I have been working for a while on assembling a collection of Powerbook G3s. My collection is not yet complete, as I still lack the very first "Kanga" G3-a computer that I'm lead to understand as somewhat elusive.
Leaving that one aside, there are four major revisions of the Powerbook G3, all of which have their design differences and respective quirks. I've managed to get an example of each revision.
Although this is likely well known to many of you, these four major revisions are commonly known by the following names:
1. Wallstreet
2. PDQ, or Wallstreet II
3. Lombard
4. Pismo
(left to right)
All four have a similarly styled case, however there is a dramatic divide between the PDQ and the Lombard. Specifically, the PDQ is an Old World ROM Mac while the Lombard is a New World ROM Mac. To the end user, the difference is most readily apparent by the types of ports present. Specifically, OWR systems generally have ADB, SCSI, and serial ports while NWR Macs will always have USB and will generally emit at least some(if not all) "legacy" ports.
All four computers in this series contain two hot-swappable expansion bays under the palm rests. These bays can hold batteries(meaning that every computer in this line can hold two batteries). In the Wallstreet/PDQ, the right bay can hold a CD-ROM drive while the left bay can hold a floppy drive. NWR Macs do not support internal floppy drives, so the left bay of the Lombard and Pismo can only hold a battery. With some exceptions, batteries and other peripherals are interchangeable between the Wallstreet and PDQ, as well as between the Lombard and Pismo. These parts are NOT interchangeable between the two different series, however.
The switch between the PDQ and the Lombard coincided with a reduction in case depth and weight, although admittedly the Lombard/Pismo are still "chunky" by today's standards. Other the other side of this, however, the internal design is very "modular" and operations like adding RAM or replacing the hard drive can be accomplished with minimal disassembly. While the specifics of each model are different, all are similar in this regard.
One other major cosmetic difference between the two is in the keyboard. The Wallstreet/PDQ has a black keyboard secured by latches in the battery bays, while the Lombard/Pismo have a bronze colored keyboard secured at the top by two latches.
All four computers were available with a 14.1" 1024x768 active matrix display. The Wallstreet could also be had with a 13.1" active matrix or 12.1" passive matrix. My Wallstreet has the 12.1", although I could not get it to cooperate and boot for this write-up(I was using it yesterday, so am not sure what happened).
All computers use fairly standard PC-100 SO-DIMMs. The Wallstreet, PDQ, and Lombard can hold 512mb, while the Pismo can hold 1gb. Interestingly, the Lombard and earlier require 16-chip memory modules to recognize 256mb sticks at their full capacity, while the Pismo does fine with 8-chip 512mb modules.
My Wallstreet is somewhat interesting in that it has a 233mhz processor that lacks an L2 cache. This makes it quite pokey...this particular model is sometimes called the "Mainstreet" for this reason.
Being OWR machines, the Wallstreet/PDQ only officially support OS X 10.2.8 at the maximum, although xPostFacto will get them to 10.4.11. Similarly, the Lombard, lacking Firewire, will only support 10.3.9, although again Xpostfacto will get it to 10.4.11(and run it fairly well). The Pismo is the only one of the series that will officially run 10.4.
Just as a couple of other connectivity notes, the Wallstreet/PDQ have 10baseT ethernet, although 10/100 or WiFi could be added via one of the Cardbus slots. The Lombard has 10/100 ethernet, and again WiFi via Carbus. The Pismo is the only one of the series with support for the Apple Airport card.
The Pismo was also the first Powerbook with a "breathing" sleep LED. The Lombard and before had a simple blinking light.
One final thing-the Lombard was the first computer with the infamous illuminated Apple logo, although it would not get "flipped" until the TiBook.
Leaving that one aside, there are four major revisions of the Powerbook G3, all of which have their design differences and respective quirks. I've managed to get an example of each revision.
Although this is likely well known to many of you, these four major revisions are commonly known by the following names:
1. Wallstreet
2. PDQ, or Wallstreet II
3. Lombard
4. Pismo
(left to right)
All four have a similarly styled case, however there is a dramatic divide between the PDQ and the Lombard. Specifically, the PDQ is an Old World ROM Mac while the Lombard is a New World ROM Mac. To the end user, the difference is most readily apparent by the types of ports present. Specifically, OWR systems generally have ADB, SCSI, and serial ports while NWR Macs will always have USB and will generally emit at least some(if not all) "legacy" ports.
All four computers in this series contain two hot-swappable expansion bays under the palm rests. These bays can hold batteries(meaning that every computer in this line can hold two batteries). In the Wallstreet/PDQ, the right bay can hold a CD-ROM drive while the left bay can hold a floppy drive. NWR Macs do not support internal floppy drives, so the left bay of the Lombard and Pismo can only hold a battery. With some exceptions, batteries and other peripherals are interchangeable between the Wallstreet and PDQ, as well as between the Lombard and Pismo. These parts are NOT interchangeable between the two different series, however.
The switch between the PDQ and the Lombard coincided with a reduction in case depth and weight, although admittedly the Lombard/Pismo are still "chunky" by today's standards. Other the other side of this, however, the internal design is very "modular" and operations like adding RAM or replacing the hard drive can be accomplished with minimal disassembly. While the specifics of each model are different, all are similar in this regard.
One other major cosmetic difference between the two is in the keyboard. The Wallstreet/PDQ has a black keyboard secured by latches in the battery bays, while the Lombard/Pismo have a bronze colored keyboard secured at the top by two latches.
All four computers were available with a 14.1" 1024x768 active matrix display. The Wallstreet could also be had with a 13.1" active matrix or 12.1" passive matrix. My Wallstreet has the 12.1", although I could not get it to cooperate and boot for this write-up(I was using it yesterday, so am not sure what happened).
All computers use fairly standard PC-100 SO-DIMMs. The Wallstreet, PDQ, and Lombard can hold 512mb, while the Pismo can hold 1gb. Interestingly, the Lombard and earlier require 16-chip memory modules to recognize 256mb sticks at their full capacity, while the Pismo does fine with 8-chip 512mb modules.
My Wallstreet is somewhat interesting in that it has a 233mhz processor that lacks an L2 cache. This makes it quite pokey...this particular model is sometimes called the "Mainstreet" for this reason.
Being OWR machines, the Wallstreet/PDQ only officially support OS X 10.2.8 at the maximum, although xPostFacto will get them to 10.4.11. Similarly, the Lombard, lacking Firewire, will only support 10.3.9, although again Xpostfacto will get it to 10.4.11(and run it fairly well). The Pismo is the only one of the series that will officially run 10.4.
Just as a couple of other connectivity notes, the Wallstreet/PDQ have 10baseT ethernet, although 10/100 or WiFi could be added via one of the Cardbus slots. The Lombard has 10/100 ethernet, and again WiFi via Carbus. The Pismo is the only one of the series with support for the Apple Airport card.
The Pismo was also the first Powerbook with a "breathing" sleep LED. The Lombard and before had a simple blinking light.
One final thing-the Lombard was the first computer with the infamous illuminated Apple logo, although it would not get "flipped" until the TiBook.
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