The Power Macintosh 8600 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 1997 to February 1998. It was introduced alongside the

Power Macintosh 7300 The Power Macintosh 7300 (also sold with server software as the Apple Workgroup Server 7350) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from February 1997 to November 1997. It was introduced with 166, 180 and 200& ...

and 9600 with a

PowerPC 604e The PowerPC 600 family was the first family of PowerPC microprocessor, processors built. They were designed at the Somerset facility in Austin, Texas, jointly funded and staffed by engineers from IBM and Motorola as a part of the AIM alliance. Som ...

processor, and comes in a new case design that replaces the widely disliked

Quadra 800 The Macintosh Quadra 800 (also sold with bundled server software as the Apple Workgroup Server 80) is a personal computer that is a part of Apple Computer's Quadra series of Macintosh computers. Introduced in February 1993 alongside the first ...

-based form factor of its predecessor, the

Power Macintosh 8500 The Power Macintosh 8500 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer from August 1995 to February 1997. Billed as a high-end graphics computer, the Power Macintosh 8500 was initially released with a 120& ...

. Like the 7300 and 9600, the 8600 featured the new

and 604ev CPU, the latter being an enhanced version of the

PowerPC 604 The PowerPC 600 family was the first family of PowerPC processors built. They were designed at the Somerset facility in Austin, Texas, jointly funded and staffed by engineers from IBM and Motorola as a part of the AIM alliance. Somerset was opened ...

and

used in the predecessor 8500 and 9500 models. It used the same new case as the 9600, but was somewhat less expandable (8 instead of 12 RAM sockets, 3 instead of 6 PCI slots) at a lower price, a distinction that was carried over from the previous generation. It includes advanced Audio-Video ports including RCA audio in and out, S-Video in and out and composite video in and out. The 8600 was plagued with supply problems from the beginning, and only in June 1997, four months after its introduction, was the computer widely available. The 300 MHz model was also delayed after its introduction, but not as heavily as the original model had been. In August 1997, the original model was replaced with two faster ones, at 250 and 300 MHz, using a new "Kansas" logicboard, and the 8600 was discontinued in February 1998, a few months after the introduction of its replacement, the

Power Macintosh G3 The Power Macintosh G3 (also sold with additional software as the Macintosh Server G3) is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer from November 1997 to August 1999. It represented Apple's fi ...

Mini Tower.

Models

Introduced February 17, 1997: * Power Macintosh 8600/200: Includes System 7.5.5. Introduced August 5, 1997: * Power Macintosh 8600/250: Includes Mac OS 7.6.1. * Power Macintosh 8600/300: Includes Mac OS 7.6.1.

Timeline

References

External links

Power Macintosh 8600
at Low End Mac * Power Macintos

an

at EveryMac.com {{Apple hardware before 1998 8600 8600 Macintosh towers Computer-related introductions in 1997