Power Macintosh
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The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
Described by Macworld as "the most important technical evolution of the Macintosh since the Mac II debuted in 1987",[1] it is the first computer with the PowerPC CPU architecture, the flagship product of the AIM alliance. Existing software for the Motorola 68k processors of previous Macintoshes do not run on it natively, so a Mac 68k emulator is in System 7.1.2. It provides good compatibility, at about two-thirds of the speed of contemporary Macintosh Quadra machines.[1]
The Power Macintosh replaced the Quadra and was initially sold in the same enclosures.[2] Over the next twelve years, it evolved through a succession of enclosure designs, a rename to "Power Mac", five major generations of PowerPC chips, and a great deal of press coverage, design accolades, and controversy about performance claims. It was discontinued as part of the Mac transition to Intel processors announced in 2005, making way for its replacement, the Mac Pro.
History
RISC exploration (1988–1990)
The first Power Macintosh models were released in March 1994, but the development of Power Macintosh technology dates back to mid-1988.
By early 1990, Apple was in contact with a number of RISC vendors to find a suitable hardware partner. The team that had created the IIfx independently started experimenting with creating a new Macintosh product that would combine a Motorola 68030 processor with an AMD Am29000 (29k) RISC chip. Apple had already released a product built on the 29k, the Macintosh Display Card 8•24 GC, a so-called "Macintosh Toolbox accelerator" NuBus card that provides significantly faster drawing routines than those included on the Macintosh ROM.[7] The team's experiments resulted in a 68020 emulator implemented in RISC, but the 29k project was dropped in mid-1990 due to financial infeasibility.
Apple evaluated CPU architectures including
In mid-1990, Apple chose the
Jaguar wasn't initially intended to be a high-volume mainstream system. Instead, mass-market RISC systems would follow sometime later. After Gassée left Apple in early 1990, the goal of the Jaguar project was refocused to be a mainstream Macintosh system instead of a new platform. The Jaguar project was folded into the Macintosh team in early 1991.[3]: 10 While the Jaguar project itself never came to fruition, and Taligent never resulted in a functional operating system, many of the elements originally developed by the Jaguar hardware and software teams were brought to market in mid-1993 with the Centris 660AV and Quadra 840AV, including the Apple Adjustable Keyboard, Apple AudioVision 14 Display, GeoPort, and PlainTalk.[8] The new case designs introduced with the Centris 610 and Quadra 800 had also originated in the Jaguar team.
Development and partnership with IBM (1991–1993)
By mid-1991, there was internal concern at Apple that the 88100 may not be the correct processor to move forward with as no other computer manufacturers had committed to using the processor.
In early July, executives at the three companies reached an agreement[9] which was formally announced to the public in October.[10] In addition to the new RISC architecture, which was given the name PowerPC, this "AIM alliance" had several goals, including creating an operating system based on Pink, an object-oriented scripting language called ScriptX, and a cross-platform media player called the Kaleida Media Player. Of the alliance, John Sculley said, "The Macintosh strategy paid off very well for us in the 1980s, but we didn't think we could establish the next generation of computing by using that model in the 1990s. Working with IBM, and making it available to everyone, we can have a much wider impact with these technologies than we did with the Macintosh."[11]
Development of the
In July 1992, the decision was made to scale back the ambition of the initial system software release; instead of attempting to create a completely new kernel, Apple focused on producing a version of System 7 where portions of the existing Macintosh Toolbox ROM were rewritten to use native PowerPC code instead of emulating a 680x0. This provided a significant performance boost for certain highly utilized parts of the operating system, particularly QuickDraw.
The first public demonstration of the new Power Macintosh — specifically, a prototype of what would become the Power Macintosh 6100 – was at an Apple Pacific sales meeting in Hawaii in October 1992.[3]: 23 The demo was a success, and in the following months, the product plan expanded to include three models: the entry-level 6100, a mid-range 7100 housed in the Macintosh IIvx's desktop case, and a high-end 8100 based on the Quadra 800's mini-tower case. A fourth project, the Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card, was started in July 1993 to provide a straightforward upgrade path to owners of Centris- and Quadra-based Macintosh computers.[3]: 23 The importance of this was especially significant for the Quadra 700, 900, and 950, which were not going to receive full logic board replacements. Computers upgraded in this fashion received new names such as "Power Macintosh Q650" and "Power Macintosh 900".
Release and reception (1994–1995)
The original plan was to release the first Power Macintosh machine on January 24, 1994, exactly ten years after the release of the first Macintosh.[3]: 26 Ian Diery, who was EVP and general manager of the Personal Computer Division at the time, moved the release date back to March 14 in order to give manufacturing enough time to build enough machines to fill the sales channels and to ensure that the Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card would be available at the same time. This was a departure from prior practice at Apple; they had typically released upgrade packages months after the introduction of new Macintoshes.
The Power Macintosh was formally introduced at the
Speed-bumped versions of the Power Macintosh line were introduced at the beginning of 1995, followed in April by the first
By mid-1995, the burgeoning Power Macintosh line had all but completely supplanted every prior Macintosh line, with only the high-end
Transition to standardized hardware (1995–1999)
When the Power Macintosh was introduced, it included the same internal and external expansion connections as other Macintosh models, all of which (save for audio input and output) were either wholly proprietary to, or largely exclusive to Apple computers. Over the next five years, Apple replaced all these ports with industry-standard connectors.
The first generation of Power Macintoshes had shipped with NuBus, but by the end of 1993, it was becoming clear that Intel's
The transition to PCI continued into 1996, with the introduction of the all-in-one 5400, desktop 6300/160 (usually sold as a Performa 6360), and mini-tower 6400 models. The success of the Macintosh clone market also prompted Apple to produce its own inexpensive machine using parts and production techniques that were common in both the clone market and the Wintel desktop market at the time. The Power Macintosh 4400 (sold as a 7220 in Asia and Australia) employed bent sheet metal instead of plastic for its case internals, and included a standard ATX power supply.
Alongside the transition to PCI, Apple began a gradual transition away from
ports were also included, making this the only Power Macintosh to include both ADB and USB.Another port that was retired during this time is the Apple Attachment Unit Interface. This was a proprietary version of the industry-standard Attachment Unit Interface connector for 10BASE5 Ethernet that Apple had created to avoid confusion with the 15-pin connector that Apple used for connecting external displays.[20] The AAUI port required a costly external transceiver to connect to a network. By the early 1990s, the networking industry was coalescing around the 10BASE-T connector, leading Apple to include this port alongside AAUI in mid-1995, starting with the Power Macintosh 9500. The Power Macintosh G3 excluded the AAUI port.
The Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics) was released in the second half of 1999; it was the first Power Macintosh to include only industry-standard internal and external expansion. For some years afterwards, a number of third parties created dongles that provided backwards compatibility to users of newer Power Mac systems with old hardware. This included companies like Griffin Technology, MacAlly Peripherals, Rose Electronics and many others. In some cases, these companies produced adapters that matched the aesthetic design of the Power Mac.[21]
Industrial design and the Megahertz Myth (1999–2002)
Shortly after
A second model called the Power Mac G4 Cube was introduced in 2000, which fitted the specifications of a mid-range Power Mac G4 into a cube less than 9" in each axis. This model was on sale for about a year before being discontinued, and was not considered a sales success (150,000 units were sold, about one-third of Apple's projections),[24] but the distinctive design of both the computer and its accompanying Harman Kardon speakers prompted the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to retain them in their collection.[25]
The PowerPC chips in the G3 and G4 became a central part of Apple's branding and marketing for the Power Macintosh. For example, the Blue and White G3 features the letters "G3" on the side that are fully one-third the height of the entire case, a significant departure from the small labels typically used on prior Macintosh computers. And when the Power Mac G4 was introduced, print ads included pictures of the G4 chip and mentioned its
The company's public presentations –
The Power Mac G5 and the end of Power (2003–2006)
By the time the Power Mac G5 was unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in July 2003, Apple's desktop range had fallen significantly behind competing computers in performance. The G5 closed much of this gap by moving to the PowerPC 970 processor with clock speeds up to 2.0 GHz, and a full 64-bit architecture. It also introduced a significantly revised enclosure design, replacing the use of plastics with anodized aluminum alloy.
Reviews were generally positive. InfoWorld described the G5 as "Apple's best work yet", and said it "delivers on the present need for rapid computing, deep multitasking, and responsive user interfaces — as well as the future need for mainstream computers that rapidly process and analyze massive data sets."[32] PC Magazine again awarded the Power Mac G5 with its Award for Technical Excellence for 2003.[33] However, the G5's heavy weight (10 pounds more than the previous year's Quicksilver Power Mac G4), limited internal expansion options, issues with ground loop, and noise in the single-processor models' power supply units resulted in significant criticism of the product.[34] Apple also continued to make unsubstantiated performance claims about the new Power Mac. This resulted in the Advertising Standards Authority for the United Kingdom banning Apple from using the phrase "the world's fastest, most powerful personal computer" to describe the Power Mac G5 after independent tests carried out by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre determined the claim to be false.[35] Another claim made by Steve Jobs at the 2003 Worldwide Developers Conference was that the company would be selling a 3 GHz G5 by mid-2004; this never happened.[36]
Three generations of Power Mac G5 were released before it was discontinued during the Mac transition to Intel processors. The announcement of the transition came in mid-2005, but the third generation of G5 systems was introduced towards the end of 2005. Most notably in this generation was the introduction of a Quad-core 2.5 GHz system. Not only was this the first Apple computer with four processing cores, it was the first to incorporate PCI Express instead of PCI-X for internal expansion.[37] It also required an IEC 60320 C19 power connector that was more common on rackmounted server hardware, instead of the industry-standard C13 connector used with personal computers.
The official end to the Power Macintosh line came at the 2006 Worldwide Developers Conference, where Phil Schiller introduced its replacement, the Mac Pro. The G5's enclosure design was retained for the Mac Pro and continued to be used for seven more years, making it among the longest-lived designs in Apple's history.[38]
Models
The Power Macintosh models can be broadly classified into two categories, depending on whether they were released before or after Apple introduced its "four quadrant" product strategy in 1998. Before the introduction of the
1994–1997
Apple named Power Macintosh models from this period after the first pre-PowerPC model of Macintosh to use a particular form factor, followed by a slash and the speed of the CPU. For example, the Power Macintosh 6300/120 uses the Quadra 630's form factor and has a 120 MHz CPU.
Machines with "AV" in their name denote variants that include extended audio-video capabilities.
Machines with "PC Compatible" in their name include a separate card with an x86-compatible CPU; these models are therefore capable of running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications, typically Windows 3.1.
Machines with "MP" in their name denote machines that include two CPUs.
These early models had two distinct generations. The first generation uses the
Power Macintosh 4400
The Power Macintosh 4400 is a desktop case with a height of 5.4 inches, suitable for horizontal placement with a monitor on top.
- Power Macintosh 4400/160, 200, 200 (PC Compatible) (Marketed as the Power Macintosh 7220 in some regions)
Power Macintosh 5200
The Power Macintosh 5200 is an all-in-one form factor with specifications and internal designs similar to the Quadra 630. Collectively these machines are sometimes referred to as the "Power Macintosh/Performa 5000 series".
- Power Macintosh 5200/75 LC
- Power Macintosh 5260/100, 120
- Power Macintosh 5300/100 LC
- Power Macintosh 5400/120, 180, 200
- Power Macintosh 5500/225, 250
Centris 610
The Centris 610 form factor is a low-profile "pizza-box" design with a height of 3.4 inches, intended to be placed on a desktop with a monitor on top.
- Power Macintosh 6100/60, 60AV, 66, 66AV, 66 (DOS Compatible)
Quadra 630
The Quadra 630 form factor is a horizontally-oriented design with a height of 4.3 inches, suitable for placing a monitor on top.
- Power Macintosh 6200/75
- Power Macintosh 6300/120, 160
Performa 6400
The Performa 6400 form factor is a mini-tower design, suitable for being placed beside a monitor.
- Power Macintosh 6400/180, 200
- Power Macintosh 6500/225, 250, 275, 300
Power Macintosh 7100
The IIvx form factor is a horizontally-oriented desktop form factor with a height of 6 inches, suitable for placing a monitor on top.
- Power Macintosh 7100/66, 66AV, 80, 80AV
Power Macintosh 7500
The Power Macintosh 7500 form factor is a horizontally-oriented desktop design with a height of 6.15 inches, suitable for placing a monitor on top.
- Power Macintosh 7200/75, 90, 120 (PC), 200 (PC)
- Power Macintosh 7300/166, 180 (PC), 200
- Power Macintosh 7500/100
- Power Macintosh 7600/120, 132, 200
Quadra 800
The Quadra 800 form factor is a mini-tower design, with a width of 7.7 inches.
- Power Macintosh 8100/80, 80AV, 100, 100AV, 110, 110AV
- Power Macintosh 8115/110
- Power Macintosh 8200/100, 120
- Power Macintosh 8500/120, 132, 150, 180
- Power Macintosh 8515/120
Power Macintosh 9600
The Power Macintosh 9600 form factor is a mini-tower design with a width of 9.7 inches.
- Power Macintosh 8600/200, 250, 300
- Power Macintosh 9500/120, 132, 150, 180MP, 200
- Power Macintosh 9515/132
- Power Macintosh 9600/200, 200MP, 233, 300, 350
1997–2006
Starting with the Power Macintosh G3, Apple changed its product naming to include the generation of PowerPC CPU, with the name of the form factor or a key feature afterwards in brackets.
The all-in-one models would eventually be spun off into the iMac line, whilst the compact form factor models would be spun off into the Mac Mini.
Power Macintosh G3
- Power Macintosh G3 Desktop
- Power Macintosh G3 Mini Tower
- Power Macintosh G3 All-In-One
- Power Macintosh G3 Blue and White
Power Mac G4
- Power Mac G4 PCI Graphics
- Power Mac G4 AGP Graphics
- Power Mac G4 Gigabit Ethernet
- Power Mac G4 Digital Audio
- Power Mac G4 Quicksilver
- Power Mac G4 Quicksilver 2002
- Power Mac G4 Mirrored Drive Doors
- Power Mac G4 Mirrored Drive Doors FW800
- Power Mac G4 Mirrored Drive Doors 2003
- Power Mac G4 Cube
Power Mac G5
The Power Mac G5's name was changed to incorporate the time period in which the model was released.
- Power Mac G5 Mid 2003
- Power Mac G5 Mid 2004
- Power Mac G5 Late 2004
- Power Mac G5 Early 2005
- Power Mac G5 Late 2005
Naming
The Power Mac brand name was used for Apple's high-end tower style computers, targeted primarily at businesses and creative professionals, in differentiation to their more compact "iMac" line (intended for home use) and the "eMac" line (for the education markets). They were usually equipped with Apple's newest technologies, and commanded the highest prices among Apple desktop models. Some Power Mac G4 and G5 models were offered in dual-processor configurations.
Prior to the Power Mac name change, certain Power Macintosh models were otherwise identical to their lower-cost re-branded siblings sold as the Macintosh LC and Macintosh Performa, as well as the dedicated Apple Workgroup Server and Macintosh Server G3 & G4 lines. Other past Macintosh lines which used PowerPC processors include the PowerBook 5300 and later models, iMac, iBook and Xserve as well as the Apple Network Server, which was technically not a Macintosh.
Advertising and marketing
Apple positioned the Power Macintosh as a high-end personal computer aimed at businesses and creative professionals with an
In 1993 and 1994, a television advertising campaign created by BBDO aired with the slogan "It does more, it costs less, it's that simple."
Timeline
Timeline of Power Macintosh, Pro, and Studio models |
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See also
References
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