Performa Month: The Expansion of the 600 Series

As a quick recap, the 600 launched at the top of the Performa range in 1992, as a remix of the Macintosh IIvx. The 200 and 400 both saw updates in 1993, but even after the 500 series was introduced, the 600 remained untouched. That changed in July 1994, when Apple took what had been just two SKUs — the 600 and 600CD — and exploded them into a range of machines:

Each of these machines was based on the Quadra 630, which was the last of its line. It used a new case design that was also used on the Power Macintosh 6200, among other machines. It featured the CD-ROM on the left, next to the floppy disk, which was now at the center of the case. To its right was a stack comprised of an infrared port, volume buttons, and a headphone jack. Its code name was “Show & Tell.”

Here is a photo of my 631CD, in all of its yellowing glory:

As far as the differences between this huge list of models, it’s really more of a the same thing that we have previous seen. They may differ slightly in terms of hard drive size, memory configurations, and what specific software titles were bundled, but these machines are largely the same.

At $1,500, the Performa 630 started with 4 MB of RAM, a 250 MB hard drive, and no CD-ROM drive. At the high end, the 640CD came with 8 MB of RAM and a 500 MB hard drive for $2,300.

These Performas were powered by the FPU-less 68LC040 found in the Performa 475 & 476. Notably, however, they — and their Quadra cousin — were the first Macs to use IDE hard drives. These drives were cheaper than the SCSI units used in other Mac models at the time. However, the CD-ROM drives on equipped units still used SCSI, so it was still present in the system and accessible externally.

(It was also sold as the LC 630, which was powered by the same 33 MHz 68LC040.)

Video Options

The expansion story for these machines is interesting. They came with an LC PDS slot that could accommodate both LC and extended LC cards, opening the door to a wide range of accessories. They also included a comms port for a modem or ethernet card, as had some previous Performas.

This time around, however, Apple included support for one of two video-specific cards:

Kris Seago wrote about these systems in 1996 for The Washington Apple Pi:

(The Apple Video System) solution comes with a user- installable video card and software that lets you easily capture and add still or moving video images to the documents and presentations you create on your Macintosh computer. The video card allows you to connect a VCR, camcorder, laserdisc player, or other video source to your computer with a single cable.

The Apple Video/TV System gives your computer the capabilities of the Apple Video System, and more — it also allows you to watch television programs in a window on your Macintosh, and work on documents simultaneously. The Apple TV/Video System comes with a video card, TV Tuner card, remote control, and software.

(That’s why the case had an infrared port on the front. SYNERGY!)

While we’re quoting ancient publications, I also found this passage by David Pogue in the 5th edition of Macworld Mac Secrets, in which he describes the 630 line:

Released in August 1994, this small, attractive desktop Mac represented new highs in speed and multimedia flexibility — and new lows in pricing. Shortly after it was released, it became one of Apple’s top-selling Macs. The 630 has a 33 MHz 040 processor — surprisingly enough, as fast as the old Quadra 950 — and was sold as part of the Performa, Quadra, and LC families.

This replacement for the Quadra 610, 650, and 660AV had three slots, each of a different type: (1) an LC-style PDS; (2) a communications slot like that found on the LC 575 (for an Ethernet card or — as bundled with the Performa models — a fax/modem card): (3) a video slot for either the $150 Apple Video System card (which lets you record video as a quarter-screen, 10-frames-per- second, 16-bit-color QuickTime movie), or a $250 Apple TV/Video System
card (which offers a TV tuner and cable hookup for watching TV in a resizable window, as well as QuickTime recording). You can also hook up the 630 to the $300 Apple Presentation System, a converter card that can send the Mac’s image to a TV or VCR.

Just for completeness — and because these products are more interesting than the Performa 630/640 line — let’s go back to Seago’s article:

The Apple Presentation System makes it easy for you to create a presentation on your Macintosh, then dis- play it to an audience on a larger television screen exactly as it appears on your Macintosh display. You can also connect your Macintosh to a VCR and record your presentation on videotape for easy and inexpensive distribution.

The Apple Presentation System comes with software, cables, and video converter box. Unlike the Apple Video and Apple Video/TV systems, the Apple Presentation System can be used with any Macintosh computer that has a DB-15 video port. The computers that can be used with the Apple Presentation System include, but are not limited to any of the following computers which have a DB-15 video port: Macintosh PowerBook, Macintosh LC, Performa 400-600 models, Centris, Quadra, or other Macintosh and Power Macintosh computers.

The DOS Compatible Performa

In addition to all of those SKUs, several 600-series Performas were sold as a “DOS Compatible” or “PC” version. These machines shipped with a bundled version of Apple’s DOS Compatibility Card with either an Intel 486DX2 CPU running at 66 MHz or a Cyrix 486 clocked at 70 MHz. This card could pull from the memory slotted into the Mac’s motherboard, or use up to 32 MB of RAM installed in its own single slot.

This hardware let Mac users run DOS and Windows, right on their Macs. It was weird.

Apple’s DOS Compatibility cards came in a few different versions of the years and supported a range of 1990s Macs. Check out these videos to learn a lot more:

A Lot in the Box

When I bought it on eBay, my Performa 631CD was advertised as having all of its original documentation and software. Given the mountain of materials in the box, I believe the seller:

That “5 A Day Adventures” title looks incredible.

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