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IMac G4

all-in-one personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc.

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ2407708
Source-derived summary

The iMac G4 is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from January 2002 to August 2004. The all-in-one computer comprises a hemispheric base that holds the components, including a PowerPC G4 processor, and a flatscreen liquid-crystal display (LCD) mounted above. The display is connected to the base via an adjustable arm that allows the monitor to be tilted and swiveled.

Apple's previous release, the iMac G3 (1998), was a commercial success at a time when the company was close to bankruptcy. As component prices fell, Apple envisioned a replacement that would use an LCD instead of the G3's bulky cathode-ray tube. The resulting iMac G4 took two years to develop. The new shape was inspired by a sunflower, with Apple's design team exploring different ways of attaching the monitor to the base before settling on a single stainless steel arm. The iMac G4 eschewed the colorful translucency of the iMac G3 in favor of opaque white with silver accents.

The iMac G4 was announced at the Macworld San Francisco trade show on January 7, 2002, and began shipping that month. It was updated over the years with faster internal components and larger LCDs.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “IMac G4” is all-in-one personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through IMac, all-in-one and personal, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2002, 2004, 1998—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2002-01-07. For this dossier, IMac, all-in-one and personal is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “all-in-one personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2407708. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2002, 2004 and 1998.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “IMac G4”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow IMac G4 primary sources, IMac G4 archive and IMac research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “IMac G4”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from IMac G4” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.