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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".
Apple unveiled the first Power Macintosh models—the [[Power Macintosh 6100|6100]], [[Power Macintosh 7100|7100]], and [[Power Macintosh 8100|8100]]—on March 14, 1994.<ref name=pmbook/> These used the 32-bit [[PowerPC 601]] CPU, manufactured by IBM/Motorola. The first portable Mac models to use PowerPC processors were the [[PowerBook 5300]] series, released on August 25, 1995 and featuring the [[PowerPC 603e]] chip.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Macintosh PowerBook 5300ce/117: Technical Specifications |url=https://support.apple.com/kb/SP180 |publisher=Apple |access-date=February 1, 2021 |archive-date=July 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729131941/http://support.apple.com/kb/SP180 |url-status=live }}</ref>▼
▲Apple unveiled the first Power Macintosh
PowerPC Macs shipped with [[Mac 68k emulator|a built-in emulator]] that ran unmodified 68k code at about 60–70% of native 68040 performance.▼
▲All PowerPC Macs shipped with [[Mac 68k emulator|a built-in emulator]] that ran unmodified 68k code, including much of the system software, at about 60–70% of native 68040 performance.
Developers distributed [[Fat binary#Apple's fat binary|fat binaries]] containing both 68k and PowerPC code, allowing a single application package to run on both architectures. Development tools and documentation from Apple enabled rapid developer adoption. By late 1995, most major Mac software had PowerPC-native versions.
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