What's the fastest Mac you can buy? If you thought it was Apple's Power Mac 9500/132, with its 132-MHz 604 processor, you'd be wrong. Meet the fastest "Mac" ever: Power Computing's PowerWave 604/150. But speed isn't all Power brings to the party. The PowerWave lineup from Power will offer users a choice between an all-PCI system and a mixed PCI/NuBus system. Hot!
Power's long-term goal is to provide several models -- from low-profile desktop machines to full-height towers -- and to allow users to choose from among a variety of processor and bus-slot options. But Power's initial PCI offering comprises three systems: the PowerWave 604/150 and 604/132, which are both minitowers, and the PowerWave 604/120, a desktop model.
The PowerWave 604/150, as its name implies, sports a PowerPC 604 processor running at 150 MHz. Apple isn't expected to offer this higher-speed chip until sometime next year. The PowerWave 604/132 parallels Apple's top-of-the-line Power Mac 9500/132. Power's systems contain a 132-MHz 604 processor and optionally are available with 256K, 512K, or 1 MB of L2 cache. Because the PowerWave has a smaller motherboard, it provides only 8 RAM DIMM slots, in contrast to the 9500's 12. The speed of the PowerWave 604/120 is expected to be on a par with that of Apple's 8500/120, although other features of these systems vary quite a bit. All three Power systems will be available in user-configurable combinations of RAM and disk-drive capacity.
None of the systems comes with built-in VRAM. Instead, Power preinstalls ATI's Xclaim GA accelerated-graphics adapter. This is the same card Apple ships in the 9500/120, with one difference: The Power-supplied version contains a VGA port as well as a Mac-style monitor port.
Get on the Bus, Gus
OK, so speed records come and go: What really sets Power's PowerWave systems apart is their approach to expansion slots. Apple made the transition to the PCI expansion bus with its latest Power Macs, the 7200, 7500, 8500, and 9500. Compared to the NuBus expansion-bus standard found in most Macs since March 1987, the PCI bus is fast. And unlike NuBus, which no one besides Apple used, PCI is a standard -- it's widely used in today's PCs, which means lower prices for the accelerated-graphics adapters, Ethernet cards, high-speed-SCSI cards, digital-video-capture cards, and the like used by many Mac users.
Fine. But what if you've already spent thousands of dollars on NuBus add-on cards? Users eager to take advantage of the speed boost provided by the new PowerPC 604-based 8500 and 9500 aren't as enthusiastic about having to buy a whole new set of PCI cards to maintain the functionality they've achieved with NuBus-based Mac systems. And some cards users rely on (digital-sound cards from certain vendors, for example) aren't expected in PCI form till mid-1996.
That's where Power's PowerWave systems come in. They're the ultimate transition machines: They offer both PCI and NuBus slots. Unlike Macs, Power's PowerWave systems do not have any bus-expansion slots built directly onto their motherboards. Instead, a PowerWave motherboard contains a custom slot for plugging in a riser card, which in turn contains bus-expansion slots (see motherboard photo). Power offers two riser-card options. With all PowerWave systems, you can choose a riser card that has two NuBus and two PCI slots or one that has three PCI slots. And if you change your mind later, when you've finally outgrown the last of your NuBus cards, you can purchase a riser-card upgrade for about $100.
This feature alone is guaranteed to make Power's new systems popular. No other vendor, including Apple, has plans to build a dual-bus system, although Apple did have a hand in making the Power PowerWave systems possible. Power's new systems contain a special processor-bus bridge chip, called the StarGate, that performs this dual-bus magic. Apple engineers worked closely with Power in developing StarGate, to ensure the integrity, compatibility, and performance of these dual-bus systems. Speaking of performance, although Power could not make systems available to us for testing in time for this story, the company's engineers assured us that the speed of PCI as well as NuBus cards, even when cards of both types are installed in a dual-bus system, is at least as fast as their speed in comparable single-bus systems.
The Software Parade
Power has upped the ante on software bundles with its new systems too. Like other Power clones, PowerWave systems will ship with ClarisWorks, Now Up-to-Date, Now Contact, Now Utilities, Quicken, and 250 Bitstream fonts. All PowerWave systems will also include the Nisus Compact word processor; Grolier's Encyclopedia CD-ROM; and Launch, a multimedia magazine on CD-ROM.
Power is also negotiating with several other major software vendors to offer discounts on various software bundles. Microsoft Office, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Mail, will be one such option. Adobe products -- Photoshop, PageMaker, Illustrator, Premiere, and Type On Call -- will be available singly or as a group bundle. Power says it will ship the current versions of all the software products it bundles.
PowerWave-system pricing wasn't set at press time, although Power did say that 150-MHz systems will be priced roughly the same as similarly configured 9500s, 132-MHz systems on a par with comparably outfitted 8500s, and 120-MHz systems in line with equivalent 7500s. The company didn't want to talk too much about unannounced six-slot-tower or low-profile desktop models, however. And a cone of silence continues to surround discussion of Power's future multiprocessing systems. But stay tuned to this station. 512-258-1350.
Radius, DayStar Forge Ahead
Henry Bortman
Radius and Daystar aren't standing still, either. Radius announced two new systems that represent an incremental change to the company's clone-product line that provides users with more options than before. DayStar Digital unveiled a lower-priced version of its multiprocessing (MP) machine, the Genesis MP.
Radius. Imagine a 120-MHz Power Mac 8100 reconfigured to fit into a desktop enclosure rather than a minitower, and you've got the 81/120, Radius' first desktop model. Its motherboard is the first Radius has engineered itself. Based on Apple's 8100 motherboard, it adopts the I/O daughtercard approach of Power Computing's first round of clones (although, curiously, Power has reverted to putting I/O functions directly on the motherboard in its PowerWave systems).
The 81/120 contains a 120-MHz 601+ processor (a smaller, faster version of the 601), 256K of Level 2 cache, 16 MB of RAM, an 840-MB hard drive, a quad-speed CD-ROM drive, and three NuBus slots. It has no built-in VRAM (users do get the same DRAM-based graphics port found on many of Apple's original Power Mac models). Radius is expecting to offer this configuration for "under $3,000" -- how far under isn't clear.
To offer users flexibility in choosing configurations, Radius lets Ingram, its exclusive distributor, put bundles together. In its Go Configure program, Ingram offers several bundles preconfigured for specific categories of users. Look for a page-layout bundle, a multimedia-authoring bundle, a Web-authoring bundle, and so on. Neither pricing nor the exact details of these bundles was available at press time. But you can expect to see Radius monitors, accelerated-graphics adapters, and digital-video cards figure prominently in them.
These systems will not only come with a full set of hardware selected for the task at hand but will have the necessary software too. And Radius/Ingram will take an extra step many users will appreciate. The operating system and the bundled applications will be preinstalled and preconfigured -- for example, the multimedia-authoring bundle will come with many of the standard Mac OS extensions and control panels (which can wreak havoc during digital-video production) removed or disabled. And the CD-ROM that ships with the systems will be capable of reinstalling the included software in its configured-as-shipped state, with a single installer-button click. No other vendor offers this amenity.
Radius has also bumped up the speed of its System 110 (its original desktop-publishing package); it's now a System 120 and contains a 120-MHz 601 processor. Its other specs -- 540-MB and 2-GB drives, a Thunder IV GX*1600 accelerated-graphics card, Photoshop 3.0.4, Adobe Type Manager, and Adobe Type Reunion -- remain the same. So does its estimated street price of $8,600.
Conspicuously absent from Radius' recent announcements is a 604-based PCI system. All we can say is, Be patient. And, in case you're wondering, yes, Radius is interested in multiprocessing (MP) too. 408-541-6100.
DayStar. Speaking of MP, DayStar's Genesis MP has a new cousin. In addition to the original $15,000 6-PCI-slot configuration, based on Apple's 9500 motherboard and containing a quad-604/132-processor card, DayStar is now offering a 3-PCI-slot model, based on the 8500 motherboard. This one is a bit slower, containing a quad-604/120-processor card. And at $10,000, it costs a lot less, relatively speaking.
Because the new system contains an 8500 motherboard, it provides built-in VRAM stuffed with the maximum complement of 2 MB and includes S-video input/output capability. The 3-slot model contains only 8 RAM DIMM slots, in contrast to the 9500-based system's 12 slots. DayStar is shipping the 3-slot system with 16 MB of RAM preinstalled; the 6-slot system ships with 32 MB. 770-967-2077.
As the inaugural year of the Mac clone nears an end, there may be fewer than the dozen clone vendors predicted by enthusiastic marketeers last winter, but the Mac OS landscape is looking quite interesting. Lest any of your Wintel friends scoff at the volume of total clone sales to date, you might point out that Power Computing, in its first year in business, expects to sell more computers than did Compaq, Dell, and Gateway combined in their initial 12 months.
