Editing PowerPC 7xx (section)

{{short description|Family of 32-bit microprocessors}}
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{{POWER, PowerPC, and Power ISA}}
The '''PowerPC 7xx''' is a family of third generation 32-bit [[PowerPC]] [[microprocessor]]s designed and manufactured by [[IBM]] and [[Motorola]] (spun off as [[Freescale Semiconductor]] bought by [[NXP Semiconductors]]). This family is called the '''PowerPC G3''' by [[Apple Computer]] (later [[Apple Inc.]]), which introduced it on November 10, 1997. A number of microprocessors from different vendors have been used under the "PowerPC G3" name. Such designations were applied to [[Mac (computer)|Mac]] computers such as the [[PowerBook G3]], the [[IMac G3|multicolored iMacs]], [[iBook]]s and several desktops, including both the [[Power Macintosh G3|Beige]] and [[Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White)|Blue and White]] Power Macintosh G3s. The low power requirements and small size made the processors ideal for laptops and the name lived out its last days at Apple in the [[iBook]].

The 7xx family is also widely used in embedded devices like printers, routers, storage devices, spacecraft,<ref>{{cite web|title=NASA's $2.5bn Curiosity rover: An Apple PowerBook on wheels|website=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/08/mars_probe_cpu/}}</ref> and video game consoles. The 7xx family had its shortcomings, namely lack of [[Symmetric multiprocessing|SMP]] support and [[SIMD]] capabilities and a relatively weak [[Floating point unit|FPU]]. Motorola's [[PowerPC G4|74xx]] range of processors picked up where the 7xx left off.

PowerPC 7xx processors have largely been manufactured in the range of 250nm to 100nm lithography.