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Power Macintosh 6100-66

A Power Macintosh 6100/66, used as a benchmark for early Pippin development.

Power Macintosh was a line of workstation-class computers developed and marketed by Apple Computer from March 1994 to August 2006. These were based on PowerPC RISC microprocessors for improved performance over the original 68k-based Macintosh line. Consumer-class computers from Apple with lower-end PowerPC processors were sold under the Macintosh Performa brand.

Power Macintosh and the Pippin[]

PowerPC 603 75MHz

A 75MHz PowerPC 603 processor.

PowerPC-based computers sold by Apple at the time of the release of the Pippin platform used a 4-digit number to distinguish various models, sometimes followed by a slash with the processor clock speed.

Pippin consoles were based on an architecture similar to the Power Macintosh 6100,[1] though with a 66MHz PowerPC 603 processor and a PCI bus (instead of a 601 processor with NuBus), running a streamlined version of Macintosh operating system 7.5.2. This allowed hobbyists with access to developer ROMs to modify Pippins to run standard Mac software of the era.[2] The Power Macintosh 6200 and 5200 LC were the only other computers from Apple to use the original PowerPC 603 processor like the Pippin (not the faster 603e or 603ev).[3]

Evolution and discontinuation[]

Over the next twelve years, the Power Macintosh line 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. The Power Mac was discontinued in 2006, following Apple's transition to Intel processors.[4]

References[]

  1. Bandai Pippin Image Archive by Bryan G. Villados, The Mac Geek. Accessed 2017-04-15.
  2. Hacking the Pippin, Vintage Mac World. 2007-10-22. Archived 2017-08-17
  3. CPUs: PowerPC 603 and 603e by Daniel Jansen, Low End Mac. 2014-06-24.
  4. Four years later: Why did Apple drop PowerPC? by Brooke Crothers, CNET. 2009-06-15.

See also[]

External links[]

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