Macintosh Performa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

A Macintosh Performa 5200, an all-in-one desktop, much like the iMac, which followed a few years later.

A Macintosh Performa 6300, a desktop cased model.

A Macintosh Performa 6400, one of the few Performas in a tower.

The Macintosh Performa series was Apple Computer's consumer product family of Apple Macintosh personal computers from 1992 until 1997, when the introduction of the Power Macintosh 5x00 series ended this product line. The Performa series was not a new line of computers, but simply renamed models from Apple's regular line of computers that were sold in computer stores, such as Quadra, Centris, LC, and Power Mac. The series was introduced in 1992 with the Performa 200, which was essentially a renamed Macintosh Classic II. Nearly every member of the Mac LC series existed as a Performa version, as did the Power Macintosh 6100. Systems that were not branded as Performas were largely intended for the education market.

[edit] Marketing

The Performa versions were sold as package deals, including a monitor, external modem, and typically a software bundle—items that were not generally included with the non-Performa Mac models of the time. Software bundles usually included ClarisWorks, Quicken, a calendar/contact manager such as Touchbase and Datebook Pro, America Online, Apple's At Ease child-safe interface, educational software such as American Heritage Dictionary and either Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing or Mario Teaches Typing, and games such as Spectre Challenger, Super Munchers and Monopoly, all pre-installed over a slightly customized version of the Mac System software, denoted by a P in the version number (e.g., System 7.1P5). The Performa versions of the System software introduced some features that were later included in mainstream system releases, most notably the Launcher. System 7.5 ended the separate Performa releases.

The Performa series of Macintosh computers was Apple's attempt to increase its market share among families and individuals. In the early 1990s, Apple attempted wide retail distribution of the Performas through major electronics store chains, short television commercials, and brochures and paper ads. The marketing failed due to a lack of self-running demos at some stores,^{[citation needed]} and the fact that many retailers that carried Performas seemed more interested in steering customers towards Windows PCs. It was common to see demo machines crashed and the mouse missing, or to see the units not turned on. ^[1][2]

The large number of models was intended to accommodate retailers, who could advertise that they could beat their competitors' price on equivalent models, while at the same time making sure that they didn't carry the same models as their competitors. In the mid-1990s, Apple created "The Martinettis Bring Home a Computer", a 30-minute infomercial about a fictional family that purchases a Performa computer.

[edit] Criticisms

Critics of the Performa line, including some Mac users, argued that it was generally underpowered relative to higher-end Mac models. Some critics cited the large and confusing array of different Performa models, some differentiated only by the hard drive size or the software bundle (such as the Performa 475 and 476). The Performa 5200 was named by LowEndMac as the worst Macintosh ever made,^[3] owing to the severely cut-down hardware designs introduced during Michael Spindler's tenure as Apple CEO.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Macintosh Performa

• List of Performa and equivalent models
• Mac Performa flat top 475 (LC 475)
• Mactracker - information on every Mac, Mac clone, and Apple products.