New PCI-based Power Macintosh Brings Advanced Performance, Expandability and New Solutions to Customers

Latest Macintosh Featuring Potent PowerPC 604 Aims to Boost Productivity, Enhance Competitiveness for Professional Computer Users

Cupertino, California -- June 19, 1995 -- Ushering in a new dimension of desktop computing performance, Apple Computer, Inc., today introduced its most powerful and expandable personal computer to date, the Power Macintosh 9500. Combining a new Power Macintosh architecture with the next-generation, PowerPC 604 processor, the Power Mac 9500 provides customers with up to two times the performance and over three times the memory expansion of Apple's previous top of the line model.

Targeted to professional users in publishing, technical and media authoring markets, the Power Macintosh 9500 is the first personal computer from Apple to feature the industry-standard Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus. The move to a high-speed PCI bus provides Power Mac 9500 customers with significant performance gains and greater access to customized personal computing solutions via low cost PCI cards.

"Customers such as publishers and engineers who count on advanced performance and customizable solutions, told us they needed a powerful, flexible and expandable personal computer to remain competitive," said Howard Lee, senior vice president, Macintosh systems division. "With the new Power Mac architecture optimized to take advantage of the PowerPC 604 processor, six PCI slots, and increased DRAM capacity we've met those needs head-on. Today's introduction provides customers with the solutions they need to be more productive and clearly extends Apple's lead in areas such as color publishing, CD ROM and Internet authoring and 3-D graphics."

PowerPC 604 Delivers Increased Speed

The Power Mac 9500 utilizes the PowerPC 604 processor--running at 120MHz or 132MHz--a second-generation RISC chip which performs up to 1.5 times faster than the PowerPC 601 at the same clock speed and continues the PowerPC tradition of providing excellent performance of graphics-intensive operations. Overall, the Power Mac 9500 performs up to six times faster than a Quadra 950 and up to two times faster than the Power Mac 8100/110, which until today, was the fastest personal computer available from Apple. This type of performance increase allows customers to be more productive and competitive in day to day production tasks.

PCI Enables Significant Performance Gains

By incorporating the PCI expansion bus into the Power Mac 9500, customers are able to use--with only the addition of software drivers--a PCI card that complies with the PCI 2.0 specification. Customers using a PCI card on the new Power Mac should expect performance gains of up to three times faster than a similar card on the fastest NuBus systems.

Move to Industry Standard PCI Benefits Customers and Developers

The adoption of PCI in the newest Power Mac system underscores Apple's commitment to provide "fit-in" compatibility with industry standards. Not only does the move from NuBus to PCI allow PC hardware developers access to the Macintosh market, but traditional NuBus developers can now leverage their solutions into the PC marketplace with very little additional investment. Ultimately, this lets customers take advantage of a wide diversity of new and existing solutions--including digital video production, graphics acceleration, data acquisition and high-speed networking--at more affordable prices.

Microprocessor Upgradability

A new feature on the Power Macintosh 9500 is the ease in which the system may be upgraded with faster PowerPC processors, as they become available in the future. By placing the main processor and clock chip on a daughter board, Power Mac 9500 customers can preserve their hardware investments by installing processor upgrades via a daughter board swap.

System Flexibility, Maximum Expandability

In addition to being the most powerful personal computer from Apple, the Power Mac 9500 has the flexibility to be configured to rival workstations priced significantly higher. Optimized for publishers, technical users and multimedia professionals who require expandability in addition to advanced performance, the Power Mac 9500 is the most customizable Macintosh computer with six high-speed PCI slots. Using new 64 bit DIMMs (Dual-Inline Memory Modules), the Power Mac 9500 also allows for DRAM expansion of up to 768 MB benefitting customers handling large data files such as publishing and image manipulation applications.

Mac OS Further Upgraded for New Power Macintosh

The Power Macintosh 9500 will ship with the industry's easiest-to-use operating system, Mac OS release 7.5.2. This release is optimized to take advantage of the PowerPC 604 processor and the new Power Macintosh architecture. Included in System 7.5.2 will be Apple's Open Transport network architecture. Open Transport comes bundled with AppleTalk and TCP/IP protocols, allowing simplified access to the Internet and virtually all Macintosh and PC networks.

Runs Native Applications, Cross-platform Compatibility

The Power Mac 9500 runs virtually all existing Macintosh applications as well as native applications that have been optimized for PowerPC technology. Currently, over 750 native applications are shipping. As with all Power Macintosh models, the Power Mac 9500 reads all Macintosh, Windows, MS-DOS, OS/2 and ProDOS floppy disk formats. The new system can also run DOS and Windows applications using Insignia Solutions' SoftWindows program.

Specifications, Pricing and Availability

The new Power Macintosh 9500 will be offered worldwide through Apple authorized resellers. Systems are available immediately in the U.S. and other selected regions worldwide. Apple will ship two configurations of the Power Macintosh 9500. The Power Macintosh 9500/120 system is available with a 120 MHz clock speed, 16MB of DRAM, a 1G hard disk, quad-speed CD ROM and an ATI video card. The U.S. Apple Price of the Power Macintosh 9500/120 is $4,999. The Power Macintosh 9500/132 is available with a 132 MHz clock speed, 16MB of DRAM, a 2G hard disk and a quad-speed CD ROM. The Power Mac 9500/132 has a U.S. Apple Price $5,799. Product availability and pricing may vary outside of the U.S.

eWorld On-line Conference

On Wednesday, June 21st, at 6:30PM PDT, eWorld, the on-line service from Apple, will be hosting an on-line conference about the new Power Macintosh 9500 in the eWorld Auditorium, Stage 1. Members of the eWorld community will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact real-time with members of the Power Macintosh 9500 product management team. For members of the press who do not yet have access to eWorld and would like to participate in the conference, please contact Amy Bonetti, Apple eWorld Public Relations, at (408) 974-1333 to arrange overnight delivery of an eWorld starter kit. Apple Computer, Inc., a recognized pioneer and innovator in the information industry, creates powerful solutions based on easy-to-use personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, online services, and personal digital assistants. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) develops, manufactures, licenses and markets products, technologies and services for the business, education, consumer, scientific & engineering and government markets in over 140 countries.

Press Contact
Maureen O'Connell
Apple Computer, Inc.
(408) 862-6689

Amy Kavanaugh
Apple Computer, Inc.
(408) 974-5430

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Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Quadra and AppleTalk are registered trademarks; Power Macintosh, Power Mac, Mac OS and eWorld are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. PowerPC is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation, used under license therefrom. All other brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.