This particular statement in Apple’s marketing blurb for the new iMac may owe its catchiness to Sun Microsystems, but it’s important because I believe the iMac G5 is a true successor to both the original iMac released and the original Macintosh computer released 20 years ago.

The G4 ‘anglepoise’ iMac was a great design, however while it was an all-in-one machine, its form-factor seemed to be a concession to the fact that, at the time, it was impossible to put an LCD display, a G4 processor, associated heatsink and circuitry into the same casing without it looking ugly as hell. With the G4 iMac, the display wasn’t the computer, but the two were connected with a distinctive hinge with which you could position the display and carry the machine around.

If Apple perfected how to build a computer round a Cathode Ray Tube with the Macintosh 128k and the iMac, they’ve certainly perfected building a computer round an LCD with this new machine.