History
In August 2002, Apple announced a new range of PowerMac G4s.
Known as "Dual Optical" for its twin CD bays, or "Mirrored Drive Doors" for the polished finish of the optical drives' fascia plate, this PowerMac was a significant upgrade of the PowerMac G4 line.
In particular the bus speed was upped from 133MHz in the previous Quicksilver machines, to 167MHz (in all but the earliest Dual Opticals). Also DDR RAM was used for the first time, giving much quicker memory access rates.
These PowerMacs are the last ones capable of booting into OS9. Subsequent PowerMacs can only run OS9 software by using Classic emulation under OSX.
This range of PowerMacs was officially replaced in January 2003 by the PowerMac G4 FireWire 800, however Apple continued to sell a variant of this machine for a considerable length of time, to customers who still required native OS9 support.
The original Dual Optical was released in August 2002. Dual processors were used as standard for this entire range, with three configurations being shipped: a dual 867MHz, a dual 1GHz and a dual 1.25GHz configuration. A 64MB Radeon 9000 graphics card was included on the base spec machines. Apple's specs for this Mac are here.
In January 2003 (at the same time as the FireWire 800 model was launched) an updated model of this older dual optical was released in a single 1.25GHz model. This Mac was still able to boot into OS9, unlike the FireWire 800 model, and was kept in production for people who needed to run OS9 natively. Apple specs for this model are here.
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How to Identify these Machines
The G4 Dual Optical, and its successor the G4 FireWire 800, can be easily distinguished from other G4 towers by their
mirrored front panel. They are the only PowerMac G4s capable of mounting two CD drives, all preceding PowerMac G4s could take an optional ZIP drive below their single CD bay.
The easiest way to distinguish the two dual optical models is the connectivity. This page deals with machines which have standard FireWire (FireWire 400). If your PowerMac has FireWire 800 please refer to the page for the PowerMac G4 FireWire 800. If you are unsure of your connectivity, you should use the Apple System Profiler utility.
Processor speed can also be helpful, these machines came in a dual 867MHz, dual 1GHz, dual 1.25GHz or single 1.25GHz configuration. However there was a dual 1GHz Quicksilver 2002, and there was a dual 1.25GHz PowerMac G4 FireWire 800.
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 the upgrades
yourself then we can help. Simply ask our engineers for further details.
Memory Upgrades
The PowerMac G4 Dual Optical has 4 memory sockets. The machines can accept up to 2.0GB in RAM in 4 x 512MB modules. The machines use PC2700 DDR 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
Turn off the machine and open the side of the case.
The RAM sockets are obvious, placed at the top of the side door, and the RAM is designed so it cannot be installed the wrong war around.
Apple's instructions can be found here.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
CD & DVD Drive Upgrades
An internal CD/DVD drive could either replace your existing optical drive or be installed alongside it. 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.
| 1 | Only fully supported under Max OSX 10.5 or later - see product page for more 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.
The CD caddy is held in by two screws,
one at the front of the case and one near the top.
Remove these screws and disconnect all cables, the CD caddy can then be removed.
If installing a second optical unit, set the jumpers on the new unit to slave and fit it in the free space in the caddy.
If replacing the existing drive, remove this drive, set the replacement's jumpers to master, and fit in place of the original.
Connect data and power cables and secure caddy with the two screws.
Close up the machine and install any supplied software.
Apple's instructions can be found here.
If you are unsure, please call or email our team.
Internal Hard Drive Upgrades
The PowerMac G4 Dual Optical can can take internal IDE hard drives of sizes up to 250GB. Up to two 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 side door.
If drive is a replacement then simply remove all cables and screws from the existing drive, and replace the unit.
If installing as a second drive then change the jumper setting to slave, and add the drive above the existing hard drive.
Connect power and data cables, and initialise the disk.
Apple's instructions can be found here.
If you are unsure 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 G4 Dual Optical has one available AGP socket for upgrading your video capabilities. You also have three 33MHz PCI slots, which can take a second graphics card - however the AGP socket is superior and should be used for the primary graphics card.
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 side door and locate the (brown) AGP socket. Remove holding screw and remove the original card.
Insert the new card, and secure with the screw.
If you are unsure please call or email our team.
Expansion Card Upgrades
This PowerMac G4 has four PCI sockets for connectivity expansion. Since the machine was released FireWire 800, USB 2.0, faster internal IDE controllers, faster wireless and wired connectivity, and much more, has become available.
With the use of PCI expansion cards, you can update your machine to use current spec connectivity types. Please note that some cards have an operating system version requirement - see the notes in the table below for any that apply to this machine.
| 1 | Requires OS 10.2 or later. |
| 2 | FireWire requires OS9, USB 2 requires OS 10.2.8 for this card |
| 3 | 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. |
| 4 | Requires OS X 10.3 or later. |
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 and remove the blanking plate. Fit the new card and secure with the screw.
To fit an Airport card, refer to Apple's own guide here.
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.
| 1 | This is an EXCHANGE PART. Please see the product page for full 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.
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 Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later. |
| 2 | Only suitable for this Mac if you have added USB 2.0 or eSATA with an expansion card. Will not boot this Mac. |
| 3 | Requires an eSATA connection to be added to this Mac (eg Tempo X4P). |
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.
