Specs for an Old iMac

• Release of the iMac in 1968 changed the world. It marked the start of a new generation of Apple products, but more importantly, it marked a new generation of technology. The iMac wasn't the first computer to revolutionize the technology of an all-in-one computer, but it was the the first to make that technology "cool." Ever since, the technology of Apple computers has improved in fashion and features.

Processor/Speed

• From 1998 to 2006, Macs were made with PowerPC chips instead of Intel chips like today. The processor affects what you are doing and how fast you do it. If today's computers still had PowerPC processors, there would be a lot of impatient people. Essentially, that is the reason that Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel, because PowerPC processors were only slowing down the computers they were put in . The original iMac had one 233 MHz processor. Today, the an iMac features multiple processors with speeds in the GHz, 10 times the original iMac's processing

RAM

• RAM capacity also has improved dramatically. The original iMac could handle a minimum of 32 MB and a maximum of 512 MB of RAM. Compare that with the 2010 iMac, which can hold 6 to 8 GB of RAM -- almost 16 times the original capacity.

Hard Drive

• The original iMac held a standard 4 GB hard drive. In 2010, a computer can hold a whopping 250 times that. When the iMac was introduced in the late 1990s, computing memory was much more expensive than it is today. As memory has become more affordable, computer makers have upgraded features to reflect those costs.

Cost

• The original iMac cost about $1,300. As technology becomes outdated, its price drops. For example, since Apple switched to Intel processors, the PowerPC processors of an original iMac have become obsolete and worth a fraction of their original cost. Expand this example to virtually all the parts of the original iMac and it makes sense that one would be worth just a few dollars in 2010.