My idea to focus on collecting vintage Macs started with the iMac — the all-in-one computer that saved Apple in the late 90s. I saw someone selling a slot-loading iMac G3 and thought it would be interesting to have one, because it looked so good. Later I realized that what I really wanted was the original 1998 tray-loading model, and bought that one too. Now I have the whole magic quadrant by Steve Jobs:
My collection expanded from there (including the original Macintosh), but all-in-one computers Apple made over the years hold a special place in my heart. And I thought I knew them all, until I heard about a mysterious Power Mac G3 All-in-One.
I thought I had all the Power Mac G3 models covered — a horizontally-oriented desktop, a beige mini tower, and the later “Blue and White” Yosemite tower (the one in the picture above). But a couple of years ago I saw someone mention a “Molar” Power Mac, and I became a little obsessed. I looked into that, read a bit about it, decided I want one. A few options on eBay were listed for an unreasonable $1,500, and all of them were located far away. But I just knew I wanted this Power Mac G3 in my collection — because of how strange it looked, and because it had to be the closest relative to the original iMac there was; basically a long-forgotten iMac’s brother. Released around the same time, built on the same architecture, and yet somehow not a lot of people know about it. Sounds like a must-have.
A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to pick one up from someone selling it on Facebook Marketplace in Delaware: it works, it’s in decent shape, and it’s mine. (I also bought another one a couple of months ago from someone in Ohio, which is currently stored at a friend’s place there. I need to drive 6.5 hours each way to pick it up. Going from zero to two Molars in the span of two months is either very good luck or a mild problem, depending on how you look at it.) Anyway, now I can tell you everything I’ve learned about it.