Volume V
The Colorful Future
Bondi blue changed everything. Apple's brief experiment with translucent candy colors — from the iMac G3 to the G4 Cube — proved that design could be the product.
Consumer Color
The Narrative
In 1998, Apple shipped a computer in bondi blue. It had no floppy drive, no SCSI port, and cost $1,299. It saved the company.
iMac G3
Apple • 2001
The machine that saved Apple. Bondi blue, egg-shaped, handle on top. No floppy drive — a decision so controversial it dominated the tech press for months. Jobs was right.
iBook G3
Apple • 1999
The iBook was Steve Jobs's vision of a laptop for the rest of us — a 'consumer' machine that happened to be more stylish than anything the PC world had. The SE Lime 466MHz is the fastest and rarest of the original clamshell run.
Design Apex
In 2000, Apple shipped the G4 Cube — suspended in acrylic, fanless, touch-sensitive. The most beautiful computer the company ever made, and a commercial failure. Some ideas are ahead of their time.
PowerMac G4 Cube
RareApple • 2000
Suspended in a perfect acrylic cube. No fan. Touch-sensitive power switch. The most beautiful computer Apple ever made, and a commercial failure — $1,799 when consumers expected $1,299. This one has been upgraded to 1GHz.
Harman Kardon Soundsticks II
Harman Kardon • 2004
Designed by the same team that shaped the G4 tower. The Harman Kardon speakers were sold alongside the Power Mac G4 as a matched set — a rare case of Apple treating audio as a first-class design problem.