The iMac G4 now has access to USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, a headphone jack, and an SD card slot, as well as an Ethernet jack. The original was not lacking in that department, with three USB 2.0, two FireWire 400, and two VGA ports, but obviously, all of that tech is old and needed a refresh. Image source: Connor55Īside from upgrading the hardware itself, Connor’s project involved updating the ports on the iMac G4. The M1 is a system-on-a-chip (SoC), meaning that the CPU, 8-core GPU, and RAM are all combined. The RAM and storage are a straightforward upgrade, but so is the processor itself, offering clock speeds of up to 3.2GHz and a combination of eight cores and eight threads. He replaced the guts of the computer with a current-gen Mac Mini motherboard that comes with Apple’s M1 chip.
He documented the lengthy journey, which was not without some difficulties, on the MacRumors forum. Connor55 opened up the dome and changed out hardware until the iMac became a solid computer, although it still retains the small screen. If the Apple ecosystem was its own universe, the iMac G4 and the modern-day Apple M1 silicon wouldn’t even exist within the same galaxy, but a brave modder decided to change that. The 80GB hard drive running at 7,200 revolutions per minute (RPM) honestly seems outstanding given the rest of the hardware. That’s right - just three digits, not four. It had a graphics card made by Nvidia no less, the GeForce4 MX, as well as a whopping 256MB of DDR SDRAM with a 333MHz frequency. In its original form, the G4 had a resolution of 1,024 x 768 (remember those?) and a processor that ran at just 1GHz, called the PowerPC G4. Needless to say, the design is just one thing that has changed over the years - the hardware found within the iMac G4, once impressive, now belongs in a museum. With its 15-inch screen surrounded by thick bezels that had bezels of their own, as well as a large, circular stand with an optical drive, it looks nothing like its younger siblings and doesn’t resemble the 24-inch iMac at all. The iMac G4 is ancient by now, but it hasn’t lost its charm.
However, nostalgia is a powerful force, and when you combine it with a “why not?” attitude, anything is possible, as proven by the modder who decided to bring the iMac G4 back from the dead and equip it with an Apple M1 chip. Fitbit Versa 3ĭo you remember the 2002 iMac G4? We don’t blame you if you don’t - it’s been 20 years since Apple released that iconic all-in-one desktop.