Apple Power Mac G4 (FW800) vs Apple Power Macintosh 6500/250

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Power Mac G4 (FW800) compared with Power Macintosh 6500/250

	ApplePower Mac G4 (FW800)	ApplePower Macintosh 6500/250
Overview
Released
Released	January 2003	1997
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 1000 MHz (Power Mac FW800), 2 × PowerPC G4 1250 MHz (Power Mac FW800) or 2 × PowerPC G4 1420 MHz (Power Mac FW800)	PowerPC 603e 250 MHz (Power Macintosh 6500/250)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1 or 2	1
Graphics
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce4 MX (64 MB) or ATI Radeon 9000 Pro (64 MB)	–
Memory
Memory	256 MB, 512 MB or 2 GB (better)	32 MB or 48 MB
Storage
Storage	60 GB to 120 GB (better)	4 GB
CPU
CPU	Single 1 GHz, dual 1.25 GHz or dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4; each physical processor has 256 KB on-chip L2 cache. L3 cache is 1 MB on the single 1 GHz, 1 MB per processor on dual 1.25 GHz and 2 MB per processor on dual 1.42 GHz. Bus is 133 MHz on the single model, 167 MHz on dual models.	250 MHz PowerPC 603e with 32 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 cache and a 50 MHz system bus
GPU
GPU	Single 1 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX with 64 MB DDR. Dual 1.25/1.42 GHz: ATI Radeon 9000 Pro with 64 MB DDR. Optional NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium and ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, each 128 MB DDR; independent CTO options stay in details.	Built-in video uses 2 MB SGRAM; Apple lists 24-bit colour up to 832 × 624 pixels and 8-bit colour at 1280 × 1024
Memory type
Memory type	Single 1 GHz: 256 MB PC2100 DDR at 266 MHz; dual 1.25 GHz: 256 MB PC2700 DDR at 333 MHz; dual 1.42 GHz: 512 MB PC2700. Four DIMM slots support up to 2 GB. Configurations retain stock drives and GPUs at base and maximum supported memory.	32 or 48 MB in Apple's Canadian configurations, with two 168-pin DIMM slots and 128 MB maximum
Storage type
Storage type	Stock 60/80/120 GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 drives on 1/1.25/1.42 GHz respectively. Lower models have Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW; top model has SuperDrive (DVD-R 4x, CD-R 16x). Four bays support two ATA/100 and two ATA/66 drives; two optical bays, one occupied. Optional 180 GB drive, SuperDrive on lower models and second Combo drive are not assumed in every configuration.	4 GB internal ATA hard drive, 1.44 MB floppy and 12× CD-ROM in Apple's Canadian launch configurations; a Zip drive was fitted to some bundles
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Four open full-length 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and AGP 4x graphics slot.	Two PCI slots plus communications, TV and video-input expansion slots; the communications slot carried a modem in some configurations
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack	Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	1 Gb/s	–
External displays
External displays	Up to 2	–
Front ports
Front ports	Headphone minijack and built-in speaker.	–
Back ports
Back ports	One FireWire 800 and two FireWire 400 (15 W total), two chassis USB 1.1, Gigabit Ethernet, V.92 modem, ADC/DVI, audio line-in/out and Apple Pro Speakers minijack. Maker four-port USB total includes two ports on the keyboard. Optional AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g card and Bluetooth 1.1 module.	Apple Desktop Bus, DB-15 video, external DB-25 SCSI, two serial ports, 10BASE-T Ethernet, audio connections and front headphone jack
External displays
External displays	Two displays in extended desktop or mirroring modes. ADC and DVI connectors with included DVI-to-VGA adapter; digital up to 1920 × 1200, analogue up to 1600 × 1200. A second ADC display needs a separately sold adapter.	–
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker; optional Apple Pro Speakers.	Built-in stereo sound with integrated subwoofer, as described in Apple's Canadian launch notice
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple Pro Keyboard, Apple Pro Mouse, USB keyboard extension, DVI-to-VGA adapter and modem cable.	–
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	19.1 kg	–
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	227 × 468 × 432 mm	–
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Maker reference 19.1 kg varies with configuration and manufacturing. Height 43.2 cm, width 22.7 cm, depth 46.8 cm.	Apple lists 16 × 7.8 × 16.9 inches (height × width × depth) and 44.5 lb
Power supply
Power supply	100–125 V or 200–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz; maximum current 6.5 A at low voltage or 7.5 A at high voltage. No wattage is supplied by this sheet.	–
In the box
In the box	Mac OS X with Classic environment rather than native Mac OS 9 boot; iLife and productivity software. Single 1 GHz and dual 1.25 GHz were available on 28 January 2003; dual 1.42 GHz was announced for the following month and subsequently reviewed. Its later availability does not change the generation’s first on-sale date.	Apple support lists 17 February 1997 as introduction. Its 4 April 1997 Canadian launch notice confirms the 6500/250 available immediately, but does not establish that as its first on-sale date; released is therefore year-only. The photographed seller unit's installed components were not used for the original configurations.