w	15" 24-bit color
resolution	512 x 384	640 x 480 to 1024 x 768
storage	400KB floppy	4,000,000KB hard drive 650,000KB CD-ROM
networking	230.4Kbps LocalTalk	100,000Kbps ethernet
serial ports	2, limited to 19.2kbps	2 USB, 12,000Kbps
size	13.6" x 9.6" x 10.9"	15.8" x 15.2" x 17.6"
weight	16.5 lbs.	38.1 lbs.
slots	none	none
SCSI ports	none	none
bus speed	8 MHz	66 MHz
price	$2,495	$1,299

The iMac is about 200 times faster,* starts out with 256 times as much memory, has 10,000 times the storage space, networks at up to 400 times LocalTalk speed, and costs only about half what the original Macintosh did.

Pretty good for 14 years of computer evolution.

* A Power Mac G3/233 benchmarks at 175 times the speed of a Mac Classic, which is about 15% faster than the original Mac.

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