Performa Index

200, 250, 275, 400-430, 450, 460, 475/476
520, 550, 575, 580, 600, 630-638, 640 DOS

PowerPC Performas on Power Mac index

Apple's Performa line of computers attempted to bring the Mac experience to the consumer market. The line was launched with three "rebadged" Macs in 1992 and phased out in 1997 when the last two models were renamed Power Macs with their last upgrade.

68040-based Macs can use the HFS+ file system that comes with Mac OS 8.1, but they cannot boot from an HFS+ disk or use one for virtual memory. Also, the only versions of Norton Utilities that work with HFS+ disks do not run on 68040-based Macs.

• Apple's consumer Performa line, 1992 to 1997, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2007.09.14. Apple decided to pursue the average consumer by renaming existing Macs, bundling them with software, and putting their colorful boxes in regular retail outlets.
• It all started with a Mac Plus in the classroom, Robert Alpizar, My First Mac, 2007.10.29. "Over time, as I began to see how much simpler the Macs were to use vs. the DOS computers, I began to explore them more."
• Guide to LC PDS Video Cards. Includes Focus, Radius, and RasterOps cards for the LC processor direct slot.
• Games for '030s, Brian Rumsey, Low End Mac Gaming, 5/26. A look at games that run nicely on the old 68030-based Macs.
• Review: Presto Plus, The Review, MacNN, 3/29/2000
• Advice: Gaming on '040s, Brian Rumsey, Low End Mac Gaming, 2/16. Those old 68040-class Macs still have game.
• Sonnet Presto Plus provides acceleration, ethernet, and 32 MB additional RAM for Performa 2xx, 4xx, and 520-550.
• Email lists: Classic Macs Digest and Vintage Macs
• DriveSetup is compatible with some third-party drives (requires 68040 or PPC). See our compatibility list.
• Pseud040 lets 68020- and 68030-based Macs run 68040 programs - I've even heard of Mac OS 8.1 running on a IIsi!
• Unix? You can run NetBSD (aka MacBSD), a version of Unix, on the Performa 550 and 600.

Be sure to see the list of dealers who buy, sell, or broker used and/or refurbished Macintosh hardware.

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