What can I say, this upgrade was a snap to install and delivered amazing performance, the best I've seen on any Mac so far. These flexy flier Apple G3s really scream with the 400MHz G3. I only wish they had 6 PCI slots or more internal expansion room.

Price/Performance: 400MHz G3's are the fastest G3 CPU available and have just started to ship in small quantities at the time of this review (Oct. 1998). That means they are very expensive. Suggested retail at this time on the 400MHz PowerForce G3 ZIF is $1599, the 333MHz and 366MHz models are listed at $1099 and $1299 respectively. Apple G3 owners currently don't have a lot of choices in CPU upgrades, at least until other vendors start shipping their announced ZIF products. It's tough to assign a value here, as I don't know what Apple will price their 400MHz G3 when it ships. Currently a G3/300 from Apple (complete system) sells for approximately $1995 but it's not nearly as fast as a G3 with this upgrade. Prices on G3 upgrades drop almost weekly, so be sure to check the main site page news and sponsor/mfr sites for the latest pricing, which could be 50% or less of the original cost with 6 months based on past history.

UPDATE: As of April, 1999 - 400MHz ZIF Upgrades are priced under $700 (and dropping).

Summary of Ratings:

• Benchmarks: 10
• Appl. Tests: 10
• SW/Controls: 9
• Documentation: 8
• Features/Specs: 9
• Price/Performance: 8.5
  ---------------------
  Total: 54.5 (of a possible 60)

Based on these scores, you can apply your own weighting of each category to determine if this card is right for your needs. Of course performance weights far more heavily than documentation for instance which is why I rated it 5 Macs on the opening page. Currently this card installed in a Apple G3 system makes it the fastest Mac on the planet.

Availability/Pricing:

At the time this review was written (Oct. 1998), PowerLogix's web site had the 400 ZIF model listed in their Price List at $1599 for direct orders. As of April 1999 prices were under $700. Dealers like Bottom Line and MacGurus and Other World often have these upgrades priced below suggested retail.

As regular readers of my daily news page know Bottom Line and MacGurus often offer my readers discounts and special offers. You may also order direct from Powerlogix at www.powerlogix.com .

I hope this review has provided you with sufficient information of all aspects of the product, but if you have any further questions or comments you may contact me by email at: news@xlr8yourmac.com.

For reviews of other CPU cards at this site, see my CPU Cards page. The home page (www.xlr8yourmac.com) has links to reviews of Systems, SCSI controllers, Video cards (incl. 3Dfx), Game related articles and some of the most useful daily news on the net (updated 7 days a week). Thanks for stopping by!

Other Similar (ZIF) Upgrade Reviews Here:

• PowerForce G3 466/311/1MB ZIF
• PowerForce G3 366/183/1MB ZIF
• XLR8 G3 400/200/1MB ZIF
• First PF 333 ZIF Prototype

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