The venerable 680X0 processor had underpinned Apple ever since the release of the Lisa in 1983 and the original Macintosh in 1984, but the little processor was starting to show its age and Apple knew that it was time to up the ante in the face of competition from IBM and it's many clones. The new Motorola PowerPC chip delivered a massive speed boost, was modern and had a wealth of tricks up its sleeve. Now all Apple had to do was get it into the hands of end users.

Having learnt lessons from the past, Apple had become conscious of the fact that different users had different needs and budgets, and what might suit one user might not necessarily suit another. The solution was to release machines under different guises and in different forms. The new PowerPC processor would therefore get its debut as the PowerMac 6100, the PowerMac 7100 and the PowerMac 8100.

The 7100 was the middle of the new PowerMac range, boasting better performance and features than the 6100 but still a little way behind the top-of-the-line 8100. Housed in a slightly re-styled Mac IIvi case (the same hideous case seen on the Mac IIvi, IIvx, and Quadra 605) the 7100 ran at a blistering 66MHz (later speed bumped to 80Mhz) a whole 6MHz faster than the 6100, came equipped with 8Mb of RAM as standard (expandable to 136Mb)(Note: The 7100 has four RAM slots which, in theory allows 4x64Mb of main memory but, in reality, will only accept 32Mb modules), an optional CD-ROM drive, and four expansion slots (in stark contrast to the 6100's single NuBus PDS slot). Like the 6100 though, the machine was also available in an 'AV' flavour whereby it came fitted with an AV card (plugged directly into the PDS slot). Not only did this do away with the need to use the onboard video card (which leached memory from the main RAM) but also upped performance considerably.

In terms of technology, the 7100 was hardly brilliant or revolutionary (effectively being a 6100 with three extra expansion slots, all crammed into a IIvi case - product re-cycling on a mass scale) and even managed to annoy the Apple faithful by using the same HDI-45 video connector (that required a specialist cable) as seen on the 6100. It was the story behind the 7100 that proved to be more interesting. Code-named 'Carl Sagan' after the famed astronomer, Apple soon found themselves in hot water when they were sued in an attempt to change the codename despite the fact that it was never used publically or in any marketing material (Sagan didn't appreciate being associated with 'pseudoscience' in the form of 'Piltdown Man' and 'Cold Fusion' - the code names for the 6100 and 8100 machines). Sagan lost but Apple's engineers changed the codename anyway to BHA...or Butthead Astronmer. Again Sagan sued (and lost). Again, Apple's engineers changed the name anyway, this time to LAW...or Lawyers Are Wimps.

A solid performer, the 7100 was, sadly, not a brilliant piece of engineering. Yes it was reliable, yes it was a reasonable priced entry into the Macintosh line, and yes it was the debut of the PowerMac, but it was hardly revolutionary.

Some Macs are brilliant, some are truly stunning examples of design and some are just plain awful. The PowerMac 7100, sadly, leans towards the latter. Despite being a solid performer under the hood, the biggest problem with the 7100 is the hood itself. Housed in the same case as the truly dreadful Mac IIvi/IIvx, the clanking steel monstrosity is seemingly one of those things that never seems to die (it had already been re-used in the Quadra 650)(you've got to give Apple full marks for recycling their designs), the 7100 had a lot of work to do if it was to earn itself some respect.

Away from the case design, the 7100 is a good little machine though. Performance wise it's not blistering (66MHz is hardly fast) but it's a reliable little piece of kit and, if you can work with the internal design, everything is pretty readily accessible. Expansion is adequate and the only real 'annoyance' (case aside) is the use of the HDI-45 video connector (if you can, get a machine which has a dedicated graphics card fitted).

In no way exceptional, spectacular or revolutionary, the 7100 is 'decent' but is also Apple at its blandest.