Buyer's Guide: G3 PowerBook
- Portable Power in an Elegant Package
Apple
has recently announced price drops in the G3 PowerBook lineup.
The speculation of course is that this is being done to clear
stock and make room for a new and improved PowerBook line.
Whether this is the case or not remains to be seen but the
time has never been better to get a great deal on a G3 PowerBook.
When the first round of G3 PowerBooks were released, the low
end 233MHz model had some serious drawbacks, namely a 12"
passive matrix screen and no backside cache. The 12"
screen was commonly described as dull and murky and the absent
backside cache hobbled the G3's performance. Thankfully Apple
got the message and has standardized on the 14" active
matrix screen and set
512k backside cache as the minimum. Other features that would
have been ad-ons in the past have become standard as well.
For networking there is 10Base-T ethernet or infrared ports
for those who quickly want to transfer smaller files. Infrared
networking runs at less than half the speed of 10Base-T but
the idea of networking without wired is pretty cool. If you
plan on swapping larger files between two PowerBooks but don't
want to invest in a hub you can always buy a crossover cable
and connect the two 'Books directly. For dialup connections
all G3 PowerBooks have a built in 56k modem with flex and
v.90 support. Two hot swapable side expansion bays will take
any of the following: batteries (two of them will give you
a maximum of 7 hours run time), Zip drive, CD/DVD-ROM drive
or floppy. Don't expect the floppy drive as a standard item
any more, it'll cost you extra. Personally I think this was
a good move. I would rather not have to pay extra for something
I am not likely to use especially given the built in networking
options on this machine. I would rather spend the extra $$$
on items that will improve my computing experience on a daily
basis, extra RAM for example.
Which PowerBook is for you? That depends on
how hard you intend to work it. The "low end" 233MHz
model has been brought up to snuff with the addition of the
512k bacside cache and improved screen. It also falls under
the $2,000 mark making it pretty attractive. A few years back
the 2 GB hard drive wouldn't have been a drawback but these
days it is not uncommon for programs to want 200+ MB for a
full install. 2 gig won't get you too far and even the 4 GB
drive starts to look a little small. Below we provide you
with the full specs for each machine along with benchmarks
and pricing information to help you make an informed decision.
Below you will find MacBench 4.0 processor scores for the
different G3 PowerBook models. MacBench 4.0 yields scores
that are relative to a Power Mac 6100 which is assigned a
score of 100. For more information on MacBench click
here. Results are from Apple's website and have not been
independently verified by us.
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Apple
has recently announced price drops in the G3 PowerBook lineup.
The speculation of course is that this is being done to clear
stock and make room for a new and improved PowerBook line.
Whether this is the case or not remains to be seen but the
time has never been better to get a great deal on a G3 PowerBook.
When the first round of G3 PowerBooks were released, the low
end 233MHz model had some serious drawbacks, namely a 12"
passive matrix screen and no backside cache. The 12"
screen was commonly described as dull and murky and the absent
backside cache hobbled the G3's performance. Thankfully Apple
got the message and has standardized on the 14" active
matrix screen and set 
512k backside cache as the minimum. Other features that would
have been ad-ons in the past have become standard as well.
For networking there is 10Base-T ethernet or infrared ports
for those who quickly want to transfer smaller files. Infrared
networking runs at less than half the speed of 10Base-T but
the idea of networking without wired is pretty cool. If you
plan on swapping larger files between two PowerBooks but don't
want to invest in a hub you can always buy a crossover cable
and connect the two 'Books directly. For dialup connections
all G3 PowerBooks have a built in 56k modem with flex and
v.90 support. Two hot swapable side expansion bays will take
any of the following: batteries (two of them will give you
a maximum of 7 hours run time), Zip drive, CD/DVD-ROM drive
or floppy. Don't expect the floppy drive as a standard item
any more, it'll cost you extra. Personally I think this was
a good move. I would rather not have to pay extra for something
I am not likely to use especially given the built in networking
options on this machine. I would rather spend the extra $$$
on items that will improve my computing experience on a daily
basis, extra RAM for example. 
