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apple-history / Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White)

# Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White)

Essentials

Family: PowerMac G3/G4/G5

Codename: Yosemite

Gestalt ID: 406

Minimum OS: 8.5.1

Maximum OS: 10.4.11

Introduced: January 1999

Terminated: September 1999

Processor

CPU: PowerPC 750 "G3"

CPU Speed: 300/350/400/450 MHz

FPU: integrated

Bus Speed: 100 MHz

Register Width: 32-bit

Data Bus Width: 64-bit

Address Bus Width: 32-bit

Level 1 Cache: 32 kB data, 32 kB instruction

Level 2 Cache: 1 MB backside, 1:2

ROM: 1 MB ROM + 3 MB toolbox ROM loaded into RAM

RAM Type: PC100 DIMM

Minimum RAM Speed: 100 MHz

Onboard RAM: 0 MB

RAM slots: 4

Maximum RAM: 1 GB

Expansion Slots: 3 64-bit 33 MHz PCI, 1 32-bit 66 MHz PCI (filled)

Video

GPU: ATI RAGE 128

VRAM: 16 MB

Max Resolution: all resolutions supported

Video Out: VGA

Storage

Hard Drive: 6-12 GB (up to 3 36 GB available BTO)

ATA Bus: Ultra ATA

Zip Drive: optional

Optical Drive: 32x CD-ROM, DVD/DVD-RAM available

Input/Output

USB: 2

Firewire: 2

Audio Out: stereo 16 bit mini

Audio In: stereo 16 bit mini

Speaker: mono

Networking

Modem: optional 56 kbps

Ethernet: 10/100Base-T

Miscellaneous

Power: 200 Watts

Dimensions: 17" H x 8.9" W x 18.4" D

Weight: 28.7 lbs.

Although it shares the name of its predecessor, the "Blue" PowerMac G3 is an altogether different animal. Sporting an all new translucent "easy-open" case design (code named "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, although it also came with a "legacy" ADB port for backwards compatibility. In a controversial move, Apple chose not to include standard serial ports, a floppy drive, or on-board SCSI (Apple instead chose Ultra ATA). An internal Zip was available, however, as were SCSI expansion cards. The G3 was available in a number of configurations, starting at $1599, and rounding out near $5000 for the fully loaded server configuration. In late April, the "Blue" line was speed-bumped by 50 MHz, bringing the high-end model to 450 MHz.

Picture Credits:
Apple, Inc.

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 17:03:00 -0800
From: Gerhard
Subject: G3 Blue & White
I was wondering if you could add the fact that there was a
silent release to the G3 line, mid 1999.
The ATA chip was changed so it better supported slave
drives etc. you can recognize the rev. B by the hard disk
mount space. The first G3 B&W's had space to mount a single
hard disk to the casing, whilst the second revision had a
complete rack laying under the power suply wich could easily
be taken out and has space to mount 3 or four hard disks.

Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 01:07:56 -0700
From: Jeff Orsburn
Subject: Yosemite (B+W G3 rev 2 motherboard)
The silent revision that was noted in the previous comment is very true and the rev. 2 motherboard can be most easily identified by a "402" on the chip closest to the IDE socket on the motherboard.