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Last month Apple’s slogan was ‘The Power to Burn.’ July’s MacWorld held in New York replaced it with ‘The Power to Pro Create.’ And to be honest- I’m a bit fevered having just finished watching the keynote address. The new Mac line up stands as an impressive step forward in terms of both power and productivity. The new Mac line sports a new look that brings the style of the TiBook to the easy to upgrade case design of the G4 line— Apple calls this look ‘Quicksilver.’
The second generation G4’s look sleek in their new color, but inside the case they look essentially like past G4s. That is, until your eyes meet the processor heat sink. This series boasts a larger, more industrial heat sink because the new series houses processors with speeds starting at 733MHz.
In a major step forward, Apple has replaced its past product line with new version of its 733MHz model and added a single processor 867MHz model as well as a dual 800MHz model. The mid-range and high-end models have 2MB level 3 caches. Below is a more detailed list of configurations, but the dual processor model turned in a unprecedented 12 gigaflops of processing power.
Available Configurations:
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Order no.
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M8359LL/A |
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M8360LL/A |
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M8361LL/A |
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| Processor |
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733MHz PowerPC G4 |
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867MHz PowerPC G4 |
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Dual 800MHz PowerPC G4 |
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| On-chip cache |
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256K L2 at 733MHz |
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256K L2 at 867MHz |
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256K L2 at 800MHz per processor |
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| Backside cache |
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— |
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2MB L3 at 217MHz |
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2X 2MB L3 at 200MHz per processor |
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| Memory (PC133 SDRAM) |
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128MB |
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128MB |
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256MB |
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| Hard disk drive(6) |
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40GB (5400 rpm) |
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60GB (7200 rpm) |
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80GB (7200 rpm) |
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| Graphics Support |
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NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB of SDRAM |
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NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB of SDRAM |
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NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with TwinView and 64MB of SDRAM (5) |
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| Optical drive |
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CD-RW (3) |
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SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) (2) |
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SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) (2) |
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| FireWire |
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Two 400Mbps FireWire ports (15W total power) |
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| USB |
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Two USB ports (12 Mbps each total) |
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| PCI slots |
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Four full-length 64-bit, 133MHz PCI slots |
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| Ethernet |
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Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet (RJ-45 connector) |
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| Wireless networking(7) |
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Built-in antennas and card slot for optional 11Mbps AirPort Card; IEEE 802.11 DSSS compliant |
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| Modem(9) |
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Built-in 56K V.90 modem (RJ-11 connector) |
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| System Software |
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Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 |
| Software |
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QuickTime, iMovie 2, iDVD (requires SuperDrive), iTunes(4), Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook Express, Netscape Communicator, FAXstf, Palm Desktop and Apple Hardware Test CD. Product contains electronic documentation. Most applications are preinstalled. Backup copy of software is provided on CD-ROM. |
| Hardware Accessories |
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All models Apple Pro Keyboard, Apple Pro Mouse, modem cable, and FireWire camcorder cable. |
| Limited Warranty and Service |
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Your Power Mac G4 comes with 90 days of telephone support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan and get three years of service and support. Only the AppleCare Protection Plan provides you with direct telephone support from Apple technical experts and the assurance that repairs will be handled by Apple-certified technicians using genuine Apple parts. |
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Also notice that both the mid and high-end systems come stock with SuperDrive. The low-end 733MHz model comes with a CDRW drive standard. All models have the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB of RAM, but the high-end model has a card called the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX TwinView with 64MB of memory. This card is capable of driving two monitors from the single card.
All of the new machines have built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet, and hard drive ranges are 40GB, 60GB, and 80GB respectively. Surprisingly, the low-end model is reported to have only a 5400RPM drive while the others carry 7200RPM models.
All models are available for order in the Apple online store now, though the twin 800MHz model will not be available until next month. Look for any of these machines coming to a desktop near you. They won’t be easy to miss. Apple has done a great job of improving on an already elegant case design and has crammed more power under the hood that any computer manufacturer to date. Take a look at the “Blow By Blow Comparison” to see how the fastest G4 compares to the fastest Pentium IV.
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