History
The G3 Blue & White was a real change for Apple, where they broke away from the beige box model for their PowerMacs.
They opted to go for a
radical redesign both inside and out. Externally they went with a brand new,
easy access case, with handles and a drop down door.
SCSI and Serial were dropped from the PowerMac range and replaced with USB and FireWire. SCSI was available as a build to
order opinion, but Apple went all in for USB - another first for Apple.
The Blue & White G3 was an instant hit. The machine was one of the quietest
Macs released, and a big hit with audio professionals. A nice easy machine to
upgrade and a great piece of Apple history.
The Blue & White is an easily upgradeable machine, and can be cost-effectively upgraded significantly beyond its base specifications.
Apple's own specifications for the PowerMac G3 Blue & White can be found here.
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How to Identify these Machines
The G3 Blue & White was the only PowerMac that was released in its eponymous colouring, and it is quite distinctive.
If unsure, you can also check the components inside the
case:
Turn the machine off and open the side of the case.
Internally the G3 Blue & White has four memory sockets (black in-line sockets) towards the top of the case. Then a small heat sink with 1 holding
strip. You will notice four differing
expansion sockets (some will be used); these machines have four PCI sockets.
The first is a 66MHz PCI socket, and will be occupied with your graphics card. This socket is designed for
graphics cards and has one extra divide on the slot. The other 3 socket are
regular 33MHz PCI sockets for expansion cards.
Apple's own specifications for the PowerMac G3 Blue & White can be found here.
If you are still unsure, you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for
confirmation. If you want to upgrade but aren't happy to install your upgrades
then we can help. Simply ask our engineers for further details.
Memory Upgrades
The PowerMac G3 Blue & White has four memory sockets, each of which can take up to a 256MB module - meaning the machines can accept up to 1GB of RAM.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Open side of case, with the machine turned off, and place
RAM into socket. The RAM is designed so it cannot go in the wrong way.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
CD & DVD Drive Upgrades
An internal CD/DVD drive would replace your existing optical drive. There are also external FireWire and USB options (FireWire highly recommended for this machine).
Any replacement internal 5.25" IDE CD unit will install into this PowerMac, and should work to read data. However, unless there is an Apple ROM on-board the CD unit, the computer cannot be booted from the CD, and the unit will not integrate with Finder burning and Apple software like iDVD. Burning can still be accomplished by third party software such as Roxio's Toast.
Look for the footnotes on any internal drive listed below, to see if there are any issues as described above.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 2 / 5 - Easy (internal)
Turn off the machine, open the side door, and remove the front panel of the CD drive, which is secured by two clips.
Remove two small phillips screws, and gently move the CD caddy forward.
Disconnect all cables and replace with new
unit, then install any supplied software.
If you are unsure please call or email our team for details.
Internal Hard Drive Upgrades
The PowerMac G3 Blue & White can take internal IDE hard drives of sizes up to 80GB. Up to two extra extra drives can be added alongside your existing hard drive - a straight replacement is obviously possible as well.
If you want to use a larger hard drive you will need to use a SATA drive and install a SATA controller into a PCI socket. See the expansion cards section at the end of this page for details on available cards.
If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.
Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 2 / 5 - Easy
Turn off the machine and open the side door.
If the hard drive is a replacement for the existing unit, simply remove all cables
and screws and replace with the new drive.
If installing as a second drive then change the jumper settings to slave, and add above or to the side of the existing drive (the exact revision of your PowerMac will determine where this drive bay is located).
A third drive can be added in the ZIP bay under the CD-ROM (if no ZIP drive is installed).
Connect data and power cables and initialise the disk.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
eSATA Storage
This Mac can have an eSATA controller card added into an expansion socket - allowing it to control an array of eSATA drives.
For an explanation of what eSATA is, please see our eSATA FAQ. To see our full listing of eSATA products, please see the eSATA category.
eSATA products compatible with this Mac can be found on this page - eSATA controllers can be found on in the expansion cards section, eSATA enclosures are with the external hard drives, and SATA hard drives are listed with the internal hard drives.
Graphics Card Upgrades
Your PowerMac G3 Blue & White has one 66MHz PCI slot, and three 33MHz sockets. Your existing graphics card will be in the 66MHz slot, and unless you are installing a second card (to support a second monitor), you should place a new graphics card in the 66MHz PCI slot.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Install any supplied software, then turn off the machine.
Open the side door and locate a (cream coloured) PCI socket. If this is to be your main graphics card, remove your existing video card, and install the new one in the same socket. If the card is a second card, install in any free PCI slot.
Screw the card into place and restart machine.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
Expansion Card Upgrades
Your PowerMac G3 Blue & White has three PCI sockets for connectivity expansion.
Since the Blue & White was
released, FireWire 800, USB 2.0, faster Internal IDE controllers, faster wireless and wired connectivity and much more powerful graphics cards have been developed.
All of this, and much more, can be added via PCI expansion cards.
| 1 | Requires Mac OS 10.4 or later. |
| 2 | Requires OS 10.2 or later. |
| 3 | FireWire requires OS9, USB 2 requires OS 10.2.8 for this card |
| 4 | FireWire 800 requires OS 10.2.3 or above (10.2.5 highly recommended). Under OS 9.x - 10.2.2 FireWire 800 will function as normal FireWire 400. |
| 5 | Requires OS X 10.3 or later. |
| 6 | Requires OS9 or any version of OSX. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Install any supplied software and turn off the machine.
Open the side door and locate a free (cream coloured) PCI socket. Remove the holding
screw, install the new card in the socket, and secure it with the screw you have just removed.
If you are unsure, please call or email our team.
Keyboards & Mice
The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Keyboards plug into the relevant port on your Mac. Mice can either be plugged into your keyboard, or they can be plugged directly into your Mac.
Power Supplies & Batteries
Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Cables & Tools
Listed below are power cables, tools and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
External Hard Drive Upgrades
This Mac can use any of the following external hard drives.
| 1 | Requires a USB 2.0 expansion card and OS X. |
| 2 | Requires 9.2 or later or 10.1.5 or later. |
| 3 | Only suitable for this Mac if you have added USB 2.0 or eSATA with an expansion card. Will not boot this Mac. |
| 4 | This product requires an eSATA controller that support port multipliers, such as the Sonnet Tempo X4P or Sonnet Tempo E4P. |
| 5 | This product is an accessory for the Sonnet Fusion D500P external SATA controller. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Install any supplied software and connect the new device.
You will need to format the drive before use. This is done with the "Drive Setup" utility, which can be found in Applications > Utilities.
