The Macintosh Quadra 610, originally sold as the Macintosh Centris 610, is a

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

designed, manufactured and sold by

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

from February 1993 to July 1994. The Centris 610 was introduced alongside the larger Centris 650 as the replacement for the

Macintosh IIsi The Macintosh IIsi is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1990 to March 1993. Introduced as a lower-cost alternative to the other Macintosh II family of desktop models, it was popular for ...

, and it was intended as the start of the new midrange

Centris The genus ''Centris'' contains circa 250 species of large apid bees occurring in the Neotropical and Nearctic realms, from Kansas to Argentina. Most females of these bees possess adaptations for carrying floral oils rather than (or in additi ...

line of computers. Later in 1993, Apple decided to follow an emerging industry trend of naming product families for their target customers Quadra for business, LC for education, and Performa for home and folded the Centris 610 into the Quadra family. The 610 is the second Macintosh case design (after the

Macintosh LC family The Macintosh LC is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc. from 1990 to 1997. Introduced alongside the Macintosh IIsi and Macintosh Classic as part of a new wave of lower-priced Macint ...

) to use a

pizza box form factor In computing, a pizza box is a style of case design for desktop computers or network switches. Pizza box cases tend to be wide and flat, normally in height, resembling pizza delivery boxes and thus the name. This is in contrast to a tower sy ...

; it was later used for the Quadra 660AV and the

Power Macintosh 6100 The Power Macintosh 6100 (also sold as the Performa 6110 – 6118 and the Workgroup Server 6150) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1994 to March 1996. It is the first computer from Apple to use ...

. A server variant, the Workgroup Server 60, was introduced in July 1993 with a 20 MHz processor, which received the same 25 MHz upgrade in October. In February 1994, a "

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

Compatible" version of the Quadra 610 was introduced as a way for Apple to judge whether the market would be interested in a Macintosh that could also run DOS, providing this DOS compatibility using an additional

i486SX The i486SX was a microprocessor originally released by Intel in 1991. It was a modified Intel i486, i486DX microprocessor with its Floating-point unit, floating-point unit (FPU) disabled. It was intended as a lower-cost CPU for use in low-end sys ...

processor running at 25 MHz on a card installed in the

Processor Direct Slot A processor direct slot (PDS) is a slot incorporated into many older Macintosh models that allowed direct access to the signal pins of a CPU, similar to the functionality of a local bus in PCs. This would result in much higher speeds than having ...

of the machine. The product was deemed a success by Apple, selling all 25,000 units that were produced within months of its launch. Having proven the demand for such capabilities, Apple developed a successor for the Power Macintosh 6100 and exhibited a "technology demonstration" of a card for the Quadra 630, although Apple indicated that follow-up products for earlier models might be delegated to third-party suppliers. The Quadra 610 was replaced with the Quadra 630 in July 1994, and the Workgroup Server 6150 replaced the Workgroup Server 60 as Apple's entry-level server offering.

Hardware

Standard equipment on all Centris/Quadra 610 models includes onboard video (with VGA support via an adapter), two ADB and two serial ports, and an external SCSI connector. There are two SIMM slots that support 4, 8, 16, and 32 MB SIMMs, allowing for a 68 MB of RAM. Ethernet-capable models have an

AAUI Apple Attachment Unit Interface (AAUI) is a mechanical re-design by Apple of the standard Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) used to connect computer equipment to Ethernet. The AUI was popular in the era before the dominance of 10BASE-T networki ...

port. There are no

NuBus NuBus () is a 32-bit parallel computer bus, originally developed at MIT during between 1978 and 1979 as part of the NuMachine workstation project, it would subsequently be standardized by the IEEE in 1987. The first complete implementatio ...

slots; an optional expansion card was offered that plugs into the

and allows a single 7-inch NuBus card to be installed in a horizontal orientation. This arrangement initially precluded the use of the full 68040 processor as there was insufficient clearance for a heat sink, something the 68LC040 does not require. This was no longer an issue by the time the Quadra 610 DOS Compatible was released, which included a full 68040 CPU. When the Centris 610 was first introduced, only a few 7-inch NuBus cards existed; most were 12 inches. The smaller size was part of an upcoming update to the NuBus standard.

System 7.1 System 7 (later named Mac OS 7) is the seventh major release of the classic Mac OS operating system for Macintosh computers, made by Apple Computer. It was launched on May 13, 1991, to succeed System 6 with virtual memory, personal file sharin ...

was included as standard, with Mac OS 8.1 being the highest supported version. Versions with a full 68040 processor can also run

A/UX A/UX is a Unix-based operating system from Apple Computer for Macintosh computers, integrated with System 7's graphical interface and application compatibility. It is Apple's first official Unix-based operating system, launched in 1988 and disc ...

with the appropriate Enablers.

Models

Introduced February 10, 1993: * Macintosh Centris 610: Sold in four configurations: ** 68LC040, 4 MB RAM (on board), 512 KB VRAM (on board), 80 MB HDD, no Ethernet ** 68LC040, 8 MB RAM (4 MB onboard + 4 MB SIMM), 512 KB VRAM (on board), 80 MB HDD, Ethernet ** 68LC040, 8 MB RAM (4 MB onboard + 4 MB SIMM), 512 KB VRAM (on board), 230 MB HDD, Ethernet ** 68LC040, 8 MB RAM (4 MB onboard + 4 MB SIMM), 1 MB VRAM (512 KB onboard + 512 KB SIMM), 230 MB HDD, Ethernet, AppleCD 300i and microphone Introduced July 26, 1993: * Workgroup Server 60: 68040 at 20 MHz, 8 MB ram (on board), 250 or 500 MB HDD. The 500 MB model was sold for US$2,699 as of early 1994. Introduced October 21, 1993: * Macintosh Quadra 610: 68LC040 or 68040 at 25 MHz, 160 or 230 MB HDD. Introduced February 28, 1994: * Macintosh Quadra 610 DOS Compatible: 68040 at 25 MHz, 160 or 230 MB HDD; the DOS card occupies the PDS slot and includes an Intel 486SX-25 and has a 72-pin SIMM slot which supports up to 32 MB RAM.

Timelines

References

External links

Centris 610Quadra 610
an
Quadra 610 DOS compatible
at Low End Mac

an

at EveryMac.com {{Apple hardware before 1998

610 __NOTOC__ Year 610 ( DCX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 610th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 610th year of the 1st millennium, the 10th year of the 7th century, and th ...

Quadra 610 Quadra 610 Quadra 610 Quadra 610 Computer-related introductions in 1993 Products and services discontinued in 1994