I was transitioning out of my early IT career when the iMac arrived. But it took the historic return of Steve Jobs in 1997 to turn this project into a seminal success. One of his first actions was to authorize the development of a new low-end computer. Gil Amelio stumbled, but did his best to save the company when he stepped in as CEO in 1996. Not surprisingly, the introduction of Windows 95 magnified the company’s problems. Profits were crashing, and by 1995, Apple had reached its revenue peak. John Sculley ended his ten-years as CEO in 1993, and Michael Spindler did considerable damage during his two-and-half-year run.
Versions with a full 68040 processor can also run A/UX with the appropriate Enablers.
System 7.1 was included as standard, with Mac OS 8.1 being the highest supported version.
The smaller size was part of an upcoming update to the NuBus standard. When the Centris 610 was first introduced, only a few 7-inch NuBus cards existed most were 12 inches. This was no longer an issue by the time the Quadra 610 DOS Compatible was released, which included a full 68040 CPU. 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. There are no NuBus slots an optional expansion card was offered that plugs into the Processor Direct Slot and allows a single 7-inch NuBus card to be installed in a horizontal orientation. Ethernet-capable models have an AAUI port. There are two SIMM slots that support 4, 8, 16, and 32 MB SIMMs, allowing for a 68 MB of RAM.
Standard equipment on all Centris 610 models includes onboard video (with VGA support via an adapter), two ADB and two serial ports, and an external SCSI connector. 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. The product was deemed by Apple a success, selling all 25,000 units that were produced in two months. A "DOS Compatible" version was introduced in February 1994 as a way for Apple to judge whether the market would be interested in a Macintosh that could also run DOS.
The Quadra 610 was also sold in a " DOS compatible" model with an additional 486SX processor at 25 MHz on a Processor Direct Slot card.Ī 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.
The 610 is the second Macintosh case design (after the Macintosh LC family) to use a pizza box form factor it was later used for the Centris / Quadra 660AV and the Power Macintosh 6100. 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 Centris 610 was introduced alongside the larger Centris 650 as the replacement for the Macintosh IIsi, and it was intended as the start of the new midrange Centris line of computers. The Macintosh Quadra 610, originally sold as the Macintosh Centris 610, is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from February 1993 to July 1994. 4 or 8 MB, expandable to 68 MB (80 ns 72-pin SIMM)