FW800 with Mac OS9

[Nermal]

I've found the order page courtesy of the Wayback Machine. I was mistaken about there being a dual 1.42 GHz option; I remembered that there were two "custom" configs available and I guess I assumed that the other one was 1.42.

 

[maskedman]

Dual Boot G4's

I've found the order page courtesy of the Wayback Machine. I was mistaken about there being a dual 1.42 GHz option; I remembered that there were two "custom" configs available and I guess I assumed that the other one was 1.42.

Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.25 (MDD 2003) Specs (M9145LL/A)

correct, yes?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Lets look at a quote from that site...

"It was released on June 23, 2003 along with the original Power Macintosh G5 models and discontinued on June 9, 2004 when the Power Macintosh G5 (June 2004) series was introduced."​

If we are to assume this site is accurate in it's information, then Apple didn't sell a single Mac OS 9 bootable PowerMac from January 28, 2003 until June 23, 2003.

Not only does this differ from what Apple says... far more importantly, it differs from the history of what happened.

Further, I surely don't recall Apple providing processor options... if you wanted options, you bought the current (Mac OS X only) PowerMac G4s, if you wanted Mac OS 9, you got what Apple was willing to make available. Apple specifically didn't want these systems to directly compete with the current line up. Mac OS 9 was dead and they weren't going to go too much out of their way with these systems.

Drive options and memory options... those aren't hard to believe (and don't really effect production), video card options is stretching it a bit (and the GeForce4 would be a down-grade) and processor options (specially a dual 1.42 GHz option) was fully outside of what Apple was willing to do back then.

Correct me if I am wrong here, but aren't you saying that you have a PowerMac G4 MDD with a single processor at 1.25 GHz that can boot Mac OS 9... and isn't that exactly what I said Apple was selling?

If you had a Dual G4 1.42 that booted Mac OS 9... I'd be eating my words (happily). And I could have missed the specs for the PowerMac G4 MMD (June 2003) when looking for PowerMac specs, so pointing out that one (which has both processor and video card options) would be a good way to prove your point.

But for the sake of keeping people from performing wild goose chases, lets stick with what can be pretty firmly established (by Apple no less).

EveryMac is, of course, wrong. The OS 9-bootable models were available at the same time as the FireWire 800 models. They were effectively identical to the pre-FW800 model, and were indeed configurable. You could choose single or dual 1.25 GHz processors, could up the RAM, hard drive, etc. You had no SPEED choice in processors, though, only one or two 1.25 GHz chips. On the Apple Store page for the FW800 model, there was a small link at the upper right that read "Need to boot OS 9?" or something similar. (The Wayback machine doesn't seem to parse the Apple Store properly, so I can't check the exact wording.)

I know this because I helped my son's teacher order one. She was looking at a new Power Mac for herself personally, but absolutely needed OS 9. She made her decision to purchase the day the 1.42 GHz/FW800 models came out, and I had to dig around on Apple's website to find the OS 9 compatible models. She was able to purchase a dual 1.25 GHz model. It wasn't a refurb or a clearance, it was listed as new alongside the new OS X-only models. That "Need to boot OS 9?" disclaimer was there through at least the first generation of Power Mac G5. (Sort of like how the Mac Pro page had a small link to buy old Power Mac G5s for a while, and the PCI Express G5 had a link to let you buy a lower-spec PCI-X G5.)

 

[RacerX]

I've found the order page courtesy of the Wayback Machine. I was mistaken about there being a dual 1.42 GHz option; I remembered that there were two "custom" configs available and I guess I assumed that the other one was 1.42.

I stand corrected then.



Revised boundaries...

Last PowerMac production models to be Mac OS 9 bootable:

• PowerMac G4 Mirrored Drive Doors (sold from August 2002 to January 2003)
• PowerMac G4 Mirrored Drive Doors 2003 (single & dual processor at 1.25 GHz, including systems with specs from this page) Sold specifically for people who needed a Mac OS 9 bootable system (sold from January 2003 until June 2004)

Not to be confused with the following Mac OS X only models:

• PowerMac G4 (Firewire 800) (sold from January 2003 until shortly after the introduction of the G5 in June 2003)