Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White)

1999 · iMac era Power Macintosh

Introduced

1999

Original price

$ 1599

Processor

PowerPC 750 (G3)

Original OS

Mac OS 8.5.1 (Mac OS ROM 1.2)

Colors

Translucent blue and white

1976

1984

1998

2001

2007

2020

2026

Pre-Mac

Mac era

iMac era

iPod era

iPhone era

Silicon

Processor

ProcessorPowerPC 750 (G3)

ArchitectureYosemite

Cache512k or 1 MB backside cache

System bus100 MHz

Memory & graphics

RAM typePC100 DIMM

GPUATI Rage 128 GL

VRAM16 MB SDRAM

Storage

InterfaceUltra ATA/33 (or Ultra2 SCSI on some configs)

Connectivity

USBYes

FireWireYes (introduced FireWire)

SCSIUltra2 SCSI available on some configurations (onboard SCSI dropped)

ADBYes (one ADB port for legacy use)

Software

Original OSMac OS 8.5.1 (Mac OS ROM 1.2)

KeyboardUSB keyboard and mouse

Identifiers

Model IDPowerMac1,1

Model N°M5183

Lifecycle

Introduced1999

Discontinued1999

History

Flaunting a new transparent "easy to open" design (code name "El-Capitan"), the new G3 was the first Apple model to support FireWire, Apple's new high-speed serial standard. It was also the first professional model to include USB, though it also came with a legacy ADB port for backward compatibility. In a controversial move, Apple chose not to include standard serial ports, a floppy disk drive, or integrated SCSI (Apple opted for Ultra ATA instead). An internal Zip drive was still available, as well as SCSI expansion cards. The G3 was available in various configurations, starting at $1,599 USD, and reaching up to approximately $5,000 USD for the fully equipped server configuration. By late April, the line received a 50 MHz speed bump, bringing the high-end model to 450 MHz.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Macintosh_G3 · Wikipedia

Trivia

• The Power Macintosh G3 was the first Apple model to support FireWire, the high-speed serial standard that would revolutionize data transfer in Apple computers in the years to come. • Apple made a controversial choice by excluding from the G3 floppy disks, standard serial ports, and integrated SCSI, choosing instead Ultra ATA and allowing SCSI expansion only through additional cards. • The transparent "easy-open" design of the G3 (code name "El-Capitan") was one of the distinctive features that made this computer an icon of late 1990s design, with prices ranging from $1599 to $5000 depending on the configuration.

D168

D255 · APPLE HERITAGE MUSEUM · LUGANO

D278