With the advent of the new year 1999 Apple rolled out its
next generation of G3 PowerMacs. Designed with the professional
Web designer, publishing pro, video editor and 3-D gamer in
mind, these high end machines departed in both technology
and design from the first generation G3s. Code named Yosemite
the computers came in 3 different speeds; 400Mhz, 350Mhz and
300Mhz and in four different models. The system bus on the
Yosemite machines is likewise faster than the previous generation
and run at 100Mhz (as opposed to 66Mhz) Graphics are handled
by a high-end ATI RAGE 128 graphics accelerator and 16MB of
SDRAM graphics memory. This made them appropriate for high-end
graphics work and, at the time, for superb gaming. Installed
memory was 64MB of PC100 SDRAM (3.3-volt, unbuffered, 64-bit-wide,
168-pin, running at 100 MHz). This can be upgraded in each
machine up to 1GB using the 4 provided memory slots. Memory
from prior Power Macintosh (EDO or FPM RAM) computers cannot
be used in the the Blue & White systems.
The
Yosemite class machines provide easy access to their insides
. The side panel easily swings down when a lever on the side
of the machine is manipulated - exposing the innards of the
computer. Inside you will find 4 PCI slots (3 empty slots
running at 33Mhz (64 -bit) and one special high speed 66Mhz,
32-bit PCI slot that is filled with the ATI RAGE 128 graphics
accelerator) and 5 internal drive bays with built in support
for the new Ultra ATA drives ( three for 3 1/2-inch hard drives
and 2 for 5 1/4-inch drives - CD ROM, Zip, DVD etc.). There
is no built in SCSI bus. If you want to add SCSI devices you
will have to do so through a PCI card, using up one of your
slots. There is also no floppy drive. The new Power Macintosh
G3s came standard with a built-in slot to accommodate an internal
56K modem, which supports both the K56flex and V.90 standards.
The actual internal modem is an add-on option.
With these machines Apple moved forward to the new connection
standards it had committed to. It has eased out SCSI in favor
of two 400Mbps firewire
ports (for connecting high-speed peripherals such as drives
and video) and continued the abandonment of the serial port
it started with iMac in favor of two 12Mbps USB
ports for connecting low speed devices (such as keyboards,
mice etc). In a nod to the past it included one ADB port on
the machines so you can connect your old mouse, keyboard,
graphics tablet or other ADB device. All machines came with
10/100BaseT Ethernet.
For connecting monitors, these machines moved to the "PC",
VGA port standard. If you want to connect an older Mac monitor
you'll have to use a VGA-to-Mac adapter. The ATI RAGE 128
graphics accelerator supports up to 1,920- by 1,200-pixel
resolution at 32 bits per pixel (millions of colors)
In looks the Yosemite machines took the traditional mini-tower
form factor and cover it all with a iMac type frosting made
of the same bulletproof plastic found encasing the early iMacs.
At each corner is found a sturdy handle, making it easy to
move the machines around. If the Yosemite machines weren't
as radical a design departure as the iMac was, they were still
quite stunning in appearance.
The Yosemite machines shipped with system 8.5.1 installed.
OS 8.5.1 fixed some bugs associated with the initial release
of 8.5. It also shipped with the same controversial Apple
compact USB Keyboard and Apple round USB Mouse found with
the original iMac.
For
Great Prices On Upgrades Check The Quality Vendors Below
Index of all
online Macintosh hardware and software reviews
Below you will find the MacBench 5.0 results
for most of the processor upgrades available for this machine.
** Note that MacBench does not take advantage
of the Velocity Engine (AltiVec instructions) of the G4. For
AltiVec accelerated applications
you can see a 1.4 to 4 times performance improvement over
the G3, depending on the application and the functions you
are trying to perform.
"But I thought that the G4 was so much faster than the
G3?" In some cases it is! For G4 Application specific
scores - Click
Here
HandHelditems.com - Personalize your iPod with us. Shop hundreds of unique iPod accessories and save up to 80%.
Apple Store
- The size of a pack of gum, iPod shuffle weighs less than a car key. Which means there’s nowhere your skip-free iPod shuffle can’t go. Click Here
Copyright 1996-2007 by Cider Press Publishing LLC all rights reserved.
MacSpeedZone is not authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple
Computer. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPod, iBook, iMac, eMac, and
PowerBook are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Additional
company
and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby
acknowledged.
7/29/01
The
Yosemite class machines provide easy access to their insides
. The side panel easily swings down when a lever on the side
of the machine is manipulated - exposing the innards of the
computer. Inside you will find 4 PCI slots (3 empty slots
running at 33Mhz (64 -bit) and one special high speed 66Mhz,
32-bit PCI slot that is filled with the ATI RAGE 128 graphics
accelerator) and 5 internal drive bays with built in support
for the new Ultra ATA drives ( three for 3 1/2-inch hard drives
and 2 for 5 1/4-inch drives - CD ROM, Zip, DVD etc.). There
is no built in SCSI bus. If you want to add SCSI devices you
will have to do so through a PCI card, using up one of your
slots. There is also no floppy drive. The new Power Macintosh
G3s came standard with a built-in slot to accommodate an internal
56K modem, which supports both the K56flex and V.90 standards.
The actual internal modem is an add-on option. 
For
Great Prices On Upgrades Check The Quality Vendors Below
