In February 1997, Apple decided to replace the older 6400 with the new 6500. Admittedly the 6400 had only been on the market for just under 5 months but Apple obviously decided that the speed increase from the original's 200MHz was worth a whole new model number. Launched alongside the PowerMac 9600, the 6500 was seen as the 'budget' Mac and was available in configurations from 225Mhz to 300MHz, and actually came in at less than the 6400 in terms of price - a big boost for consumers.

All 4 models retained the same slightly curved tower case but underneath this there were a few bonuses in addition to the increased processor performance. The machines shipped with Iomega Zip drives fitted (in addition to the more common 3.5" 1.44Mb Superdrive and the, by now, standard CD-ROM drive), an accelerated ATI Rage 2D/3D graphics chipset, and an SRS 3D suround sound system (complete with sub-woofer). The Zip drive offered far more storage than the ageing 1.44Mb floppy disk and although the 100Mb disks would eventually be superceded, they were a valuable solution before the emergence of cheap CD-R and CD-RW drives.

In addition to offering the machine in four different speeds, Apple also released a variety of different configurations for different markets with the 'education' version shipping with a 3Gb hard drive, the 'consumer' version shipping with a 4Gb hard drive, and the 'small business' version shipping with 4Gb hard drive, 48Mb RAM (as opposed to the standard 32Mb) and a copy of MS Office. This was all in addition to offering the machine under the entirely different 5500 name - these machines came with a built in monitor.

From a cost point of view the 6500 was certainly a good buy and in the performance stakes it's PowerPC 603e processor was more than up to the job. Admittedly the 603e was at the end of its life (the new 9600 used the new 604e) but at its comparatively low price, users weren't too put off (Note: Apple offered no CPU upgrade option but this has not stopped CPU accelerators from being developed by third party suppliers).

The case design though caused problems and any user delving into the guts of the beast was faced with one of Apple's less noteworthy designs - perhaps this was one thing that Apple should have changed in the switch from the 6400. This was not the only problem though as the 6500's in-built GeoPort modem proved to be a serious bottleneck according to many users. Being software based (rather than hardware based) performance was not great and could seriously affect the performance of the entire machine. The suggested solution was to replace the whole thing with a hardware based modem (especially as support for it was dropped as of Mac OS 8.6).

OK I know that the 6500 isn't a 68K Mac but there are other non-68K Macs in the museum and they provide a valuable frame of reference (and if you believe that then you'll believe anything). All I really need to say is that it cost a measly £5!

The 6500 is a very nice machine to look at. Yes it's a tower but Apple knocked the edges off and made everything nice and rounded so, aesthetically, we're on solid ground. Apple even avoided using a clunky metal case and stuck with good old plastic. It's the case though that's one of the machine's few failings.

Like the Performa 630 (and all the 6X00 Performas), the 6500 likes to retain an air of mystery and it avoids things such as screws and panels. Instead the 6500's case is a Chinese puzzle in Macintosh form and until you manage to find the one panel that will slide off (unlocking everything else) then you're left scratching your head (hint, the front panel is not as immovable as you think - but be careful). Apple of course obviously reasoned that taking the case apart wouldn't be necessary as the motherboard just slides straight out of the back. This stops little hands from tinkering but is a real pain if you need to ever strip it down (as I have a tendancy to do).

Two PCI slots make expansion pretty easy but it's what ships with the 6500 as standard that makes it that little bit special to an old 68K guy. Hitting the power switch results in a big boom of a startup chime and the sub-woofer in the machine really does sound fantastic (even if it does just turn out to be a small speaker in a big black plastic box - I've looked). Elsewhere the Rage II graphics chipset may not be groundbreaking by modern standards but it opens up a world of gaming possibilities and I might end up challenging Mrs TheNeil to a quick Mac only Quake-fest some time.

My machine came in with a 250MHz processor but while technically faster than my 9600, it's older 603e ends up being about on a par with the 9600's slower 225MHZ 604e. It's still plenty fast enough and the machine tears along and is more than happy to run OS 8.6. Sadly lacking a Zip drive (a pain but hardly the end of the world) the 6500 is a great machine and I'd be more than happy to suggest one to anyone new to the wonderful world of retro-Mac.