The Power Macintosh G3, commonly called "beige G3s" or "platinum G3s" for the color of their cases, is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from November 1997 to January 1999. It was the first Macintosh to use the PowerPC G3 (PPC750) microprocessor, and replaced a number of earlier Power Macintosh models, in particular the 7300, 8600 and 9600 models. It was succeeded by the Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White), which kept the name but introduced a radically different design. The introduction of the Desktop and Minitower G3 models coincided with Apple starting to sell user-configurable Macs directly from its web site in an online storeArchived May 9, 1998 at the Wayback Machine, which was unusual for the time as Dell was the only other major manufacturer then doing this.
The Power Mac G3 introduced a fast and large Level 2 backside cache to Apple's product lineup, running at half processor speed. As a result, these machines were widely considered to be faster than Intel PCs of similar CPU clock speed at launch, an assertion that was backed up by benchmarks performed by Byte Magazine, which prompted Apple to create the "Snail" and "Toasted Bunnies" television commercials.
Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a line of Apple Macintoshworkstation-class personal computers based on various models of PowerPCmicroprocessors that were developed, marketed, and supported by Apple Inc. from March 1994 until August 2006. The first models were the Power Macintosh 6100, 7100, and 8100, which offered speeds ranging from 60 to 110MHz. These machines replaced Apple's Quadra series of personal computers, and were housed in cases very similar to systems sold by Apple up to that point. The Power Mac went on to become the mainstay of Apple's top-end offerings for twelve years, through a succession of case designs, four major generations of PowerPC chips, and a great deal of press coverage, design accolades, and technical controversy. In August 2006, the Power Mac's retirement was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference by Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller, making way for its Intel-based replacement, the Mac Pro.
The Power Macintosh 9500 (the 132MHz model is also known as Power Macintosh 9515 in Europe and Japan) is a high-end Macintoshpersonal computer which was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from May 1, 1995 until February 17, 1997. It was powered by a PowerPC 604 processor, a second-generation PowerPC chip which was faster than the earlier PowerPC 601 chip. The 180MP and 200 used the enhanced PowerPC 604e processor. The CPU was connected via a daughterboard, and so could be swapped easily. Available were single-processor cards ranging from 120 to 200MHz, and a dual processor card with two 180MHz CPUs. It was the first Macintosh to use the PCI standard, with six PCI slots available, with one always needed for the graphics card. The basic design of the logic board, called "Tsunami", was used by various Macintosh clone makers as a reference design and a modified version was used in the non-Macintosh Apple Network Server series. The 9500 was superseded by the Power Macintosh 9600 in February 1997.
While past Power Mac models (and virtually every existing PC on the market) used a boring beige tower aesthetic, the Power Mac G3 borrowed from the iMac and mixed things up with a blue-and-white design that was instantly recognizable.
And even after Jobs returned and introduced the iMac and iBook while revitalizing the Power Mac and Powerbook lines, the G3 and G4 still lagged behind PCs in most tasks ... letting its power languish.
Members of the vintage Mac community are in desperate ... As Woodward notes, the adapter in question allows an older generation of Power >Mac G3 and G4 from the early 2000s to connect to newer monitors.
But the iMac G3 — followed by its offshoots, the Clamshell iBook laptop and Power Mac G3 tower — ruled as a visual icon of ’90s tech, which saw everything from gaming consoles to point-and-shoot cameras become vividly hued exhibitionists.
Unlike the iMac G3 with its CRT display, the G4 introduced flat LCD panels to the Mac range, redefining how thin and light an Apple computer could be ... In fact, Apple claimed they offered double the performance of the previous Power Mac G5.
The Times & Democrat
15 Aug 2023
The Times & Democrat
15 Aug 2023