HEARD THE HYPE and seen the specs of Apple's second-generation Power Macs? By now you probably have. But what's it like getting down to work with the new machines day to day? How fast are they really? What can you do to get the most out of them? And if you're considering trading in an older Mac or a PC for one of the new machines, which model should you choose? To help you answer these questions and more, we spent several weeks working intensively with production units of two of the new PCI models -- the Power Mac 7200/90 and the Power Mac 8500/120. We found that, by and large, the new machines lived up quite well to our expectations. However, there are several issues that potential buyers should be aware of, particularly those who are considering the purchase of a Power Mac 7200.
Apple Power Mac 7200/90
To be honest, we found Apple's entry-level PCI Power Mac to be a bit underwhelming -- at first. Sure, it has some great features. You get a quad-speed CD-ROM drive and dual Ethernet ports, including a 10BASE-T connector that requires no extra-cost transceiver. And the system is far more expandable than previous low-cost Macs -- it comes with an empty drive bay, three slots for PCI expansion cards, and four DIMM (dual in-line memory module) slots that can accommodate as much as 256 MB of RAM. And don't forget the machine's hassle-free enclosure, which allows you to plug hardware and memory into the slots in -- quite literally -- less than a minute. That's a gigantic im- provement over last year's entry-level Power Mac, the single-slot 6100 model, especially when you consider that the 7200 costs only slightly more than its predecessor. With 8 MB of RAM, a 500-MB hard drive, and a quad-speed CD-ROM drive, the 7200/90 sells for about $1,900. Of course, you'll need additional RAM if you intend to run anything more substantial than, say, ClarisWorks. But even when you figure in an additional $350 to $400 for more RAM, the price is still attractive.
What first gave us pause about the 7200/90, however, was its speed. Even though its PowerPC 601 processor has a 90-MHz clock chip and the machine ships with a new version of the Mac OS (System 7.5.2) that's supposed to contain more native PowerPC code than previous releases, the 7200/90 simply isn't as fast out of the box in benchmark tests or real-life usage as a two-year-old 80-MHz Power Mac 8100.
Fortunately, the problem is easy to fix if you're able and willing to spend a few hundred dollars more. For about $250, you can add a 256K cache DIMM, which boosts the 7200's processor and display speed by 30 percent or more. It then equals and surpasses the speed of the 8100/80.
For about $55, you can get an additional speed boost by loading Connectix's Speed Doubler software, which accelerates applications and Mac OS routines that aren't PowerPC-native. In our speed tests, Speed Doubler slashed the amount of time required to sort a 12,596-record FileMaker Pro database from more than a minute to 38 seconds. We also added another megabyte of video RAM, at a cost of about $100, to the 1 MB that comes with the 7200. Not only does the additional VRAM get you more colors at higher resolutions but it also produces a noticeable speedup for some graphics functions, including scrolling in many applications.
Altogether, these enhancements -- including the cost of the 8 MB of RAM -- add about $750 to the price of the system. But what you get for your investment is a genuine speedster. And the 7200's three PCI slots provide still more flexibility. The first third-party cards announced for the new PCI bus mostly offer faster Ethernet, SCSI, or graphics, so we expect most 7200 buyers will be content with a stock machine. However, it's nice to know that if your needs change or that if one of the other new PCI cards now in the pipeline -- MPEG video-playback cards or DOS/Windows coprocessor cards, for example -- catches your fancy, you can easily slap in a card.
All in all, the scalability, expandability, and attractive base price of the 7200/90 make it a great system for corporate or small-business users who want to run basic office applications or even some graphics and publishing programs.
Home and education buyers will also find that the 7200 offers plenty of bang for the buck, including 16-bit audio, an unusually strong built-in speaker, and a first-rate CD-ROM drive. Novices, though, will generally be better off with a Performa, which comes complete with a monitor, a keyboard, and a slew of software. Digital-video pros should know that the 7200 has no built-in video-in or -out capabilities. Although PCI cards will someday fill this void, for now, video-capable Macs -- such as the Performa 5200 or 6200 or the Power Mac 7500 or 8500 -- make more sense.
Apple Power Mac 8500/120
Out of the box, the Power Mac 8500/120 is clearly the Mac of choice for graphics professionals and anyone else who wants and can afford maximum speed but who doesn't need the extra slots, bulk, and expense of the Power Mac 9500. And it's a great choice for almost anyone doing serious work with digital video. With a 120-MHz PowerPC 604 processor and an internal SCSI bus that can handle as much as 10 MB of data per second, this system flies. You feel its snappiness even when you're doing mundane chores -- opening and closing windows, compressing files, and searching with Find File. The 8500 really shines, however, when you challenge it with demanding work, such as manipulating large images with Adobe Photoshop. In our tests using Photoshop 3.0.4 (newly optimized for the PowerPC 604), the program typically runs 50 to 200 percent faster on the 8500/120 than on an 8100/110.
On the digital-video front, the 8500 -- with its enhanced display, capture, and output capabilities -- leaves last year's AV models in the dust. Although the machine isn't quite capable of producing broadcast-quality video -- capture rates to a Conner CFP1080S drive from our 24/1GB/CD test model fell well short of 30 frames per second -- video quality is more than adequate for corporate training tapes or for QuickTime clips destined for CD-ROM.
Obviously, all this horsepower comes at a price: The 8500 starts at about $4,000 for a 16/1GB/CD configuration. Fortunately, this machine comes with a 256K cache. Like the 7200, the system also has the three PCI slots and dual Ethernet connectors, but you get twice as many RAM DIMM slots -- eight altogether, for a maximum of 512 MB of RAM.
However, expansion is infinitely more difficult with the 8500 than with the 7200. Instead of using an easy-open case like the 7200's, Apple chose to package its beefier model in the company's standard minitower enclosure, which is notoriously difficult to work with. Just to add RAM, for example, you have to unplug every last cable and card in the system, right down to the processor daughterboard.
One other caveat that applies to both the 7200 and the 8500: If you're moving to one of these machines from a 680x0-based Mac, you may have to upgrade much of your software to ensure compatibility and to take advantage of the PowerPC chip. Even if you're already using a Power Mac, be prepared for some compatibility problems with the new class of machines. Several popular programs, including Now Utilities and most of Symantec's utilities, need updates to work with System 7.5.2. And most seriously, early users of all the new Power Macs have experienced frustration trying to dial into the Internet under Apple's new Open Transport networking scheme.
The Bottom Line
Apple deserves kudos for the Power Mac 7200/90 and 8500/120 PCI systems. But buyers of the bargain-priced 7200 will want to consider investing an additional $750 in the machine -- the speed gains they'll achieve will be well worth the extra money.
Apple Power Mac 8500/120
Rating: (4 out of 5 mice) Very Good
Price: $4,000 for 16/1GB/CD model (estimated street).
Pros: Blazing speed. RAM expandable to 512 MB. Three PCI slots. Fast-SCSI support. Built-in high-quality digital video. Upgradable processor.
Cons: Case design makes RAM expansion difficult.
Reader Service: Circle #402.
Apple Power Mac 7200/90
Rating: (4 out of 5 mice) Very Good
Price: $1,900 (estimated street).
Pros: Aggressive price. Excellent case design. Built-in 10BASE-T connector. Quad-speed CD-ROM drive. Three PCI slots. Modest extra investment provides significant speed boost.
Cons: Disappointing speed with base model, due to lack of cache. No built-in digital-video support.
Company: Apple Computer, Cupertino, CA; 800-538-9696 or 408-996-1010.
Reader Service: Circle #401.
Speed-Testing the New Power Macs
A stock Power Mac 7200/90 comes with several attractive features, including a quad-speed CD-ROM drive, but its speed is nothing to write home about. Fortunately, you can supercharge Apple's new low-cost PCI Mac by adding a 256K L2 cache. The Power Mac 8500/120 is a screamer right out of the box -- it will have special appeal to graphics and digital-video professionals.
MacBench 2.0 Processor Floating Point Disk Mix Video Mix
