PowerMac Main

Announced in July 2001, the Quicksilver

PowerMac G4 brought a slightly modified
enclosure to the G4 line. It also included a
processor speed-bump, and brought the DVD-R
"SuperDrive" to the mid-level model.

The Quicksilver PowerMac was available in three

configurations: The 733 Mhz model, with 128
MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, and a CD-RW
drive, was $1,699, the 867 Mhz configuration,
with 128 MB of RAM, a 60 GB hard drive and a
DVD-R drive, was $2,499, and the high-end
dual-800 Mhz model, with 256 MB of RAM, an
80 GB hard drive and a DVD-R drive, was
$3,499.

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.