[8:30 AM] G3 and G4 Price Drops from Sonnet and Newer
by Staff
Sonnet Technologies and Newer Technology each announced price cuts across their lines of G3/G4 upgrade cards. Increased availability of G4 chips, and the continued manufacturing of G3 chips has led to some relatively significant price drops. New product pricing from each company is as follows:
Sonnet:
Encore G4 400/1M $799.95 (was $999.95)
The Encore is compatible with the following Macintosh models:
- G3 Desktop, Mini Tower, Server, All-In-One
- Blue and White G3
- Charcoal G4 (Yikes motherboard)
The Encore G4 plugs into the ZIF socket of any of the compatible models without needing switches, jumpers or control panels. The unique Encore G4 hardware will automatically configure itself to run at 400MHz whether plugged into a 66 MHz bus Desktop G3 or a 100 MHz Blue & White G3.
Crescendo G4/PCI 400/1M $799.95 (was $999.95)
Crescendo G4/PCI 350/1M $599.95 (was $699.95)
The above cards are compatible with the following Macintosh models:
- Power Mac 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8515, 8600, 9500, 9515, 9600
- Workgroup Server 7350, 8550, 9650
- Power Computing PowerTower Pro, PowerWave
- UMAX J700/S900
- DayStar Genesis Series, Millennium
- Mactell XB Pro
Altivec Enabling Software
The Sonnet Crescendo and Encore G4 upgrades ship with Altivec Enabling software, giving all applications access to the Altivec processing engine in the G4 processor. The unique Sonnet Enabler extends Altivec support to even MacsBug, which is an important distinction for software developers and sophisticated users.
Mac OS 9 Velocity Engine and Adobe Photoshop Altivec Compatibility Sonnet G4 Enabler fully supports the Apple Velocity Engine libraries included in Mac OS 9. The Adobe Photoshop 5.5 Altivec Plug-ins, Altivec Core, Lighting Effects, as well as future Altivec plug-ins are also enabled with the Sonnet software. Adobe Photoshop 5.5 users can expect a specialized boost out of the Sonnet G4 processors. Scientific and audio/video authoring applications will also benefit significantly from a Sonnet G4 upgrade.
Newer:
| Upgrade |
Old |
New |
Savings |
| MAXpowr G3 300/1MB/200 |
$399 |
$359 |
$40 |
| MAXpowr G3 400/1MB/200 |
$549 |
$499 |
$50 |
| MAXpowr G3 500/1MB/250 |
$949 |
$849 |
$100 |
| MAXpowr G3-G3 500/1MB/250 |
$899 |
$849 |
$50 |
| MAXpowr G3-L2 300/512K/150 |
$349 |
$299 |
$50 |
| MAXpowr G3-L2 300/1MB/200 |
$399 |
$359 |
$40 |
| MAXpowr G4 350/1MB/175 |
|
$699 |
|
| MAXpowr G4 400/1MB/200 |
|
$799 |
|
Additional changes to Newer Technology's product line are the discontinuation of the MAXpowr G3-CC "Carrier Card" product. Since market demand was almost non-existant, Newer has recommitted efforts to its original line of award-winning processor upgrades. The standard MAXpowr G3 product line offers PowerMac customers the most compatible easy-to-install and Apple-like computing experience possible.
Compatibility
MAXpowr G3:
PowerMac 7300 - 9600, UMAX J700 and S900 as well as the upgradeable Power
Computing models.
MAXpowr G3-G3:
beige and blue/white PowerMac G3 systems.
MAXpowr G3-L2:
Apple PowerMac 4400, 5400, 6400, 6500; Apple Performa 5400, 5410, 5420, 5430, 5440, 6360, 6400, 6410, 6420; UMAX C500 and C600 series; Power Computing PowerBase; Motorola StarMax systems as well as the APS M*PowerMac clones.
MAXpowr G4:
Apple PowerMac 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500, 9600; UMAX J700 and S900 series; Power Computing PowerTower Pro and PowerWave; Daystar Genesis
MAXpowr G4 ZIF:
PowerMac G3 systems (beige and blue/white)
You can find more information at each company's respective web site.
The Mac Observer Spin: Of course it's inevitable to see this happen, but it is great for the industry to see the price for high power computing come down into the budgets of the masses.
Sonnet Technologies - Newer Technology
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