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Author Topic: the MDD powermac G4 was introduced on August 13, 2002  (Read 2230 times)

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Offline chrisNova777

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the MDD powermac G4 was introduced on August 13, 2002
« on: October 30, 2020, 02:24:27 PM »
August 13, 2002
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G4

Quote
Another generation of Apple Power Mac G4s, officially named "Mirrored Drive Doors" (MDD), was introduced on August 13, 2002, featuring both a new Xserve-derived DDR motherboard architecture and a new case design.

All models were available in dual processor configurations running at 867 MHz, 1 GHz or 1.25 GHz. As with the Xserves, the PowerPC 7455 CPU used does not have a DDR frontside bus, meaning the CPU could only use at most 50% of the new system's theoretical memory bandwidth, providing no improvement over previous models.  (BUT) The rest was available to the graphics card and I/O systems.

A single processor 1.25 GHz model would be the last Power Mac G4 the company offered to the public after the announcement of the new Power Mac G5, introduced in June 2003.

The last real update to the Power Mac G4 line was on January 28, 2003 offering dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC 7455 processors, with features not seen in previous DDR models: built-in FireWire 800 connector, optional integrated Bluetooth, and optional integrated AirPort Extreme. These were also the first Power Macs that could not (were forced not to able to) boot into Mac OS 9.

With the launch of the Power Mac G5 on June 23, 2003, Apple re-introduced the August 2002 Power Mac G4 because of perceived demand for Mac OS 9 machines. Between that, its low price-tag, and the delayed availability of Power Mac G5s, it proved a strong seller for a relatively short time. Production stopped on June 27, 2004 and the remaining inventory was liquidated, ending the 20-year legacy of Classic Mac OS support with its discontinuation.

the reason the MDD had 2 optical drive bays was because at the time there was a need to have 2; because of the DVD-RAM / DVD+R/RW split in the optical media world; you couldnt have a drive that could burn both DVD+R/RW media as well as DVD-RAM;

the new "Superdrive" first released with the QS G4's didn't support DVD-RAM (which had been the established standard since 1997 for re-writable DVD) see below:
Quote
The early 2001 release of the Power Mac G4 was the first Macintosh to include a SuperDrive.[1] SuperDrives featured 6–24x write speeds[2] and supported the DVD±R, DVD±RW, CD-R, and CD-RW formats (possibly the DVD±R DL format) along with all normal corporate produced -ROM read-only media.

DVD-RAM support, notably, is absent though it can be unofficially enabled on some drive models.
When Blu-ray was introduced, it was offered no offical support. Apple never offered a Blu-ray drive or supported playback of the format.

the superdrive was later updated in early 2005 the powermac G5 line to support DUAL LAYER dvds when that technology came avaiable.
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac_g5/faq/powermac-g5-superdrive-cdrw-dvd-dvdr-dual-layer-dvd-support.html