Macintosh Quadra 700

The Macintosh Quadra 700 was a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1991 to March 1993. It was introduced alongside the Quadra 900 as the first computers in the Quadra series using Motorola 68040 processor.[2] It is also the first computer from Apple to be housed in a mini-tower form factor, which in 1991 was becoming a popular alternative to standard desktop-on-monitor cases that were common through the 1980s.

Macintosh Quadra 700
A Macintosh Quadra 700
Also known as"Shadow", "IIce"[1]
DeveloperApple Computer, Inc.
Product familyMacintosh Quadra
Release dateOctober 21, 1991 (1991-10-21)
Introductory priceUS$5,700 (equivalent to $11,340 in 2021)
DiscontinuedMarch 15, 1993 (1993-03-15)
Operating systemSystem 7.0.1 - Mac OS 8.1, A/UX or, with PowerPC upgrade, Mac OS 9.1
CPUMotorola 68040 @ 25 MHz
Memory4 MB, expandable to 68 MB (80 ns 30-pin SIMM)
DimensionsHeight: 5.5 inches (14 cm)
Width: 11.9 inches (30 cm)
Depth: 14.4 inches (37 cm)
Mass13.6 pounds (6.2 kg)
PredecessorMacintosh IIci
SuccessorMacintosh Centris 650
Macintosh Quadra 800
Related articlesMacintosh Quadra 900

The Quadra 700 originally had a list price of US$5,700, but had dropped to under $4,700 for a base model by the time its replacement, the Macintosh Quadra 800, went on sale in early 1993.[2] The Centris 650, also introduced around the same time, offered incrementally more performance than the Quadra 700 in a desktop-style case at a price point closer to $3,000.[3]

Hardware

Form factor: The Quadra 700 case is largely the same as the popular Macintosh IIcx and Macintosh IIci models; this made it possible for users of those models to upgrade to the more powerful Quadra 700. Users sometimes placed the older case vertically in a mini-tower orientation and the Quadra 700 recognized this by having the Apple logo and model name printed in the vertical orientation. The IIcx and IIci were designed to allow their rubber feet to be moved to the side for vertical orientation as well.

CPU: Motorola 68040 @ 25 MHz. The clock oscillator runs at 50 MHz; replacing it with a faster oscillator (up to 74 MHz) results in a performance increase.[4]

Memory: The Quadra 700 could be upgraded to 68 megabytes of RAM, which with its 25 MHz processor made it a very useful computer for scientific or design work.

Expansion: Two Nubus slots and a PDS slot; processor upgrades from Apple and other manufacturers were sold for the 700 when the PowerPC 601 accelerator cards came along in 1994.

Storage: 80 and 160 MB hard disks were available at launch. A faster 230 MB unit became available in mid-1992 when the Quadra 950 was introduced.[5]

Video: Like the IIci, the 700 has integrated graphics built into the system board but, unlike the earlier model, it uses dedicated VRAM for its video memory.[6] The onboard video came with 512 kilobytes VRAM soldered to the motherboard, and supported resolutions up to 1152x870. The video memory was expandable to 2 megabytes via six 256-kilobyte 100 nS VRAM SIMMs in each of VRAM SIMM expansion slots on the motherboard. Expanding the video memory to 2 megabytes allowed for 24-bit (Millions) color at resolutions up to 832x624.

Sound: The sound was 8-bit stereo.

Ports: I/O was available with dual serial ports, an AAUI ethernet port, mic in, and a DB-25 SCSI connector. The Quadra 700, along with the 900, are the first Macintosh models with built-in support for Ethernet networking.[1]

Operating system: System 7.0.1 was included as standard. This is the earliest Macintosh model to support Mac OS 8.

Timeline
Timeline of Macintosh Centris, LC, Performa, and Quadra models, colored by CPU type
Power MacintoshMacintosh QuadraMacintosh CentrisMacintosh PerformaMacintosh II seriesMacintosh Performa 6410Macintosh Performa 6410Macintosh Performa 6410Macintosh Performa 6400Macintosh Performa 6360Macintosh Performa 6300Macintosh Quadra 950Macintosh Performa 6117Macintosh Performa 6116Macintosh Quadra 900Macintosh Quadra 840AVMacintosh Quadra 800Macintosh Quadra 700Macintosh Quadra 650Macintosh Quadra 630Macintosh Quadra 610Macintosh Quadra 605Macintosh Quadra 660AVMacintosh Quadra 650Macintosh Quadra 610Macintosh Performa 5280Macintosh Performa 5270Macintosh Performa 5260Macintosh Performa 5260Macintosh Performa 6200Macintosh Performa 5215Macintosh Performa 5210Macintosh Performa 640CDMacintosh Performa 635Macintosh Performa 630Macintosh Performa 588CDMacintosh Performa 580CDMacintosh Performa 578Macintosh Performa 577Macintosh Performa 575Macintosh Performa 560Macintosh Performa 550Macintosh Performa 520Macintosh Performa 275Macintosh Performa 250Macintosh Performa 600Macintosh Performa 400Macintosh Performa 200Macintosh LC 580Power Macintosh 5300 LCPower Macintosh 5200 LCMacintosh LC 575Macintosh LC 630Macintosh LC 550Macintosh LC 520Macintosh LC 475Macintosh LC IIIMacintosh LC IIIMacintosh IIvxMacintosh LC IIMacintosh LC
See also: Timeline of Macintosh models

References
  1. Pogue, David; Schorr, Joseph (1999). MacWorld Mac Secrets, 5th Edition. IDG Books. ISBN 0-7645-4040-8.
  2. Webster, Bruce (December 1991). "Macintosh Quadras - Power But No Pizzazz". MacWorld. Vol. 8, no. 12. pp. 140–147.
  3. Gruman, Galen (April 1993). "Centris 610 & 650 - Two new midrange performers replace the venerable Mac II line". Macworld. Vol. 10, no. 4. pp. 106–113.
  4. "Overclocking the Mac Quadra Series - Quadra 700". September 16, 2014.
  5. Poole, Lon (July 1992). "Quadra 950 - Apple accelerates the Quadra 900 and gives it a new name". Macworld. Vol. 9, no. 7. pp. 144–153.
  6. Adams, Dale. "Dale Adams on Quadra 700 & 900 On-board Video Capabilities".
  7. Wilkinson, Chris (December 11, 2020). "Working from home at 25MHz: You could do worse than a Quadra 700 (even in 2020)". Ars Technica.
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