Mac transition to PowerPC processors: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|AppleChange Macintoshof transitionprocessors fromin MotorolaApple 68k to PowerPC processorscomputers}}

{{Infobox event

| title = Mac transition to PowerPC processors

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{{Classic Mac OS sidebar}}

The '''Mac transition to PowerPC processors''' was athe majorprocess shiftof inswitching the [[central processing unit]]s (CPUs) of [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[Macintosh]] line, inof which theMacintosh companycomputers replacedfrom the [[Motorola 68000 series]] (68k) [[Complex instruction set computer|CISC]] processors withto [[PowerPC]] [[Reduced instruction set computer|RISC]] processors co-developed with [[IBM]] and [[Motorola]] (the [[AIM alliance]]). The transition began in March 1994 with the launch of the [[Power Macintosh]] series and was largely completed by mid-1996, though Apple continued supporting 68k systems in its software until 1998.

== Background ==

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== Transition ==

The first public demonstration of the new Power Macintosh — specifically, a prototype of what would become the [[Power Macintosh 6100]] – was at an Apple Pacific sales meeting in Hawaii in October 1992.<ref name=pmbook/> The demo was a success, and in the following months, the product plan expanded to include three models: the entry-level 6100, a mid-range [[Power Macintosh 7100|7100]] housed in the [[Macintosh IIvx]]'s desktop case, and a high-end [[Power Macintosh 8100|8100]] based on the [[Macintosh Quadra 800|Quadra 800]]'s mini-tower case. A fourth project, the [[Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card]], was started in July 1993 to provide a straightforward upgrade path to owners of Centris- and Quadra-based Macintosh computers.{{r|pmbook|p=23}} The importance of this was especially significant for the [[Macintosh Quadra 700|Quadra 700]], [[Macintosh Quadra 900|900]], and [[Macintosh Quadra 950|950]], which were not going to receive full logic board replacements. Computers upgraded in this fashion received new names such as "Power Macintosh Q650" and "Power Macintosh 900".

The original plan was to release the first Power Macintosh machine on January 24, 1994, exactly ten years after the release of the [[Macintosh 128K|first Macintosh]].{{r|pmbook|p=26}} Ian Diery, who was EVP and general manager of the Personal Computer Division at the time, moved the release date back to March 14 in order to give manufacturing enough time to build enough machines to fill the sales channels and to ensure that the Macintosh Processor Upgrade Card would be available at the same time. This was a departure from prior practice at Apple; they had typically released upgrade packages months after the introduction of new Macintoshes.