Apple Launches 300MHz Publishing Dream Machine; Demos 400MHz Processor Technology

Power Macintosh G3 Line Adds 300MHz PowerPC, 1MB L2 Cache, FireWire, RAID Drives and DVD-ROM

Seybold, New York --March 17, 1998--During a keynote address here today, Apple Computer, Inc. announced its most powerful computer ever, a 300MHz Power Macintosh G3 with a 1MB L2 memory cache. This latest Power Macintosh and new build-to-order options, such as FireWire, Ultra Wide SCSI RAID drives and DVD-ROM, can be combined to create the ultimate solution for multimedia authors, digital video editors and pre-press professionals.

Apple also demonstrated--for the first time in public--a Power Macintosh G3 running at 400MHz, underlining the growing performance gap between Macintosh and Wintel systems.

"Our Power Macintosh G3's continue to deliver new features and even greater performance for our loyal publishing customers," said Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO. "Through build-to-order manufacturing, the G3 product line now has over 20,000 configurations, making the most powerful personal computer on the planet also the most versatile."

New Build-to-Order Options
New build-to-order options including a DVD-ROM drive and RAID hard drives with up to 4GB of storage capacity and Conley SoftRAID software are available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com). Apple's FireWire card for high speed digital video capture is expected to be available in late April. Current build-to-order options such as 10/100 Fast Ethernet card, graphics acceleration card and additional memory are also available for the 300Mhz Power Macintosh G3.

Pricing and Availability
The 300Mhz Power Macintosh G3 is immediately available build-to-order via the Apple Store (www.apple.com) starting at $2499. Two retail configurations can be ordered through Apple authorized resellers and the Apple Store.

- Minitower enclosure, 1MB of Level 2 backside cache, 24x CD-ROM drive, 64MB SDRAM, 6MB SGRAM for on board graphics, 4GB Ultra Wide SCSI drive, for an estimated retail price of U.S. $3,359.

- Minitower enclosure, 1MB of Level 2 backside cache, 24x CD-ROM drive, 128MB SDRAM, 6MB SGRAM for on board graphics, a 128-bit high-resolution graphics accelerator card with 8MB VRAM for dual monitor support, a pair of 4GB Ultra Wide SCSI drives with RAID software, and a 10/100 Fast Ethernet card, for an estimated retail price of U.S. $4,899.

Apple Computer, Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now recommitted to its original mission--to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons, and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.

Press Contacts:
Nathalie Welch
Apple Computer, Inc.
(408) 974-5430
email: welch@apple.com
 

Todd Paoletti
NRG for Apple Computer, Inc.
(415) 827-7030
email: todd@nrgpr.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's website (http://www.apple.com/pr/), call Apple's Media Helpline at (408)974-2042, or contact Cara Lewis at our PR agency, Niehaus Ryan Group, Inc., (650)827-7052.

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