Apple PowerBook G3 Series (September 1998) vs Apple PowerBook G4 (17-inch, 1.5GHz)

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PowerBook G3 Series (September 1998) compared with PowerBook G4 (17-inch, 1.5GHz)

	ApplePowerBook G3 Series (September 1998)	ApplePowerBook G4 (17-inch, 1.5GHz)
Overview
Released
Released	September 1998	2004
Display
Screen size
Screen size	14.1″	17″
Resolution
Resolution	1024 × 768 or 800 × 600	1440 × 900 (better)
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Active-matrix TFT; 14.1-inch XGA 1024 × 768 or later 12.1-inch SVGA 800 × 600; resolution scaling supports lower resolutions	17-inch TFT widescreen; panel technology and refresh unpublished.
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G3 233 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series September 1998), PowerPC G3 266 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series September 1998) or PowerPC G3 300 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series September 1998)	PowerPC G4 1.5 GHz (PowerBook 17-inch 2004)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	1
Graphics
Graphics	–	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (64 MB DDR) or ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (128 MB DDR)
Memory
Memory	32 MB or 64 MB	512 MB or 2 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	2 GB to 8 GB	80 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	PowerPC G3 at 233, 266 or 300 MHz, 66 MHz system bus; 512 KB backside cache on 233 MHz or 1 MB on 266/300 MHz. Dedicated backside buses 117, 133 or 150 MHz; integrated FPU and 64 KB L1 cache	1.5 GHz PowerPC G4, 512 KB on-chip L2 and 167 MHz bus. Exact silicon supplier omitted.
GPU
GPU	ATI RAGE LT PRO with 4 MB SGRAM on 14.1-inch or 2 MB on 12.1-inch TFT; earlier passive-matrix models remain in the original May entry	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64 MB DDR; 128 MB video-memory build-to-order option.
Memory type
Memory type	32 MB or 64 MB factory SDRAM in two 144-pin SO-DIMM slots; original maker expansion limit 192 MB	512 MB PC2700 DDR333 standard; two SO-DIMM slots, maximum 2 GB.
Storage type
Storage type	Removable 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB internal IDE drive. Expansion bays accept CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, optional floppy, battery and third-party modules; 20× CD-ROM or 1.5× DVD-ROM with up to 12× CD reading	80 GB 4200 rpm Ultra ATA/100 hard drive; 80 GB 5400 rpm build-to-order alternative. 4× DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 3.5 hours	Up to 4.5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	49 Wh	58 Wh (better)
Weight
Weight	3.5 kg	3.1 kg (better)
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Removable 49 Wh lithium-ion battery; up to 3.5 hours with one or seven hours with two under maker normal-use conditions. Reference 3.5 kg includes modem, battery and CD-ROM; 12.1-inch reference is 3.3 kg. Maker sources give rounded dimensions and conflicting axis labels, so no unqualified dimensions adopted	58 Wh lithium-ion, up to 4.5 hours. Maker reference 3.1 kg includes battery and optical drive and varies by configuration/manufacturing. Published dimensions: height 2.6 cm, width 39.2 cm, depth 25.9 cm.
Charger
Charger	45 W AC adapter	65 W power adapter
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure
Connections
Ports
Ports	Ethernet, headphone jack	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	–	AirPort Extreme 802.11g/b
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	–	1.1
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	ADB, HDI-30 SCSI, RS-422 serial, 10BASE-T Ethernet, RJ-11 K56flex/V.90 modem, 4 Mbps infrared, VGA-style video, S-video and stereo audio input/output. Two Type I/II or one Type III PC Card slots with CardBus; lower slot supports Zoomed Video. No built-in USB or FireWire	Two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, Type I/II PC Card slot, DVI, S-video, audio input and headphone output.
External displays
External displays	VGA-style and S-video output; DVD-Video requires the decoder PC Card supplied with DVD-ROM configurations or optional DVD-Video kit	Dual display/mirroring; external resolution up to 2048 × 1536. DVI-to-VGA and S-video-to-composite adapters included; ADC adapter separate.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Full-size keyboard with 76 US or 77 ISO keys, twelve function keys, inverted-T arrows and embedded keypad	Full-size illuminated fibre-optic keyboard with ambient light sensor
Trackpad
Trackpad	Solid-state trackpad supports tap, double-tap and drag	Tap, double-tap and drag support
Speakers
Speakers	Two built-in stereo speakers	Two stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	Internal omnidirectional microphone	Internal omnidirectional microphone
In the box
In the box	Mac OS 8.1, AC adapter and regional cables/adapters. AppleCare article 30895 retrospectively confirms September 1998 release; revised service manual introduces M7229 12.1-inch TFT on 1 October. October brochure lists both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM 300 MHz choices; optical-drive variants share the same CPU/RAM/disk configuration below	Apple announced 19 April 2004 and expected the 17-inch model in early May. Actual first on-sale month unestablished after a bounded search; year precision retained. Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and iLife ’04 supplied.