Power Macintosh G3
Developer | Apple Computer |
---|---|
Product family | Power Macintosh |
Type | Desktop computer |
Release date | November 10, 1997 |
Lifespan | November 10, 1997-August 31, 1999 (1 year and 287 days) |
Introductory price | $1599 |
Discontinued | August 31, 1999 |
CPU | PowerPC G3, 233 – 333 MHz; 300 – 450 MHz |
Predecessor | All-in-one: Power Macintosh 5400 Power Macintosh 5500 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh Desktop: Power Macintosh 4400 Power Macintosh 6200 Power Macintosh 7300 Mini Tower: Power Macintosh 6500 Power Macintosh 8600 Power Macintosh 9600 |
Successor | iMac G3 (All-In-One) Power Mac G4 (Mini Tower) Power Mac G4 Cube (Desktop) |
The Power Macintosh G3 (also sold with additional software as the Macintosh Server G3) is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from November 1997 to August 1999. It represented Apple's first step towards eliminating redundancy and complexity in the product line by replacing eight Power Macintosh models (and the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh) with three: Desktop and Mini Tower models for professional and home use, and an all-in-one model for education. The introduction of the Desktop and Mini Tower models coincided with Apple starting to sell build-to-order Macs directly from its web site in an online store,[1][2] which was unusual for the time as Dell was the only major computer manufacturer doing this. Apple's move to build-to-order sales of the Power Macintosh G3 also coincided with the acquisition of Power Computing Corporation, which had been providing telephone sales of Macintosh clones for more than two years.
The Power Macintosh G3 is named for its
Two generations of the Power Macintosh G3 were released. The first generation, known colloquially as "Beige"[9] was introduced at a special event on November 10, 1997. The second generation, known officially as "Blue and White", was introduced at MacWorld San Francisco on January 5, 1999. Its replacement, the Power Mac G4, was introduced in August of the same year.
Models
Beige
Apple sold three beige Power Macintosh G3 models: a horizontally-oriented desktop, a mini tower enclosure, and a version with a built-in screen called All-In-One ("AIO"). The All-In-One model was shaped like a human tooth, and thus earned the moniker Molar Mac. Each bus could support a maximum of 7 devices.
Apple also developed a prototype G3-based six-slot full tower to be designated the Power Macintosh 9700.[13] Despite demand from high-end users for more PCI slots in a G3-powered computer, Apple decided not to develop the prototype (dubbed "Power Express") into a shipping product,[14] leaving the 9600 as the last six-slot Mac Apple would make for over two decades, until the 2019 Mac Pro which has eight.
Initial units were shipped with
The Power Macintosh G3 was originally intended to be a midrange series, between the low-end
Desktop
The Desktop model inherited its enclosure directly from the
The Desktop model received an update in August 1998,[16] with the 233 MHz model being discontinued. Unlike the Mini Tower model, the Desktop model was not updated with 333 MHz or 366 MHz CPUs. Regardless, it was replaced by the Power Mac G4 Cube in 2000.
Mini Tower
The 233 MHz Mini Tower model's enclosure is similar to the Power Macintosh 8600. It shipped with a 4 GB drive, the 266 MHz with a 6 GB drive, and the 300 MHz variant shipped with two 4 GB drives in a RAID configuration; all models were 5400 RPM.
As with the Desktop model, the Mini Tower received an update in August 1998, PCI video card with 8 MiB VRAM.
Server
The Macintosh Server G3 is identical to the Mini Tower model, but was sold with additional server software and different specifications.[18] Software included AppleShare IP 5.0, Apple Network Administrator Toolkit, and SoftRAID.
Introduced March 1998:[19]
- Good: 233 MHz, 512 KiBL2 cache, 64 MiB SDRAM, 6 GB IDE HDD. $2,919.
- Better: 266 MHz, 512 KiB L2 cache, 64 MiB SDRAM, 4 GB Ultra/Wide SCSI. $3,609.
- Best: 300 MHz, 1 MiB L2 cache, 128 MiB SDRAM, Two 4 GB Ultra/Wide SCSI. $4,969.
Introduced September 1998:
- 333 MHz, 1 MiB L2 cache, 128 MiB SDRAM, Two 4 GB Ultra/Wide SCSI. $4,599.[19]
All-In-One
The All-In-One model was introduced in April 1998 as a replacement for the Power Macintosh 5400 and 5500,[20] and sold exclusively to the education market. The All-In-One model has a "molar"-like form factor, with its top and rear sections covered in a translucent plastic with machined holes (a design language reminiscent of the then-upcoming iMac). The model has several design features oriented towards the education market, including a slide-out tray for accessing the logic board, recessed rear I/O to make it easier to push the computer up against walls, and dual front headphone jacks for audio sharing.[21][22]
The G3 AIO was available in two basic configurations, a 233 MHz version with a floppy drive and a 4 GB hard drive, and a 266 MHz version with a built-in
When the iMac G3 was introduced, the G3 AIO and iMac were sold together to the education market until the G3 AIO was discontinued.[23]
Blue and White
The Power Mac G3 (Blue and White) (codenamed Yosemite) was introduced in January 1999, replacing the Beige Mini Tower model, with which it shared the name and processor architecture but little else. It is the first Power Macintosh model to include the New World ROM, and the last with ADB port. 300 MHz, 350 MHz and 400 MHz models were introduced with a price range of US$1,599 – US$2,999.[24]
Though still based on the PowerPC G3 architecture, the Blue and White was a totally new design. It was the first new Power Mac model after the release of the iMac, and shared the iMac's blue-and-white color scheme. Inside the enclosure, the logic board is mounted on a folding "door", which swings down onto the desk for tool-free access to all the internal components.[24]
The same keyboard and mouse designs as those first introduced with the iMac were sold with the system. These featured the same slightly different shade of blue from that of the Bondi Blue iMac to match the new G3 enclosure. The keyboard was criticized in MacWorld's review of the G3 as feeling "cheap compared with the huge Apple keyboard of old" and the removal of several keys. The Apple USB Mouse, previously included with the iMac, was also reviewed poorly, noting that "many users will find it unacceptable: because of the round design, it's impossible to tell the top of the mouse from the bottom by touch."[24]
The Blue and White line was revised in June 1999; the 300 MHz model was dropped and a new 450 MHz model was introduced at a US$2,999 price point.[25]
Early Blue and White units shipped with
Hardware
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2017) |
Beige
Logic board
The Beige G3 uses Apple's new "Gossamer" logic board. As a compact and versatile motherboard, the Gossamer board was originally designed to be able to support both the high-end PowerPC 604e and the new PowerPC G3, but when initial tests found that the cheaper G3 outperformed the 604e in many tests, this functionality was removed and Apple's 604e-based systems were discontinued.
Gossamer supports both onboard and external SCSI (from the custom
ROM
Early G3s with Revision A ROMs do not support slave devices on their
The Beige G3 was the last Power Macintosh with a 4 MiB ROM. The trend of increasingly large ROMs ended after the introduction of the New World ROM in the Blue and White G3.
Personality cards
These machines had no audio circuitry on the logic board; instead, a PERCH slot (a dedicated 182-pin microchannel connector; a superset of the PCI spec, but which does not accept PCI cards) was populated with a "personality card" which provided the audio circuitry. Several "personality cards" were available:[26]
- Whisper was the personality card of the regular versions, providing the Screamer sound ASIC (with 16-bit, 44.1 kHz audio capabilities with simultaneous I/O) and no video facilities.
- Wings or Audio/Video Input/Output Card was an A/V "personality card" which, in addition to the audio I/O, included composite and S-Video capture and output.
- Bordeaux or DVD-Video and Audio/Video Card differed from the Wings card in that it did not include a DAV slot, used the Burgundy sound ASIC (which provided improved sound performance), incorporated a higher performance video capture IC, and included additional circuitry (C-Cube MPEG decoder chip) to support the playback of DVD movies. The All-In-One does not support the Bordeaux card, as it lacks the connectors for the AIO's front panel and RGB video cables.[27]
Upgradability
CPU: The processor module (a
PCI cards: Gossamer has three full-length (12") PCI slots, making it capable of taking any PCI cards that have Macintosh drivers available for them (for example, some RealTek-based network adapters, a lot of USB, ATA/IDE [or SATA] and FireWire cards). Common PCI card upgrades include
Personality cards: Some users have upgraded the Whisper personality card with a "Wings" Personality card (which is plugged into the same PERCH slot), and some have upgraded the ROM to a newer version (Revision A boards to Revision B or Revision C boards).
Hard drives: For storage, the G3 is capable of taking any ATAPI/IDE hard disks, provided that the drive's size is within the 28-bit LBA limit. This means ATA hard disks of up to 137 GB (228 blocks of 512 bytes each) are supported. This limitation can be overcome by using an IDE or SATA PCI-compatible card (e.g. Acard or Sonnet) to enable the use of 2 drives over the 137 GB limit.
Removable storage: The ATAPI/IDE CD-ROM drive can also be replaced with a CD-RW, DVD-ROM or DVD-RW drive, although care must be taken while purchasing the upgrade as the Mac is incompatible with some drives and may refuse to boot at all if an incompatible drive is installed. Also, many third-party optical drives cannot be used as boot devices with the G3, though they work correctly for normal use, and burning on many third party CD-RW and DVD-RW drives requires either commercial drivers or is unsupported even though reading and booting from the drive may still work. It is also capable of taking SCSI storage devices, and with the presence of the right PCI cards, SATA, USB and FireWire storage devices.
SCSI: The presence of an onboard SCSI controller (the SCSI controller is codenamed MESH — Macintosh Enhanced SCSI Hardware) and connectors permits the use of Mac-enabled SCSI scanners and storage devices, though this runs at only 5 MB/s.
Memory: Apple's spec sheets specify a maximum memory limit of 192 MiB, but independent testers have reported being able to use 3x256 MiB SDRAM chips, for a total of 768 MiB.[31] Incompatibility has been reported with some DIMM modules in certain configurations- for example, newer single-sided PC‑133 RAM modules will not be detected correctly if they will be detected at all and if the machine can boot with them in place, and the desktop and all-in-one units required the use of low-profile RAM due to space constraints. It should be able to take 168-pin SDRAM of any speed, though it will run at PC66 speeds. The onboard video RAM can be upgraded from 2 MiB to 6 MiB with a 4 MiB SGRAM module (which runs at 83 MHz on Rev. A machines, and 100 MHz on Rev. B and C machines).
Blue and White
The faster models (not the 300 MHz model) use the new
The Blue and White G3 uses a modified version of the memory/PCI controller, the Motorola MPC106 (codenamed "Grackle"); it used the MPC106 v4. The I/O "Heathrow" had been replaced by "Paddington" (adding 100 Mbit Ethernet and power save features), the audio chip "Screamer" (on the beige G3's "Whisper" and "Wings" personality cards) had been replaced by "Burgundy" (from the "Bordeaux" personality card), and other controllers for Firewire (Texas Instruments PCI-Lynx), for USB etc. were added.
This is also the first Power Macintosh with the "New World" architecture which contained a small (approximately 1 MB) boot ROM. When booting the Mac OS, the Mac OS Toolbox and any other ROM patches installed are loaded into RAM (the former Beige G3 however was the first Mac with this ROM-in-RAM capability). Initially, many buyers chose to buy the older "Platinum" G3s instead, in order to maintain compatibility with existing peripherals.
Early "Revision 1" units have IDE controller problems related to the ATA/33 hard drive controller that made it impossible to connect two hard drives and prevented the use of newer drives. Using newer ATA drives in those units resulted in data transmission errors if the drives were connected to the on-board ATA/33 controller, the severity of the problem varying according to the particular make and model of the drive. Workarounds include replacing motherboards and employing the use of SCSI, Ultra ATA or SATA PCI controller cards. Stable operation can be achieved if the drive can be limited to Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 (disabling UDMA), although this limits throughput to 16 MB/s. Some hard drives support disabling UDMA in firmware through manufacturer-supplied utilities (generally DOS-based). Alternatively, the transfer mode can be limited to Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 through the use of third-party driver software such as FWB Hard Disk Toolkit.
The secondary
Mac OS X attempts to avoid the UDMA issue by disabling UDMA on all affected G3 motherboards, but xlr8yourmac.com reported that reader Tim Seufert still found issues with single drives under Mac OS X. He reported that as of January 23, 2002, the fix would not be activated under Mac OS X when no slave drive was present.[32]
The "Revision 2" units fixed the hard drive controller problem with an improved (UDMA-33) IDE controller that supported the standard IDE master/slave two-drive arrangement. This controller worked flawlessly with any drive within the 28-bit LBA constraint. Most Rev. 2 units shipped with a hard disk bracket designed for two drives (in fact Rev. 1 can hold up to three drives side-by-side, while Rev. 2 can hold up to four drives in two stacks, each with two drives) and also included a slightly updated version of the Rage 128 graphics card. The easiest way to tell if the unit is a Rev.2 is by looking at the CMD chip located on the logic board. The CMD chip on Rev. 1 logic boards is PCI646U2 and on Rev. 2 logic boards is 646U2-402.[33]
Revision 2 350, 400, and 450 MHz units use the same motherboard as the first "Yikes" version of
Enclosure
The blue and white G3's enclosure design was widely praised at the time for being easy to open up and work on.
Technical specifications
According to Apple, all of these models are obsolete.[a][35]
Model | Desktop[36] | Mini Tower[20] | All-In-One[10] | Blue and White[37] | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Codename | "Gossamer" | "Artemis" | "Yosemite" | |||||||||||||||
Timetable | Released | November 10, 1997 | March 17, 1998 | November 10, 1997[20] | March 17, 1998[20] | August 12, 1998[20] | March 31, 1998 | January 5, 1999 | June 1, 1999 | |||||||||
Discontinued | August 12, 1998 | December 14, 1998 | July 7, 1998[20] | August 12, 1998[20] | December 14, 1998[20] | September 1, 1998 | June 1, 1999 | August 31, 1999 | ||||||||||
Color | Beige | Blue | ||||||||||||||||
Ordering info. | Model identifier | PowerMacintosh510 | PowerMac1,1 | |||||||||||||||
Model | M3979 | M4405 | M4787 | M5183 | ||||||||||||||
Order number | M6141 | M6202 | M7105 | M6431 | M6142 | M6572 | M7107 | M6319 | M6321 | M6670 | M6668 (64 MB 6 GB 5xDVD) | M6666 (128 MB 12 GB 32xCD Zip) | M6665 | M7556 (64 MB 6 GB 32xCD) | M7555 (64 MB 6 GB 5xDVD) | M7554 (128 MB 12 GB 32xCD Zip) | M7553 | |
Built-In-Display | — | 15-inch (38 cm) RGB multiple scan CRT display1024 × 768 pixel resolution |
— | |||||||||||||||
Performance | Processor | PowerPC 750 (G3)
| ||||||||||||||||
Clock speed | 233 MHz | 266 MHz | 300 MHz | 233 MHz | 266 MHz | 300 MHz | 333 MHz | 233 MHz | 266 MHz | 300 MHz | 350 MHz | 400 MHz | 350 MHz | 400 MHz | 450 MHz | |||
L1 Cache | 64 KB | |||||||||||||||||
L2 Cache backside | 512 KB | 1 MB | 512 KB | 1 MB | 512 KB | 1 MB | ||||||||||||
Front side bus
|
66.83 MHz (Configurable to 70 MHz, 75 MHz or 83.3 MHz) | 100 MHz | ||||||||||||||||
Graphics | ATI 3D Rage II+, ATI 3D Rage Pro, or ATI 3D Rage Pro Turbo with 2 MB of 83 MHz SGRAM Expandable to 6 MB SGRAM memory |
ATI 3D Rage II+ or ATI 3D Rage Pro with 2 MB of 100 MHz SGRAM Expandable to 6 MB SGRAM memory |
ATI Rage 128 GL with 16 MB of SDRAM graphics memory | |||||||||||||||
Memory
|
32 MB or 64 MB Low Profile PC66 SDRAM Expandable to 768 MB |
64 MB or 128 MB PC66 SDRAM Expandable to 768 MB |
32 MB Low Profile PC66 SDRAM Expandable to 768 MB |
64 MB or 128 MB of unbuffered 100 MHz PC-100 SDRAM Upgradable to 1 GB | ||||||||||||||
Storage | Hard drive (Up to 128 GB supported) |
4 GB or 6 GB | 4 GB, 6 GB, 8 GB, or 9 GB | 4 GB or 6 GB | 6 GB, 9 GB, 12 GB, 20 GB, or 27 GB Ultra ATA hard disk drive Upgradable to 128 GB | |||||||||||||
Media | 24x CD-ROM DVD-ROM 1.44 MB floppy optional Zip |
24x CD-ROM 1.44 MB floppy optional Zip |
24x or 32x CD-ROM 5x DVD-ROM optional Zip | |||||||||||||||
Connections | Expansion slots | 3 – PCI (32-bit), 1 – PERCH: Either "Whisper", "Wings A/V", or "Bordeaux". | 3 – PCI (32-bit), 1 – PERCH: Either "Whisper" or "Wings A/V". | 3x 64bit 33 MHz PCI slots 1x 66 MHz PCI slot (dedicated to video) | ||||||||||||||
Expansion bays | Two – for 3.5-inch SCSI devices | Addition of 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch SCSI or ATA devices supported | — | |||||||||||||||
Connectivity | 10 BASE-T Ethernet optional 56k modem |
10/100 BASE-T Ethernet optional 56k modem | ||||||||||||||||
Input / Output | 1 DB-25 SCSI portbuilt-in mono speaker 16-bit audio input with optional RCA jacks 16-bit audio output with optional RCA jacks DA-15 Video display port. |
1 DB-25 SCSI portbuilt-in stereo speakers built-in microphone 1 – 16‑bit audio input 3 – 16-bit audio output 10BASE-T Ethernet optional 56k modem external DA-15 Video display port. |
1 ADB port 2x USB 1.1 2x Firewire 400 Built-in mono speaker Audio input mini-jack Audio output mini-jack | |||||||||||||||
Operating system | Minimum | Mac OS 8.0
|
Mac OS 8.1
|
Mac OS 8.5.1
|
Mac OS 8.6
| |||||||||||||
Maximum | Mac OS X 10.5.8 "Leopard" if a G4 processor upgrade is also installed. See "Upgradability" above.
|
Mac OS X 10.5.8 "Leopard" with third party software and a G4 processor upgrade.
| ||||||||||||||||
Weight | 22.0 lb (10 kg) | 33.1 lb (15 kg) | 59.5 lb (26.8 kg) | 27.8 lb (13 kg), 17" H × 8.9" W × 18.4" D (432×226×467 mm) |
Timeline
Timeline of Power Macintosh, Pro, and Studio models |
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Notes
- ^ Apple products that were discontinued 7 years ago and no longer receive hardware support nor spare parts
References
- ^ "Apple Store online turns 10 years old". Archived from the original on January 5, 2010.
- ^ "Apple Computer". Archived from the original on May 9, 1998. Retrieved January 17, 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Mesa, Andy (1998). "Power Macintosh G3". The Apple Museum. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2006.
- ^ "Snail and Toasted Bunnies". Archived from the original on April 29, 1998. Retrieved August 8, 2006.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ PowerPC vs. Pentium II: Escargot? Archived November 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 6, 1998.
- YouTube
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: AI Perspectives (August 5, 2009), Apple Unveils "Toasted Bunny" Commercial, retrieved October 9, 2016
- ^ Tafel, Kathy (January 1998). "Power Macintosh G3 Kicks Ass". MacAddict. p. 42.
- ^ "Beige Power Mac G3 (1997)". Low End Mac. November 16, 1997. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
- ^ a b Technical specifications of Power Macintosh G3 All-In-One from Apple's knowledge base and from EveryMac.com. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ 1 MB = 1 million bytes
- ^ a b "Apple Power Macintosh G3 333 Minitower Specs". EveryMac. Archived from the original on September 5, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "Apple Macintosh PowerExpress (prototype)". Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "The Apple Museum | Prototypes / Unreleased". Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved April 18, 2007.
- ^ 1 GB = 1 billion bytes
- ZDNet. Archivedfrom the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ 1 MiB = 10242 B
- ^ "Macintosh Server G3". Apple. Archived from the original on May 9, 1998.
- ^ a b "Macintosh Server G3". EveryMac. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Technical specifications of Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower from Apple's knowledge base and from EveryMac.com. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c Tafel, Kathy (June 1998). "All Things To All People". MacAddict. p. 27.
- ^ a b "Molar Mac: The Fast, Heavy, Beauty Challenged AIO". Washington Apple Pi. Archived from the original on September 5, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Apple Confidential iMac G3 vs PowerMac G3 AIO 1998 372226305, retrieved November 8, 2021
- ^ a b c d Breen, Christopher (April 1999). "Power Mac G3 – Desktop Macs' Enhancements Are More Than Skin Deep". MacWorld. pp. 32–33.
- ^ "Apple Power Macintosh G3 450 (Blue & White) Specs". EveryMac. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
- ^ "Apple G3 Beige Perch Cards". Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
- ^ "Developer Note: Power Macintosh G3 Computers" (PDF). Apple Computer, Inc. August 13, 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 28, 2007. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
- ^ "Clocking the Power Mac G3". November 17, 1997. Archived from the original on October 16, 2006. Retrieved September 9, 2006.
- ^ MacWorld February 1999, MacWorld, 1999, pp. 27–28
- ^ Curd, Shane. "Adding a PCI Video Card to an Apple Macintosh G3 AIO". Archived from the original on September 25, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
- ^ "Power Mac G3 Desktop (Gossamer)". MacGurus. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
- ^ "Accelerate Your Mac FAQ: Apple G3 Systems Specific Topics". Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
- ^ "Power Mac G3 Blue & White Rev 2 Logic Board". Welovemacs.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
- ^ "Power Mac G3 (Blue and White)". www.insanely-great.com. Archived from the original on March 30, 2008.
- ^ "Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty". support.apple.com. March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
- ^ Technical specifications of Power Macintosh G3 Desktop from Apple's knowledge base and from EveryMac.com. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ Technical specifications of Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White) from Apple's knowledge base and from EveryMac.com. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
External links
- Apple's developer note, describing internals like chip set etc.
- Upgrading the onboard video card Archived September 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine is possible while still using integrated monitor of the Apple G3 All-In-One (AIO).