Power Macintosh 7100

Power Macintosh 7100

Release date	March, 1994 (66 MHz) January, 1995 (80 MHz)
Introductory price	2900, 3300, 3500
Discontinued	January 1995 (66 MHz) January, 1996 (80 MHz)
Operating system	System 7.1.2, Mac OS 8, Mac OS 9
CPU	PowerPC 601 @ 66 and 80 MHz
Memory	8 MiB, expandable to 136 MiB (80 ns 72 pin SIMM)

The Power Macintosh 7100 was a mid-range Apple Macintosh personal computer that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1994 to January 1996. The PowerMac 7100 was faster and more expandable than the Power Macintosh 6100, and was a part of the original Power Macintosh line along with the 6100 and the Power Macintosh 8100. It came in a slightly restyled Macintosh IIvx case, and received a speed increase to 80 MHz (from its original 66 MHz) in January 1995. When it was discontinued it was succeeded by two new models, the Power Macintosh 7200 and the Power Macintosh 7500.

A higher-priced audio-visual variant (the 7100AV) included a 2 MiB VRAM card with s-video in/out. Non-AV 7100s had a video card containing 1 MiB VRAM and no s-video in/out capability.

Codename Lawsuit

The Power Macintosh 7100's internal code name was "Carl Sagan", the in-joke being that the mid-range PowerMac 7100 would make Apple "billions and billions." Though the project name was strictly internal and never used in public marketing, when Sagan learned of this internal usage he sued Apple Computer to force the use of a different project name. Other models released conjointly were codenamed "Cold fusion" and "Piltdown Man", and he was displeased at being associated with what he considered pseudoscience. Though Sagan lost the suit, Apple engineers complied with his demands anyway, renaming the project "BHA" (for Butt-Head Astronomer). Sagan promptly sued Apple for libel over the new name, claiming that it subjected him to contempt and ridicule, but lost this lawsuit as well.

See also

• List of Macintosh models grouped by CPU type
• List of products discontinued by Apple Computer

External links

• apple-history.com :: Power Macintosh 7100
• Another Old Computer Museum :: Lots of photos
• specifications at AppleSpec :: 7100/66
• specifications at AppleSpec :: 7100/66AV
• specifications at AppleSpec :: 7100/80
• specifications at AppleSpec :: 7100/80AV