Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White)

Apple did to the professional tower what the iMac had done to the consumer desktop, five months later. The Blue and White G3 arrived January 5, 1999 in a translucent blue and white case with a side panel that swung open without a screwdriver. That hinge is what people remember. You laid the machine on its side, pulled a handle, and the entire logic board was in front of you, which PC towers would not manage for another decade. Inside, a G3 from 300 to 450MHz on Mac OS 8.5.1, and New World ROM, the same architecture as the iMac, which meant this machine could run Mac OS X natively and the Beige G3 it replaced never could. FireWire came as standard, and that is the part that mattered most. Apple had co-developed the bus, it was far quicker than USB at the time, and it arrived exactly as affordable DV camcorders started changing who could make a film. Video and audio people bought Blue and Whites specifically for those ports. Reviewers liked the case and the speed, and noted that the design revival was clearly not confined to consumer products.