Power Macintosh 4400 Explained

Power Macintosh 4400 /
Family:Power Macintosh
Developer:Apple Computer, Inc.
Type:Desktop
Cpu:PowerPC 603e
Cpuspeed:160 and 200 MHz
Os:System 7.5.3 - Mac OS 9.1
Ram:Expandable to 160 MB
Ramtype:70 ns 168-pin DIMM
Successor:Power Macintosh G3 Desktop

The Power Macintosh 4400 (sold as the Power Macintosh 7220 in some markets) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from November 1996 to February 1998. It differs from prior desktop Macintosh models in that it was built with industry-standard components such as an IDE hard drive and an ATX-like power supply.

The 4400 was introduced to the market at a time when several Macintosh clones were available on the market, often at prices lower than Apple's. The "Tanzania" logic board in the 4400 was an Apple design but had only been used in clones up to this point. MacWEEK's review described the case as "Strange in the Apple brood; when compared with PCs it fits right in with the flock. It is contained in a stock desktop PC case fitted with Apple's distinctive curved nose piece. The back is industrial-looking, while bent sheet metal fills the case's insides, sharp edges and all. The IDE drive sits on end, while the Comm II slot (occupied with an Ethernet card) and two PCI slots reside in a riser card. For the first time, Apple has abandoned automatic switching in the power supply, a small cost savings at the expense of international users' convenience."[1]

This was the only Power Macintosh to be designed with the goal of using low-cost manufacturing techniques; the 4400 was removed from Apple's lineup a few months after the Power Macintosh G3 Desktop went on sale, which was priced comparably to the 4400 but used Apple's Power Macintosh 7300 form factor instead.

Models

The initial 4400/160 model was only sold to the European market. Some of Apple's online literature referred to the machine as the "Performa 4400", owing to its entry-level position in the market, but no machine sold was labelled as such. (The Performa brand was formally retired a few months later.)

An updated 200 MHz 603e model was released in the United States in February 1997 as the Power Macintosh 4400/200. It was also available as a "PC Compatible" system with a 166 MHz DOS card containing 16 MB of RAM and a Cyrix 6x86 processor.

The Power Macintosh 4400 was sold as the Power Macintosh 7220 in Australia and Asia, where the number 4 is considered unlucky.

Introduced November 7, 1996:

Introduced February 17, 1997:
The 200 MHz versions support a maximum RAM capacity of 160 MB, and have an updated PCI adapter card has two PCI slots and one Comm II slot, instead of three PCI slots.

Introduced April 4, 1997:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Power Mac 4400 on par with clones in price and power . MacWEEK . February 17, 1997 . Tom . Geller . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/19991001135726/http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/macw/1107/macw0041.html . October 1, 1999 . mdy-all.
  2. Web site: Power Macintosh 4400/160: Technical Specifications. Apple. September 19, 2017. August 29, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120829181533/http://support.apple.com/kb/SP300. live.
  3. Book: Pogue , David . Macworld Mac Secrets (4th ed). Chapter 13 - The PowerPC Macs: Model by Model. Hungry Minds. January 1997. 0764540068. October 11, 2017. October 11, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171011130948/http://www.toddp.com/classic/Software%20Install/Apple%20Support%20Documents/Macintosh%20Secrets/Mac%20Secrets%204th%20ed./ch13.pdf. live.
  4. Web site: Power Macintosh 4400/200: Technical Specifications. Apple. September 19, 2017. February 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150218010330/http://support.apple.com/kb/SP301. live.
  5. Web site: Power Macintosh 7220/200: Technical Specifications. Apple. September 19, 2017. August 29, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120829181558/http://support.apple.com/kb/SP352. live.
  6. Web site: Power Macintosh 4400/200 PC Compatible: Technical Specifications. Apple. June 15, 2017. August 29, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120829181546/http://support.apple.com/kb/SP302. live.
  7. Web site: Power Macintosh 7220/200 PC Compatible: Technical Specifications. Apple. September 19, 2017. August 29, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120829181627/http://support.apple.com/kb/SP354. live.