Introduced as part of Apple's 'second wave' of PowerMac machines, the 7200 series stuck with the tried and tested Motorola 601 PowerPC processor, and, like the 5200 machine and the entire 6200 series, upped the speed a little. Sadly this 'little' stuck the machine firmly into the 'budget' range as elsewhere both the 8500 and 9500 series pushed just that little bit further with speeds ranging from 100MHz all the way up to 200MHz.

Despite being the 'entry level' machine, the 7200 was certainly no slow coach though and Apple eventually made it available at three different speeds: 75MHz, 90MHz and 120MHz (the 120MHz version replaced the 75MHz version when it was retired in March 1996). Each was priced accordingly and could, naturally, be bought with differing amounts of RAM, hard drive size etc. The 120MHz version was also available with a pre-installed DOS card allowing it to emulate the, by now, all conquering IBM clones.

Sharing an all-new case design with the 7500 series, the 7200 could easily be opened up and the power supply and drives could easily be swung outwards so that the motherboard could be accessed. Along with an impressive 3 PCI slots, this meant that upgrading the 7200 was very easy although care still had to be taken as the machine could apparently be damaged if EDO RAM was inserted into the seemingly innocent looking DIMM slots.

As a machine the 7200 wasn't at all bad but, as was so often the case at the time, Apple cut a few too many corners. To cut costs Apple shipped the machine with just 1Mb of VRAM and no level 2 cache (adding either of which can help performance). Worse was that the machine was sold with the promise of 'easy performance upgrades' in the form of an inexpensive motherboard replacement that would allow the machine to have it's fixed CPU replaced with an exchangable one as seen in the 7500. Sadly the 7500 sold exceptionally well and, because of the demand, Apple took far too long to come up with the 7200's 'upgrade' and seemed to consider $1600 to be an acceptable definition of 'inexpensive'. This would not be the only option though as Sonnet would eventually come up with a $500 PCI card that could take the machine all the way up to a G3 400MHz...even if did take until 2000 to work out how to do it.

Sometimes Macs really do inspire. The 'compact' Macs are fantastically cute and the bright colours of the iMac really do catch the eye, but at the other end of the spectrum we get Macs that don't inspire. The likes of the IIvi and the IIvx are truly hideous and while many of the Macs from the mid 90's are less than awe-inspiring, the 7200 series just never really created a buzz in this corner of Macintosh-land. Of course when one was donated practically for free (£3 is practically free) then it was another story.

The 7200 is yet another PowerMac but it's case would go on to house many models and even the first generation of the G3 machines, so it's only natural that its look is kind of synonymous with the PowerMacs of the mid to late 90's. To look at, it's functional if nothing else and there's plenty of space allowing for not only the CD drive and the floppy drive but also an additional 3.5" device (typically a ZIP disk). My machine came with nothing though - just the empty drive bay.

Popping the hood the 7200 reveals that, while screw-less, it can be a nerve wrecking experience for the novice as the top plastic casing is held on by just two plastic clips and these seem to need an awful lot of force and twisting before the lid swungs upwards and then finally off - I seriously thought I was going to snap something. Inside though it's obvious that Apple intended this machine to be upgraded as everything (drives and PSU) swings up to reveal the motherboard. The little plastic arm that holds the machine 'open' is testament to this but, typically, I broke mine in about 3 minutes - time for the superglue.

After several years in service my 7200 was naturally showing signs of wear and tear but it still booted first time and a complete strip down and clean soon restored it back to it's former glory. Aside from the broken plastic arm the only other cause for concern was the lack of the tiny apple logo from the front of the box - easy enough to replace from the little stack of them stuck to my PC's monitor.

My machine was the 90MHz version with 32Mb of RAM and a 700Mb hard drive and came complete with OS 8 and the usual clutter of installed apps, user files and everything else that older machines are required (by law) to have. Boot time wasn't fast but a re-install of the OS soon got things back on track.

As a machine it isn't bad and for the price it's a fantastic bargain. It's more than up to the job of running older software, creating docs and even browsing the net. Naturally a better spec machine would do the job even faster but the 7200 is a solid machine that's only really spoiled by it's less than jaw-dropping physical appearance.