Jobs Introduces New iMacs and G3 Systems

In his keynote at Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple Interim CEO Steve Jobs introduced new Power Macintosh G3 computers (previously codenamed "Yosemite") aimed at business and high-end users, plus revved-up versions of the iMac in five new colors, all available immediately.

The new Power Macintosh G3s are minitower systems dressed up in iMac-like blue and white cases with four built-in handles; while they retain a single ADB port, like the iMac they lack a floppy drive as well as SCSI and serial ports, instead sporting USB and new FireWire ports for connecting external devices like printers and digital cameras. The Yosemite machines feature PowerPC G3 processors running at speeds up to 400 MHz with 1 MB of backside cache, connected to the rest of the computer via a 100 MHz system bus. Together these enhancements should offer significant performance boosts over previous G3-based Macs. Yosemite systems also feature built-in 10/100Base-T Ethernet and a proprietary double-speed PCI slot equipped with an ATI Rage 128 video card. Apple also offers several build-to-order options, including inexpensive SCSI PCI cards and DVD-ROM and Zip drives. Pricing for the new Power Macintosh G3 systems ranges from $1,600 to $3,000. The new iMac systems feature 266 MHz G3 processors and a selection of new colors – grape, strawberry, lime, blueberry, and tangerine – at a new $1,200 price. The original 233 MHz Bondi blue iMacs now cost $1,049, improving Apple’s offerings in the consumer market.

Jobs’s Expo keynote made no mention of new QuickTime technologies or a consumer-oriented portable computer, but he announced Mac OS X Server (formerly Rhapsody) will be available in February for $1,000, featuring the Apache Web server, Apple’s WebObjects software, and support for booting iMacs via the network (which should particularly appeal to the education market). Jobs also introduced new 17- and 21-inch displays with cases matching the new Yosemite systems.