Steve Jobs with the iMac G3 in 1999, following the release of the computer in five new colors.

That would be the first time Apple sold an iMac in color options since the iconic iMac G3.

This theory of color as a way to make a device feel less glinting and stern, more personal, is what made that first iMac G3 Smithsonian-worthy.

Though, over the years, the visual language of the iMac G3 may have faded — today’s iMacs are closer descendants of the long-necked, streamlined G4 — its legacy of vibrant colors have ...