Mac PowerPC Identification

Hi Giando,

Your Apple Mac PowerPc mod. M3979 is an PowerPC  Macintosh G3 Desktop ( 233 Mhz, 266 Mhz or 300 Mhz ).

Macintosh PowerPC G3 Desktop 233 Mhz

Macintosh PowerPC G3 Desktop 266 Mhz

Macintosh PowerPC G3 Desktop 300 Mhz

Best regards from France.

PhilZ

The model M3979 was only used for the beige desktop G3 ("Gossamer") computers. They all have PowerPC G3 processors, also known as the MPC750. But you don't need to decode any numbers to know that: "Power Macintosh G3" is printed on the case.

Furthermore, from the everymac.com website, it can be seen that the M3979 model would have been used for a dozen types of PowerMac, therefore not just G3. Check the site to verify.

Quite so! It is the model of full-size desktop case introduced in 1995, with the PowerMac 7200 and 7500, and used for the 7300 and 7600 as well as the Gossamer G3. I'm sorry to have answered this point incorrectly.

Since all these models used the same case, the options inside could have been customized in the 1990s. But from the factory, the processor type and the presence of the A/V option (S-video and composite in) are what distinguish these models.

An additional way to tell the 7200 is that it has DRAM soldered on to the mainboard, replacing four of the DIMM slots (so it has only 4 slots for RAM instead of 8 on the other models). The codename on the 7200's mainboard is "Catalyst", the 7500,7300,7600 have "TNT".

For that, you can use the application called Apple System Profiler. There are other tools such as TechTool [Lite] and TattleTech that display additional technical details.

Edit: the picture is of a Power Macintosh 7200.