There are two different variants of the Wallstreet, known as Series 1 and Series 2 (Series 2 is actually known as "PDQ" to Apple, but is generally classed as a Wallstreet.) The Ser. 1 was made in three different speeds: 233mhz, 250mhz and 292mhz. It was also, as previously mentinoed, available with a 12" (only on 233) 13" or 14.2" LCD panel, however it is only the screen size that is different... the chassis is the same footprint on all models. the 233 model has a bus speed of 66mhz, whereas the 250 and 292 models have a faster 83mhz bus. The video chip is an ATI Rage II on the Series 1, and has 2Mb of VRAM.
THe PDQ Wallstreet is very similar to the original model, however it contains numerous improvements. To simplify the manufacture of the Powerbook, the PDQ had the bus speed standardised at 66mhz throughout the line. the baseline 233mhz speed was retained (although the cacheless 740 processor was dropped), however the midrange and high-end models were bumped to 266 and 300mhz respectively. In addition to these alterations, the PDQ also had an updated RagePro LT video chipset, with 4Mb of VRAM, which significantly improves video performance. The PDQ Wallstreets were only available with the 14.1" TFT screen, which is probably for the better.
Although these machines have a G3 processor, they retain OldWorld ROM's, so they are only officially capable of supporting up to OS 10.2.8 (unless XPostFacto is used, in which case, 10.3 is also possible).
Both revisions have ADB, 30-pin SCSI, GeoPort serial, 10-baseT ethernet, and sound input and output ports, as well as an IR window. S-Video out, VGA out and an internal modem are also standard on all models except for the 12" Series 1 233.
The wallstreet/PDQ series all have two Type II PC-Cardbus slots for expansion. They also have two Expansion/Battery bays, which can each hold a single battery (approx 3 hrs charge each when new), optical drive or floppy drive. Officially, the Wallstreet series only support 192Mb of RAM, however most reports indicate that at least 384Mb or even 512Mb is possible, using either PC-66 or PC-100 SO-DIMM's (PC-100 is required for machines with an 83mhz bus). The machines shipped with either a 2, 4, or 8Gb hard disk, and either a 20x CD-ROM or 2x DVD-ROM module (only available after Oct 98, and requiring a seperate PC-card decoder to play DVD-Video).
The Wallstreet is a mostly a good, machine, as it is rather solid in construction and quite upgradable... but they have a few issues, The hinges on some are prone to breaking, and the AC/sound board can also cause problems. Also, the 13" model I believe had a problem with the video cable to the LCD becoming pinched and causing display problems. The original baseline Series 1 12" Wallstreet 233 (also known as "Mainstreet") had a rather poor quality passive matrix screen however, and had the PPC 740 instead of the 750, which did not have any L2 cache, meaning performance is hampered, so this model is best avoided.
The Wallstreet/PDQ series also lacks USB and Firewire, however these can be added via a third party PC-Card. DVD video-decoding is also not supported unless an Apple Powerbook DVD Decoder PC-card is installed. The Wallstreet series are also rather porky as compared to later Powerbook G3's, however this is of little consequence.
Anther problem worth mentioning is that of heat... the Wallstreet suffered from rather severe heating issues, compared to later Powerbook G3's.
The Lombard is the third of the Powebook G3 series (or the fourth if the original 3500/Kanga is included, but for my purposes it isn't, as it is entirely different). It fixed most or all of the shortcomings and problems associated with the Wallstreet and PDQ, offered a host of improvements, and was the first Powerbook to use NewWorld ROM's. This means that it officially supprts up to OS 10.3.9 unassisted. The most noticable difference was the 20% reduction in thickness from the earlier model. Despite the thinning of the machine, it maintained the same footprint and stylish curved lines of the previous model. The revised design also included improved cooling, which was a much complained about inadequacy of the Wallstreet/PDQ. The Lombard's hinges are far less prone to failure than the Wallstreet, and the AC board was also revised. Numerous cosmetic alterations are also evident, in particular, the ditching of the colored Apple logo on the front screen bezel for a more modernistic white one, the illuminated top apple logo, and the brown or "Bronze" as it is known keyboard. The Lombard was available in two versions, a baseline 333mhz model, and a high-end 400mhz model both of which use the same high quality 14.1" TFT of the PDQ. The 400mhz model came equipped with either a 6Gb or 10Gb hard disk, a 2x DVD-ROM drive, and had an onboard DVD-decoder built onto the logic board. The 333mhz model was shipped standard with a 4Gb HDD and a 24x CD-ROM drive, however it lacked the DVD decoder chip of the 400mhz model, making it incapable of hardware-based DVD-decoding, unless the Powerbook DVD Decoder PC-card is used. This does not however, affect it's ability to read data-DVD's (if a DVD-ROM drive is installed), and unlike the Wallstreet, the Lombard 333 does have just enough power to allow software decoding of DVD's if a media player with this feature is available (for instance VLC)... however this can be jerky sometimes. Both models retain the 66mhz bus of the previous PDQ model, and a similar RagePro LT graphics controller, however this grahics controller found in the Lombard is an updated version with 8Mb of VRAM.
The Lombard no longer has ADB, or serial ports, instead the adding 2 USB 1.0 ports for connection of peripheral devices. Other ports include faster 10/100baseT ethernet, sound input and output, VGA and S-Video out, a repositioned 56K modem, and 30-pin SCSI, which was retained due to target-disk mode not being available with the Firewire controllers available at the time. IR is also retained. To accomodate the reduction in thickness of the Lombard's case in comparison to the Wallstreet, only one Cardbus slot is available, this being for Type I or II PC-cards. The Lombard only has one expansion bay, on nthe right-hand side, which is capable of holding either an optical drive, a battery or a third party Zip drive. The left bay, which was formerly capable of handling drives on the Wallstreet series, is a dedicated battery bay on the Lombard. This means the Lombard still retains the ability to simultaneously run two batteries (up to 6 hours each), but can only support one drive at a time. RAM is expandable to a maximum of 512Mb using PC-66 SO-DIMM's (higher speeds will also work).
The Lombard has no real history of failures, except for the ocassional isolated case of L2 cache failure (however this is not a common occurence by any means). One other annoyance that can arrise is keyboard marks on the screen, due to the incredibly small clearance between the panel and the keycaps. This poblem can, however, be alleviated by loosening the four screws on the rear port panel with the screen open, shifting the screen up, and then retightening. This issue is usually not noticable though anyway, and does not affect the usability of the machine. The Lombard also lacks Firewire, but again, this can easily be added with a 3rd-party Cardbus Firewire card (I'd recommend the one by VST, as it is made specifically with pre-Firewire Powerbook G3's in mind, and as such has OS 8.6/9 drivers. The card is plug and play in OS X... no driver required)
The Pismo is almost identical in construction and appearance to the Lombard, however it uses a new motherboard with a 100mhz bus and Firewire. It also adds a built in AirPort wireless antenna, for use with the Apple Airport card. The Pismo was available in a 400mhz and 500mhz versions, both of which came with a 6x DVD-ROM as standard, along with the necessary DVD-Video decoding hardware. It shipped with either a 6, 10,12, or 20Gb hard disk. The Pismo officially supports OS 9.0.4 through 10.4.1. The Pismo has a much faster Rage128 Mobility video chipset with 8 Mb of VRAM.
It retains all the ports of the Lombard, with the exception of the 30-pin SCSI port, which was dropped from the Pismo in favour of dual-Firewire ports. The Pismo allows booting into target disk mode for connection as a Firewire hard drive if necessary. It also has the single Type-II PC Cardbus slot found on the Lombard, however unlike the Lombard, this slot can also be used for an Apple airport card, as the Pismo has an integrated Airport antenna. Expansion/battery bays and battery carriage and life are as per the Lombard. RAM ceiling for the Pismo is 1Gb, using PC-100 SO-DIMM's (PC-133 will also work).
The Pismo also is a relatively reliable workhorse, and does not suffer any serious faults. The Pismo can, however, be afflicted with the "pink-screen" issue... where the entire display takes on a pinkish or reddish tinge, or in some cases, the corner's or bottom of the screen only may turn pink. I believe this was to do with the video inverter board. The Pismo also suffers from the same issue regarding keyboard marks on the screen... again, this isn't serious, and is alleviated using the same method described for the Lombard.
An important point worth making in regards to all G3 Powerbooks is that they are incompatible with ATA-6 hard disks, so if an upgrade is in order, ensure that the replacement drive is ATA-5 or lower. The ATA-6 standard started becoming common around about the time of 40 and 60Gb notebook hard disks, but it is still relatively easy to find 40Gb ATA-5 drives. Most drives smaller than 40Gb will be compatible with the Powerbook G3. Also, as a point of order, the Powerbook G3 series will carry both 12" and 9" thickness drives.
Well, anyway, there is your special long-winded Schmoburger run-down of the Powerbook G3 Series... hope it helps!
