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Tech · died Jun 2004

Power Mac G4

???? — Jun 2004 · Apple Computer
retired Confirmed · Jun 2004

“A personal supercomputer that finished the classic Mac OS with dignity.”

The Power Mac G4 was a series of personal computers that Apple built around the PowerPC G4 processors from 1999 to 2004, marketing them as the first personal supercomputers, reaching speeds of 4 to 20 gigaFLOPS. It earned its place in Mac lore as the first existing Macintosh product officially shortened to Mac, and as the last Mac able to boot into classic Mac OS.

After a five-year run, the G4 and its beloved enclosure were retired with the introduction of the Power Mac G5. The case it carried, inherited from the Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White, held steady through the entire production run, evolving only to match Apple's design language and growing cooling needs. In leaving, it closed the book on classic Mac OS — a quiet exit for a machine that never rushed anything.

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