Apple announces PPC upgrade r Quadra 700
Sam's the Man
----Dear Netters,
Check this out, on the issue of PCWeek dated Nov. 29, there was an
advertising supplement from Apple which basically reports on the upcoming
PPC based macintoshes. What catches my attention is this statement I am
quoting directing from the magazine:
Upgrades have been announced for the Quadra 610, 650, 660AV, 700, 800,
840AV, 900 and 950, the Macintosh Centris 610 and 650, the Macintosh IIvx
and the Macintosh Performa 600. More to follow.
From this, one thing is for sure that is the Quadra 700 is upgradable to
PPC. But is Apple referring to a actual Apple upgrade where one could swap
the old motherboard with a PPC board or it is referring to some 3rd party
upgrade option? Because I far as I know the Quadra 700 and the 900 series
wasn't mentioned at all in the original official upgrade from Apple. Could
they have decided to add them to list recently? Anyone to confirm on this.
Sam
Sam's the Man
Mark Basinski
Man) wrote:
>
> From this, one thing is for sure that is the Quadra 700 is upgradable to
> PPC. But is Apple referring to a actual Apple upgrade where one could swap
> the old motherboard with a PPC board or it is referring to some 3rd party
> upgrade option? Because I far as I know the Quadra 700 and the 900 series
> wasn't mentioned at all in the original official upgrade from Apple. Could
> they have decided to add them to list recently? Anyone to confirm on this.
>
Nope, Apple has given it's "official blessing" to Daystar's PPC PDS board.
Page 36 of Dec 93 MacWorld:
"...DayStar Digital plans to ship a coprocessor using the (PPC 601) chip
this fall....developed by DayStar in cooperation with Apple. The nPower
coprocessor board, which should cost under $2000, is designed to work with
the Quadra 700, 800, 900, and 950, as well as with the Centris 650. Daystar
plans to introduce versions for the Centris 610 and LC family next year,
along with a line of accelerators using the 601 PowerPC chip.
Publishing and rendering programs are among the applications most likely
to be ready to take advantage of the PPC coprocessor...Users will be able
to upgrade to the nPower accelerators when they ship
early next year."
Hmm...so this is a *co-processor* board for late '94 (?) and an actual
accelerator board for early 95 (?)...sounds like cool news, especially
for LC owners! And I thought the power supplies in those boxes weren't
up to it..guess I was wrong.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Basinski Internet: basi...@biosci.arizona.edu
Sam's the Man
: basi...@biosci.arizona.edu (Mark Basinski) writes:
: >... Apple has given it's "official blessing" to Daystar's PPC PDS board.
: >Page 36 of Dec 93 MacWorld:
: > "...DayStar Digital plans to ship a coprocessor using the (PPC 601) chip
: >this fall....developed by DayStar in cooperation with Apple. The nPower
: >coprocessor board, which should cost under $2000, is designed to work with
: >the Quadra 700, 800, 900, and 950, as well as with the Centris 650...
: >Hmm...so this is a *co-processor* board for late '94 (?) and an actual
: >accelerator board for early 95 (?)...sounds like cool news, especially
: >for LC owners!
: Cool news except for the price -- if I'm not mistaken, MacLeak said the
: early PPC Macs were going to be in the $2000 range (i.e., cheaper to
: sell your Quadra and buy a brand new Mac than upgrade).
: Hmmm.....
: Eric Seale
: se...@pogo.den.mmc.com
Yeah, I called up apple yesterday and true enough, the upgrade for Quadra
700 is not the motherboard swap deal but true enough it is via Daystar PDS
PowerPC accelerator. So what's the point of keeping a Quadra 700 now. Any
takers for my Q700? email for for further details on this system.
I am very disappointed that Apple chose not to give the Quadra 700 a breath
of new life thru the new powerPC.
--
Sam's the Man
Eric H Seale
>... Apple has given it's "official blessing" to Daystar's PPC PDS board.
>Page 36 of Dec 93 MacWorld:
> "...DayStar Digital plans to ship a coprocessor using the (PPC 601) chip
>this fall....developed by DayStar in cooperation with Apple. The nPower
>coprocessor board, which should cost under $2000, is designed to work with
>the Quadra 700, 800, 900, and 950, as well as with the Centris 650...
>Hmm...so this is a *co-processor* board for late '94 (?) and an actual
>accelerator board for early 95 (?)...sounds like cool news, especially
>for LC owners!
Cool news except for the price -- if I'm not mistaken, MacLeak said the
sea...@ac.dal.ca
> basi...@biosci.arizona.edu (Mark Basinski) writes:
>>... Apple has given it's "official blessing" to Daystar's PPC PDS board.
>>Page 36 of Dec 93 MacWorld:
>
>> "...DayStar Digital plans to ship a coprocessor using the (PPC 601) chip
>>this fall....developed by DayStar in cooperation with Apple. The nPower
>>coprocessor board, which should cost under $2000, is designed to work with
>>the Quadra 700, 800, 900, and 950, as well as with the Centris 650...
>>Hmm...so this is a *co-processor* board for late '94 (?) and an actual
>>accelerator board for early 95 (?)...sounds like cool news, especially
>>for LC owners!
No this is for fall 93. It is a coprocessor, not an accelerator. It's like
the Adobe charger boards with DSPs.
>
> Cool news except for the price -- if I'm not mistaken, MacLeak said the
> early PPC Macs were going to be in the $2000 range (i.e., cheaper to
> sell your Quadra and buy a brand new Mac than upgrade).
>
Daystar will release PowerPC PDS accelerators simultaneously with Apple's
release. They will contain Mac ROMs.
Apple has stated in a press release that the upgrade for the 610 case will
be under $1000.
MacWeek's Mac The Knife column reports that Apple will sell Daystar's PPC
accelerator for ~$700! Nice if it's true.
Finally, someone from Daystar tech. on AppleLink said that it's "very
likely" that a IIci accelerator would ship from them.
Sean
Frank J. Owen
Mark Basinski <basi...@biosci.arizona.edu> wrote:
> "...DayStar Digital plans to ship a coprocessor using the (PPC 601) chip
>this fall....developed by DayStar in cooperation with Apple. The nPower
>coprocessor board, which should cost under $2000, is designed to work with
>the Quadra 700, 800, 900, and 950, as well as with the Centris 650. Daystar
>plans to introduce versions for the Centris 610 and LC family next year,
>along with a line of accelerators using the 601 PowerPC chip.
> Publishing and rendering programs are among the applications most likely
>to be ready to take advantage of the PPC coprocessor...Users will be able
>to upgrade to the nPower accelerators when they ship
>early next year."
>
>
>Hmm...so this is a *co-processor* board for late '94 (?) and an actual
>accelerator board for early 95 (?)...sounds like cool news, especially
>for LC owners! And I thought the power supplies in those boxes weren't
I suppose it's "cool", but for $2000, you are going to be able to buy
an entry-level PowerPC Mac from Apple. The $2000 will include a
monitor and keyboard. (according to MacWeek). So once again, it
seems like it will make more sense to buy a new machine than to
upgrade. (The exception may be the Apple mother-board swaps, which
Apple will apparently be selling for reasonble prices this time
around.)
- Frank
--
- Frank Owen f...@vpnet.chi.il.us