The introduction of the Desktop and Mini Tower models coincided with Apple starting to sell build-to-order Macs directly from its web site in an online store,[1][2] which was unusual for the time as Dell was the only major computer manufacturer doing this.

The Power Macintosh G3 is named for its third-generation PowerPC chip, and introduced a super fast and large Level 2 backside CPU cache, running at half processor speed.

As a result, these machines benchmarked significantly faster than Intel PCs of similar CPU clock speed at launch,[3] which prompted Apple to create the "Snail" and "Toasted Bunnies" television commercials.

[4][5][6][7] Magazine benchmarks showed the G3/266 CPU outperforming the 350 MHz PowerPC 604ev chip in the Power Macintosh 9600 as well.

The second generation, known officially as "Blue and White", was introduced at MacWorld San Francisco on January 5, 1999.

Apple sold three beige Power Macintosh G3 models: a horizontally-oriented desktop, a mini tower enclosure, and a version with a built-in screen called All-In-One ("AIO").

The All-In-One model was shaped vaguely like a human tooth, and thus earned the moniker Molar Mac.

Apple also developed a prototype G3-based six-slot full tower to be designated the Power Macintosh 9700.

[13] Despite demand from high-end users for more PCI slots in a G3-powered computer, Apple decided not to develop the prototype (dubbed "Power Express") into a shipping product,[14] leaving the 9600 as the last six-slot Mac Apple would make for over two decades, until the 2019 Mac Pro which has eight.

The G3 officially supports up to Mac OS X 10.2, although some devices will not work under Mac OS X, such as the floppy drive, the video features of the "Wings" personality card, and the 3D graphics acceleration functions of the onboard ATI Rage series video.

[18] Software included AppleShare IP 5.0, Apple Network Administrator Toolkit, and SoftRAID.

The All-In-One model has a "molar"-like form factor, with its top and rear sections covered in a translucent plastic with machined holes (a design language reminiscent of the then-upcoming iMac).

The model has several design features oriented towards the education market, including a slide-out tray for accessing the logic board, recessed rear I/O to make it easier to push the computer up against walls, and dual front headphone jacks for audio sharing.

[23] The Power Mac G3 (Blue and White) (codenamed Yosemite) was introduced in January 1999, replacing the Beige Mini Tower model, with which it shared the name and processor architecture but little else.

Inside the enclosure, the logic board is mounted on a folding "door", which swings down onto the desk for tool-free access to all the internal components.

Gossamer supports both onboard and external SCSI (from the custom MESH IC), ADB, 10BASE-T Ethernet, two MiniDIN-8 serial ports, and onboard ATI graphics (originally II+, later updated to Pro and then Rage Pro Turbo) with a slot for VRAM upgrades.

G3s with Revision B ROMs support slave devices on their IDE controllers, and had the onboard video upgraded to ATI Rage Pro.

G3s with Revision C ROMs also support slave devices on their IDE controllers, but the most significant technical differences are the newer Open Firmware version than the previous two models (2.4 vs 2.0f1) and another onboard video upgrade, this time to ATI Rage Pro Turbo.

These machines had no audio circuitry on the logic board; instead, a PERCH slot (a dedicated 182-pin microchannel connector; a superset of the PCI spec, but which does not accept PCI cards) was populated with a "personality card" which provided the audio circuitry.

[28] Upgrade kits were available from a number of companies, including Newer Technology, PowerLogix and XLR8, offering 400 MHz G3 processors in the US$1,500 – US$1,800 price range.

[31] Incompatibility has been reported with some DIMM modules in certain configurations- for example, newer single-sided PC‑133 RAM modules will not be detected correctly if they will be detected at all and if the machine can boot with them in place, and the desktop and all-in-one units required the use of low-profile RAM due to space constraints.

The I/O "Heathrow" had been replaced by "Paddington" (adding 100 Mbit Ethernet and power save features), the audio chip "Screamer" (on the beige G3's "Whisper" and "Wings" personality cards) had been replaced by "Burgundy" (from the "Bordeaux" personality card), and other controllers for Firewire (Texas Instruments PCI-Lynx), for USB etc.

This is also the first Power Macintosh with the "New World" architecture which contained a small (approximately 1 MB) boot ROM.

Initially, many buyers chose to buy the older "Platinum" G3s instead, in order to maintain compatibility with existing peripherals.

Workarounds include replacing motherboards and employing the use of SCSI, Ultra ATA or SATA PCI controller cards.

Some hard drives support disabling UDMA in firmware through manufacturer-supplied utilities (generally DOS-based).

The secondary ATA channel has also been reported to have issues with respect to flash upgrading certain DVD burners.

The blue and white G3's enclosure design was widely praised at the time for being easy to open up and work on.