Release date May 1, 1995 | Discontinued July 1, 1996 | |
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The Power Macintosh 6200 (Codename: "Crusader" / "Elixir", also sold under variations of the name Performa 6200, Performa 6300 and Power Macintosh 6300) is a series of mid-range personal computers that are a part of Apple Computer's Power Macintosh and Macintosh Performa series of Macintosh computers. It was introduced in May 1995 with a PowerPC 603 CPU at 75 MHz as a PowerPC-based replacement of the Quadra 630, and continued using the 630's case. In June 1996 new models using a PowerPC 603e CPU at 100 MHz followed, and in April 1996 the series culminated in models using a 603e at 120 MHz. In early 1997, the rather different Power Macintosh 6300/160 / Performa 6360 based on the Power Macintosh 6400 were introduced. In July 1997 the whole 6x00 line was discontinued in favor of the desktop model of the Power Macintosh G3.
Contents
The 6200's naming conventions confused many; in addition to the many Performa variants, it also includes model numbers above 6300 (which would normally indicate a different model). The model numbers above 6260 use a PowerPC 603e processor, but are otherwise virtually identical. Finally, some computers with model numbers that indicate they belong to the 6200/6300 family (the above-mentioned Power Macintosh 6300/160 and its Performa version 6360) are rather different on the inside. Generally, the 6200 series is closely related to the 5200 series. For nearly every 6000-series (desktop) model, there is a 5000-series (all-in-one) model with an integrated CRT screen.
Power Macintosh 6200
The 6200 shares the logic board with the Power Macintosh 5200. The internal bus structure consisted of three buses:
Models
Power Macintosh 6300
On January 27, 1996, the 6300 and 6310 models were introduced. These upgraded the 6200 series to use the new 100 MHz PowerPC 603e CPU. On April 22, 1996, the 6320 and 6300/120 were released. These upgraded the CPU speed to 120 MHz. The 6300/120 was sold as a business model in the Asia market. In all cases the front-side bus speed matched the CPU speed, and the 68040 or northbridge (computing) bus speed was increased to 40 MHz. The rest of the logic board remained the same.
Models
Power Macintosh 6300/160 / Performa 6360
The Power Macintosh 6300/160 (sold in North America as the Performa 6360) was introduced in October 1996. It still used the same case as the 6200, but featured a new and different "Alchemy" motherboard with a full 64-bit data path and 64-bit DIMM RAM, PCI slot, and Comm Slot II (incompatible with the earlier Comm Slot), and was therefore greatly improved over its predecessors. The "Alchemy" board design was first used in the Power Macintosh 5400/120 and would continue to be used throughout the Power Macintosh 5400 and 6400 series.