Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics, 1999–2000) (1999)

Apple announced the Power Mac G4 family on August 31, 1999. This page covers the AGP Graphics tower, not the entry PCI Graphics model, Cube or later Quicksilver and Mirrored Drive Doors towers. The Canadian announcement promised 400, 450 and 500 MHz across the range, but a promise does not establish delivery of every configuration then. Apple’s technical page groups AGP speeds from 350 to 500 MHz over the period, not one launch configuration.

© Bluedawe at English Wikipedia · Public domain ↗ Resized, no crop or retouching.

Representative graphite tower; photo does not establish AGP board or clock. Source already cropped by Zirka in2009, no new edits. Bluedawe · public domain.

Specs

Announcement and period

Apple announced the Power Mac G4 family on August 31, 1999. This page covers the AGP Graphics tower, not the entry PCI Graphics model, Cube or later Quicksilver and Mirrored Drive Doors towers. The Canadian announcement promised 400, 450 and 500 MHz across the range, but a promise does not establish delivery of every configuration then. Apple’s technical page groups AGP speeds from 350 to 500 MHz over the period, not one launch configuration.

AGP architecture

The AGP board had one AGP 2x video slot and three PCI slots, a 100 MHz bus, 1 MB L2 cache and four PC100 banks supporting up to 1.5 GB. Apple lists ATA/66 or SCSI, two USB ports, 10/100 Ethernet and AirPort readiness. The PCI model’s 1 GB limit, four-PCI arrangement and ATA/33 are not transferred to this tower. Its translucent graphite-and-silver enclosure had a side access door; Apple lists 17 × 8.9 × 18.4 inches and 30 pounds.

Marketing and 2000 revision

Apple marketed the family through PowerPC G4 and its Velocity Engine. Supercomputer performance and Pentium III comparisons were Apple’s claims and selected tests, not universal results for every application. Its February 16, 2000 release separately documents immediately available AGP 400/450/500 MHz configurations at US$1599/2499/3499 with 64/128/256 MB and 10/20/27 GB drives. Those packages and prices belong to February 2000, not August 1999.

Relations and photograph

The 2000 Cube is a compact branch of the G4 family, not this tower’s predecessor: the button compares related formats, not a direct succession. No link is made to an absent G3 catalogue entry, and this page does not claim coverage of every G4 revision. Bluedawe’s public-domain GraphiteG4 photo shows a graphite exterior; it does not establish the board or clock speed of that unit. Zirka cropped the source version in 2009; it is preserved here with no new edits.

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