Power Macintosh 6100

The Power Macintosh 6100 was Apple Computer's first computer ever to use the new PowerPC RISC type processor co-created by IBM and Motorola. It came in a Centris 610 "pizza box" low-profile chassis, and eventually phased out the Quadra series that used Motorola's 68040 processor, Apple's previous high end workstation line then replacing it with the new Power Macintosh series of computers. Notable was the new startup and "sad mac" chimes: instead of the electronic "bong" that was the previous norm, it instead played a guitar chord strummed by jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, and instead of the "chimes of doom" arpeggio that played when there was a hardware error at startup, you instead were admitted to the sound of a car crashing a sign of presence to how silly Apple's developers were.

It was first introduced in 1994, and featured a 60 MHz (later 66) 601 PowerPC processor, and was also later complemented by an AV model, which featured additional audio and visual enhancements that were invaluable to multimedia professionals such as composite video and S-video input/output, had full 48 bit sound processing. Due to the request by users, Apple also released a PC compatible model of the 6100. Called the Power Macintosh 6100 DOS Compatible, this version came installed with a special card that featured an Intel 486DX processor and a single SIMM RAM slot that used a different type of RAM then the PowerMac itself, and also sported a standard PC VGA and joystick ports. One could easily run the Macintosh interface, and DOS/Windows 3.1 side by side, even on different monitors if one so desired.

This model, as like the other first NuBus-based PowerMacs (7100, 8100 and Workgroup Server 9150) was phased out by the Power Macintosh PCI series released in 1995, although the 6100 DOS compatible continued in production until 1996, even though Apple had already released the anticipated "PC Personality Card" already back in '95 that plugged into a PCI slot of the newer PowerMacs. This card boasted a 66 MHz Pentium processor, which was quite a shocker for that time.

Specs

AKA: Performa 6110CD, Performa 6112CD, Performa 6115CD, Performa 6116CD, Performa 6117CD, Performa 6118CD

Codename: Piltdown Man
CPU: PowerPC 601
CPU Speed: 60/66 MHz
FPU: integrated
Bus Speed: 30/33 MHz
Data Path: 64 bit
ROM: 4 MB
RAM Type: 72 pin SIMM
Minimum RAM Speed: 80 ns
Onboard RAM: 8 MB
RAM Slots: 2
Maximum RAM: 72 MB
Level 1 Cache: 16 kB data, 16 kB instruction
Level 2 Cache: optional
VRAM: 1 MB DRAM (2 MB w/ AV card)
Maximum Resolution: 1152x870 at thousands of colors (w/ AV card)
Slots: PDS or 7" NuBus (AV card fills both)
Floppy Drive: 1.4 MB SuperDrive
Optical Drive: optional 2x CD-ROM
Hard Disk: 500 MB
Ethernet: AAUI-15
ADB: 1
Serial: 2
SCSI: DB-25
Video Out: HDI-45
Audio Out: stereo 16 bit mini
Audio In: stereo 16 bit mini
Speaker(s): mono
Gestalt ID: 75
Power: 210 Watts
Weight: 14 lbs.
Dimensions: 3.4" H x 16.3" W x 15.6" D
Minimum OS: 7.1.2 (60MHz version), 7.5 (66MHz version)
Maximum OS: 9.1
Introduced: March 1994
Terminated: May 1996

Power Macintosh 6100

Specs

See Also