Power Mac G4 (Graphite)
When Apple first introduced the G3 processor to the Macintosh lineup in 1997, many wondered how they could top the G3s speed.
Then 1999 rolled around, and Apple replaced the fast G3 with its even speedier successor, the G4. Since the new minitower design that was introduced with the G3 was still relatively new, so Apple just recolored the casing. The Blue & White casing was made of a semi-translucent milky-white plastic and a dull light-colored blue plastic. It was replaced with a new light gray and darker blue/gray colored casing dubbed "Graphite".
Then 1999 rolled around, and Apple replaced the fast G3 with its even speedier successor, the G4. Since the new minitower design that was introduced with the G3 was still relatively new, so Apple just recolored the casing. The Blue & White casing was made of a semi-translucent milky-white plastic and a dull light-colored blue plastic. It was replaced with a new light gray and darker blue/gray colored casing dubbed "Graphite".
The very first "Yikes!" model was actually a closer relative to the B&W then the rest of the Power Mac G4s. It used the same logic board as the 2nd Revision of the B&W. In fact, it was really just a B&W minus the ADB port in a newer casing with a G4 processor. It was also the only Power Mac G4 to use PCI for it's video card, as the rest of the line up used the AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) port for the video card. Originally, the Yikes model came in a 400MHz model, with the 350MHz model coming out 2 months later. It was discontinued in favor of a revised model with AGP in September 1999.
The AGP model, dubbed "Sawtooth" included a spec bump along with the faster AGP graphics port. It originally came with either 350 or 450MHz models, later upped to 450 and 500MHz, making it the first Mac to hit .5GHz. It was also the first Mac to be able to see and use 2GB of RAM (although to see and use the last 512MB you need OS X as the maximum RAM ceiling in Mac OS 8.6 and 9 is 1.5GB). Although it used the AGP slot, it used the same video card as the Yikes model, just redone to make use of the AGP slot.
July 2000 brought the first Power Mac refresh in the new millennium. The Power Mac G4 "Gigabit Ethernet" (although commonly referred to by it's codename, Mystic and SnakeBite) brought Gigabit (10/100/1000 base-T) Ethernet to the Power Mac line up along with dual processors. The entry model had a single 400MHz G4 while the mid range and top-of-the-line used dual 450 and dual 500MHz G4s respectively.
The final update for the graphite Power Mac G4s was the Digital Audio model introduced in January 2001. The Digital Audio shared very little with the other graphite Power Macs, in fact it uses the same logic board that can be found in the Quicksilver style G4s. It reduced the RAM slot count from 4 to 3 slots, thus lowering the maximum RAM to 1.5GBs. It also dropped the dual G4s in favor of 3 faster clocked, single processor G4s; 466, 533, and 733MHz although a dual 533MHz machine could be BTO (Build To Order).
The graphite colored case reached the end of it life in July 2001 when the Quicksilver G4s came out. These new macs used the same internals as the Digital Audio Power Mac, but in an all silver case.
The AGP model, dubbed "Sawtooth" included a spec bump along with the faster AGP graphics port. It originally came with either 350 or 450MHz models, later upped to 450 and 500MHz, making it the first Mac to hit .5GHz. It was also the first Mac to be able to see and use 2GB of RAM (although to see and use the last 512MB you need OS X as the maximum RAM ceiling in Mac OS 8.6 and 9 is 1.5GB). Although it used the AGP slot, it used the same video card as the Yikes model, just redone to make use of the AGP slot.
July 2000 brought the first Power Mac refresh in the new millennium. The Power Mac G4 "Gigabit Ethernet" (although commonly referred to by it's codename, Mystic and SnakeBite) brought Gigabit (10/100/1000 base-T) Ethernet to the Power Mac line up along with dual processors. The entry model had a single 400MHz G4 while the mid range and top-of-the-line used dual 450 and dual 500MHz G4s respectively.
The final update for the graphite Power Mac G4s was the Digital Audio model introduced in January 2001. The Digital Audio shared very little with the other graphite Power Macs, in fact it uses the same logic board that can be found in the Quicksilver style G4s. It reduced the RAM slot count from 4 to 3 slots, thus lowering the maximum RAM to 1.5GBs. It also dropped the dual G4s in favor of 3 faster clocked, single processor G4s; 466, 533, and 733MHz although a dual 533MHz machine could be BTO (Build To Order).
The graphite colored case reached the end of it life in July 2001 when the Quicksilver G4s came out. These new macs used the same internals as the Digital Audio Power Mac, but in an all silver case.
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