Apple Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2003) vs Apple Power Macintosh 6500/250
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| ApplePower Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2003) | ApplePower Macintosh 6500/250 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | June 2003 | 1997 |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | PowerPC G4 1250 MHz (Power Mac MDD 2003) or 2 × PowerPC G4 1250 MHz (Power Mac MDD 2003) | PowerPC 603e 250 MHz (Power Macintosh 6500/250) |
| CPU cores | 1 or 2 | 1 |
| Graphics | ATI Radeon 9000 Pro (64 MB) | – |
| Memory | 256 MB or 2 GB (better) | 32 MB or 48 MB |
| Storage | 80 GB (better) | 4 GB |
| CPU | Stock single 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 with 256 KB L2 cache and 1 MB L3 cache. Contemporary Macworld reporting of Apple Store configurations also documents dual 1.25 GHz processors, each with 2 MB L3; this custom build is labelled in configuration details rather than presented as a second stock base. | 250 MHz PowerPC 603e with 32 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 cache and a 50 MHz system bus |
| GPU | Stock ATI Radeon 9000 Pro with 64 MB DDR in an AGP 4x slot. Macworld also documents a custom dual-processor build with NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium; that build has other upgrades and is not treated as a freely interchangeable stock configuration. | 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 | Stock 256 MB PC2700 DDR333; four DIMM slots, maximum 2 GB. The single-processor configurations retain the stock drive and graphics at base and maximum memory. The documented dual-processor custom base has 256 MB. | 32 or 48 MB in Apple's Canadian configurations, with two 168-pin DIMM slots and 128 MB maximum |
| Storage type | Stock 80 GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 hard drive; up to four internal drives. Tray-loading Combo drive reads DVD at 8x and CD at 32x, writes CD-R at 16x and CD-RW at 10x. Macworld documents a dual 1.25 GHz custom base with 80 GB, Combo drive and Radeon 9000 Pro, and a separate upgraded build with 2 GB RAM, two 160 GB drives, SuperDrive and GeForce4 Titanium. The two-drive build is described here without flattening its drives into a single capacity. | 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 | Four PCI slots and an occupied 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 | None built in | None built in |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack | Ethernet, headphone jack |
| Ethernet | 1 Gb/s | – |
| Front ports | Headphone connection and built-in mono speaker. | – |
| Back ports | Two USB 1.1, two FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet with Auto-MDIX, ADC and DVI display connectors, audio line-in/out and Apple Pro Speakers connection. The maker lists a V.92 modem. Optional original AirPort; the contemporary Apple-spokesman report confirms no AirPort Extreme, internal Bluetooth or FireWire 800. | Apple Desktop Bus, DB-15 video, external DB-25 SCSI, two serial ports, 10BASE-T Ethernet, audio connections and front headphone jack |
| External displays | ADC and DVI connectors with included DVI-to-VGA adapter. Digital resolution up to 1920 × 1200; analogue up to 1600 × 1200. The exact sheet does not publish a simultaneous display count. | – |
| Speakers | Built-in mono speaker and connection for Apple Pro Speakers; no built-in microphone. | Built-in stereo sound with integrated subwoofer, as described in Apple's Canadian launch notice |
| Keyboard and mouse | Black Apple Pro input devices and DVI-to-VGA adapter. | – |
| Design and power | ||
| Type | Tower | Tower |
| Weight | 19.1 kg | – |
| Width × depth × height | 226 × 467 × 432 mm | – |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Size and weight detail | Maker dimensions: height 43.2 cm, width 22.6 cm, depth 46.7 cm; weight 19.1 kg. These published metric values differ slightly from the FW800 sheet. | Apple lists 16 × 7.8 × 16.9 inches (height × width × depth) and 44.5 lb |
| In the box | Mac OS X 10.2.4 and bootable Mac OS 9.2.2, install/restore DVD and Apple Hardware Test. First sale uses the 23 June 2003 Macworld report that these models were for sale at Apple’s online store; a 29 June report quotes an Apple spokesman confirming manufacture and sale. The first day is contemporary Apple Store reporting rather than a retained maker launch notice. | 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. |
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