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 Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower (left) and Power Mac G3 Blue and White (right) | |
| Developer | Apple Computer |
|---|---|
| Product family | Power Macintosh |
| Type | Desktop computer |
| Release date | November 10, 1997 |
| Lifespan | 1 year, 9 months |
| Introductory price | US$1,599 (equivalent to $3,035 in 2023) |
| Discontinued | August 31, 1999 |
| CPU | PowerPC G3 @ 233–450 MHz |
| Predecessor | |
| Successor |
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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 third-generation PowerPC chip, and introduced a super fast and large Level 2 backside CPU cache, running at half processor speed. As a result, these machines benchmarked significantly faster than Intel PCs of similar CPU clock speed at launch,[3] which prompted Apple to create the "Snail" and "Toasted Bunnies" television commercials.[4][5][6][7] Magazine benchmarks showed the G3/266 CPU outperforming the 350 MHz PowerPC 604ev chip in the Power Macintosh 9600 as well.[8]
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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Apple Launches New "Snail" Commercial on 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.