UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Here is what I consider to be my classic Mac powerhouse, the Power Macintosh G4 'Sawtooth'. This was around the time when Apple was all in for colored cases and betting on USB to be the future of peripherals, the latter of which they were correct about. And while I would prefer the biege Macs, this one is actually very capable otherwise.
Originally when I got it, it had a PowerPC G4 processor clocked on 350mhz, but later on, I was able to track down an upgrade for this machine, which was a GigaDesigns G-Celerator, which brought the G4 to a whopping 1Ghz. It also came with plenty of RAM too. And because of my setup, I figured if I could do dual GPUs since there was no way to do two monitors from one graphics card otherwise, at least in Mac OS 9.
The back of the G4
The idea for this machine is that I wanted to play later Macintosh games that were designed for the PowerPC in mind after Apple transistioned from the Motorola 68K architecture. Of course, exclusive PowerPC Macintosh games were few and far in between. Still, it is quite capable and I often find myself playing educational software on that machine instead of the PC whenever I feel like it. Games like the JumpStart series and even the Humongous titles would be perfect for it. And of course, I would play other PC titles that have Mac ports available when I'm in the mood for it as well.
The G4 with the case open
One thing that I really like about this machine is that it's super easy to work on. In the case of the G4, all it takes is pulling the tab on the right side and the entire insides open up, giving you access to the motherboard and the drives themselves. What's also neat about this is that the majority of components that you see are 100% compatible with certain PC parts, save for the GPU and the CPU of course. For instance, if you got a spare IDE fixed disk or an optical drive, you can put it in the G4 and it'll work right out of the gate. Same goes for the RAM, too. All it takes are PC100 modules. No sweat. It's too bad it doesn't have a native floppy controller like the earlier Macs do, but I guess Apple wanted to move on so bad from that front whereas the PC held onto that format for much longer.
A close up of the G4 logic board
Overall, I love this computer because of its simplicity as well as its capabilites. It's kind of a shame that the floppy drive has been omitted by Apple just because of their visions for the future. But you know, sometimes you can't just blame them for inovation. And inovate they did. So, if I were to choose a classic Power Mac that would last me a lifetime, the G4 would definitely be my choice.