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Author Topic: Power Macintosh G3 - desktop vs mini Tower (1998)  (Read 4868 times)

macStuff

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Power Macintosh G3 - desktop vs mini Tower (1998)
« on: January 15, 2020, 10:13:22 AM »

just wondering what comments anyone has re: these 2 different layouts
this model is interesting due to the fact that it is the last model to have floppy drive aswell as a built in serial port
so if your goal is backward compatibility with earlier macos software this model might be the best of them all!
but what are the pros and cons of each form factor.. desktop version or mini tower?
are they the same? or does the tower have more room for mounting drives etc?
do they differ in slot count? please share your experience/expertise

im hoping to get my uncles g3, he passed away from cancer a few months ago (cancer sucks)
im not sure if he had a desktop or a tower version though

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g3/specs/powermac_g3_300_dt.html
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g3/specs/powermac_g3_300_mt.html
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g3/specs/powermac_g3_333_mt.html

i see here the mini tower came in 333 variety the desktop model didnt thats one pro to the mini tower
but for using old software that used floppy authorization, the extra 33mhz isnt going to make much difference, as 300 is already more than sufficient
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dozuki

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Re: Power Macintosh G3 - desktop vs mini Tower (1998)
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2020, 08:41:36 PM »

I have both. The first thing is that with the desktop version you have to be careful of the height of the RAM that you get for it. The RAM from OWC says it will fit, but it's actually just a mm or 2 too tall for the computer. This isn't a problem with the mini tower. I think the drives bays are easier to get at in the desktop, but the mini tower is a full 100 MHz faster and feels a bit snappier to me. Definitely check for which personality card is in the machine. One will be 1/8" audio in and out only, while another is A/V in-out with S-Video and Composite in-out, and for audio: 1/8" and RCA in and out.

Either of these make great 'translation engines' or 'puddle jumpers' as they have Floppy, zips, IDE and SCSI along with your above mentioned Serial ports. Add a PCI firewire card for cheap if you have a firewire drive. I have yet to get USB nor SATA working on one, but a super cheap IDE to compact flash adapter is simple plug and play. Oh, and both have built in Ethernet. add a cheap WIFI bridge, and call it a day.

I love the Beige G3's =)
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OS923

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Re: Power Macintosh G3 - desktop vs mini Tower (1998)
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2020, 01:41:32 AM »

I've used them both with USB and Enet 100 cards. The minitower is certainly better than the desktop version. It's easier to assemble and disassemble and you have more space inside for your cables.
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