A computer monitor which was formerly an iMac G4 with a hemispherical white base sits on a table. The table and wall are likely white, but pink light is washing the scene making them and the monitor base appear pink. An iPhone sits above a piece of rounded plastic jutting out from the monitor base.

G4 IMac Becomes A Monitor With A MagSafe Secret

December 9, 2025 by Navarre Bartz No comments

The G4 iMac is one of the more popular computers in the restomodding scene given its charm and unparalleled ergonomics. Most modern machines that people squeeze in don’t have a disc drive anymore though, so [EasternBloc Engineering] has fitted a retractable MagSafe charger into the drive bay of the machine.

In this example, the iMac has become simply a monitor, instead of an entire all-in-one computer, and the original 15″ display has been replaced with a lightweight 22″ monitor on a 3D printed VESA mount. The narrow confines of the iMac neck meant [EasternBloc Engineering] had to sever the connectors from the HDMI and power cable before reconnecting them once they were fed through.

The really novel part of this restomod is the engineering of the retractable MagSafe charger mount that pops out of the drive bay. [EasternBloc Engineering] started by looking at repurposing an original disc drive, but quickly turned to a bespoke 3D printed solution. Using a LEGO motor and gears for the drive, the system can stick its tongue out at you in a more modern way. A straight in-and-out mechanism like on an original disc drive would’ve been easier to implement, but we appreciate the extra time for angling the phone that respects the ergonomics of the machine. We hope the files will become available soon for this part of the mod since electromechanical components are more interesting than the VESA mount.

We’ve taken a look at how to implement MagSafe (or Qi2) into your own projects and also a few different G4 iMac restomods whether you prefer Apple Silicon or a PC-based approach.

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Rescued IMac G4 Restored And Upgraded With Mac Mini M1 Guts

June 23, 2024 by Maya Posch 12 Comments

Three abandoned iMac G4s, looking for a loving home... (Credit: Hugh Jeffreys) — Three abandoned iMac G4s, looking for a loving home… (Credit: Hugh Jeffreys)

The Apple iMac G4 was also lovingly referred to as the ‘Apple iLamp’ due to its rather unique design with the jointed arm on which the display perches. Released in 2002 and produced until 2004, it was the first iMac to feature an LCD. With only a single-core G4 PowerPC CPU clocked at around 1 GHz, they’re considered e-waste by the average person.

That’s how [Hugh Jeffreys] recently found a triplet of these iMacs abandoned at an industrial site. Despite their rough state, he decided to adopt them on the spot, and gave one of them a complete make-over, with a good scrub-down and a brand-new LCD and Mac Mini M1 guts to replace the broken G4 logic board.

The chosen iMac had a busted up screen and heavily corroded logic board that looked like someone had tried to ‘fix’ it before. A new (used) 17″ LCD was installed from a MacBook Pro, which required the use of a Realtek RTD2660-based display controller to provide HDMI to LVDS support. The new logic board and power supply were sourced from a Mac Mini featuring the M1 SoC, which required a 3D printed adapter plate to position everything inside the iMac’s base. Wiring everything up took some creative solutions, with routing the wires through the flexible monitor arm the biggest struggle. The WiFi antenna on the Mac Mini turned out to be riveted and broke off, but the iMac’s original WiFi antenna could be used instead.

Although some clean-up is still needed, including better internal connector extensions, the result is a fully functional 2024 iMac M1 that totally wouldn’t look out of place in an office today. Plus it’s significantly easier to adjust the monitor’s angle and height compared to Apple’s official iMac offerings, making it the obviously superior system.

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