Picking a PCI Power Mac

Thinking of buying a PCI Power Mac?

This would mean you are thinking of a 7200, 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500, 9600, 6400, 6500, or 4400. If all these numbers confuse you, I will give a quick overview of the models.

The 7200

The 7200/75, 7200/90, and 7200/120 were all considered non-upgradeable PowerPC 601-based Power Macs until this past week. The 7200 series uses the same, slightly more expensive DIMMs (RAM) as the faster 7300, 7500, and 7600. This means that you often see barebones 7200s going for under $100 because people took out the memory and drives for their G3 upgradeable (or upgraded) 7500. However, Sonnet Technologies recently introduced their Fortissimo Power Macintosh 7200 G3/400 upgrade. This card takes an interesting approach: it puts the G3 processor on a PCI card and includes three RAM slots on the card.

The 7300, 7500, and 7600

The 7500 is another PowerPC 601-based Power Mac. Unlike the 7200, it has a replaceable processor daughtercard. That means that the processor is on a special board that can be removed and replaced with a board containing a PowerPC 604, G3, or even G4 processor. Unless you love to upgrade computers and plan to buy all sorts of upgrade cards, the 7500 is not a good idea.

The 7300 and 7600 are almost identical to the 7500, but are PowerPC 604e-based. These are decent Macs with their original processors, but are still slightly expensive. Expect to pay $250-$500 for one of these. They take the same processor cards as the 7500.

The 8500, 8600, 9500, and 9600

The 8500 is a minitower version of the 7500, but with a PowerPC 604 processor. It, too, takes daughtercard upgrades. The 9500 is a larger tower version of the 8500.

The 8600 and 9600 are beautiful Macs that share the same case. That's all I can say. The 9600/200MP featured two 200 MHz PowerPC 604e chips (the MP stands for Multiple Processors). In fact, if I was looking for a new computer and had the choice between a 9600 or a G3 desktop, I would buy the 9600. That's how good it is. Expect prices to be in the $800-1,100 range.

The 6400 and 6500

Then there are the 6400 and 6500. They are some of the coolest looking minitower Macs out there - they look like those neat old refrigerators from the 1950s. They have a good sound system with a built-in subwoofer. There were two versions of the 6400, the Performa 6400/180 with a 180 MHz PowerPC 603ev and the Power Macintosh 6400/200 with a 200 MHz 603ev. The 6400/180 was the last Performa model; with the 6400/200, Apple moved to the Power Macintosh name.

The 6500 came in different versions, the Power Macintosh 6500/225, 6500/250, 6500/275, and 6500/300. The "/xxx" is the processor speed. The 6500 also featured an ATI accelerated 2D/3D graphics card. If you are thinking of one of these, the 6500 is better than the 6400.

The 4400

The Power Macintosh 4400 was the only Mac built with PC-type parts to cut costs. The 4400/160 featured a 160 MHz PowerPC 603e and 3 PCI slots, the 4400/200 had a 200 MHz PowerPC 603e, an x86 compatible PC compatibility card (so you can run programs in DOS or Windows 95), and 2 PCI slots. Interestingly enough, the 4400 was the only Mac to ever have it's floppy drive on the left side. Combine the Power Macintosh 4400 with an Apple Multiple Scan 15av monitor, and your computer system looks remarkably similar to a PC. If you hate the look of PCs, stay away from this one and most other Mac clones.

Advice

The best PCI PowerMac depends on what you are planning to do with it. If you are planning to do word processing and casual internet surfing, but need PCI, perhaps to add a USB card for a new printer or other peripheral, go for a 7200. While there is now a G3 upgrade, I would advise a machine like the 7500 if you plan to upgrade.

A 6400, 6500, or 4400 are the best Macs for performing general tasks such as working on school projects, using the Internet, and playing some older games.

A 7300 or 7600 is a good Mac for the slightly more advanced user who wants to play in Photoshop, but mainly wants a computer that is fast on the internet and has the capability to be upgraded to suit the user's needs.

Of course, if you need speed to run an app like Photoshop, want an expandable tower, and can't afford a G3, go with an 8600 or 9600 tower.

While I am stating the PCI pretty much rules the computing world, people with NuBus or PDS PowerMacs shouldn't upgrade just because they feel their computer can't be upgraded again. In fact, those old Power Macs can be great machines, especially because you can find them quite reasonably priced now that many people are upgrading to PCI. For more information about NuBus PowerMacs, see my earlier articles, Picking an older Power Mac and Follow Up on the 6100, 7100, and 8100.