Last Powermac with power-button keyboard?

[volvoben]

A friend needs to identify a G4, the only photos she has of it show it's the original case style and the keyboard isn't the pro, it's the first USB model with a power button near the delete key. The mouse in the photos is 3rd party.

She just wants to know if the machine is worth shipping from her parent's house across the country or if they should sell it in a yard sale.

My guess is it must be yikes/sawtooth, around mid 2000, but perhaps gigabit or digaudio might have come with this keyboard as well?

I'll try to sell her on an itunes/file server for her macbook idea, but i'm not sure she'll spring for a HDD, memory and shipping.

TIA to all keyboard experts.

 

[zero2dash]

Blueberry G3s came with the revised keyboard with the circular power button and the tiny arrow scroll keys.

It's probably a Blueberry G3.
(picture of keyboard)

Digital Audio and Gigabit were both G4s way past the point of the power button on the keyboard; they came with the newer keyboard that had regular-sized arrow keys and the regular optical mouse, not the hockey puck.

I'd sell it at a yard sale really. I don't think it's worth upgrading, personally, but that's just my humble opinion.

 

[Eidorian]

http://lowendmac.com/ppc/g4saw.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Macintosh_G3_(Blue_&_White)

The Power Mac G3 (Blue & White) was the last Power Mac to come with a power button on the keyboard. Then again you should pay more attention to the tower itself then the keyboard. It's a USB keyboard and can be used on ANY Mac.

 

[bartelby]

The pre-Pro Keyboards had a power button.
Like this one:

 

[laidbackliam]

can that power button be used on a macbook pro?

 

[Eidorian]

can that power button be used on a macbook pro?

It only works on that Power Mac. You can't interchange it with the iMac G3 version either.

 

[volvoben]

Oh nuts, looks like the keyboard is from an earlier mac. The case is definitely a G4, I suppose i'll tell her about the audio plug differentiation technique, perhaps she could send the photo from the apple site with the 3 different audio plug options to her parents. They tried reading the plate on the back but they're elderly and couldn't even read it with a magnifying glass. At least it could still be a gigabit or digaudio I suppose.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Eidorian]

Some more help...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58418

 

[synth3tik]

I miss the keyboard power

 

[MacsRgr8]

I miss the keyboard power

I liked it too.

IIRC Apple had to ditch it for safety reasons orso?

Using the Power key on later Macs wouldn't startup the Mac anymore, but was still used to trigger the "Shutdown prompt", like pressing <CTRL> + <EJECT> on newer keyboards.

But back OT: try to find out what colour the power button on the front of the G4 is when it's turned on...
Is it "greenish", then it is pre-Digital Audio.
If it is "blue-whitish", it is Digital Audio or later.

TBFH (to be frightfully honest), I am not sure which colour the Gigabit ethernet G4 Power button has...

 

[volvoben]

ooh, that's a good hint...it's not attached to anything now, but i bet she could get them to plug it in and hit power.

If it glows pink i'm giving up.