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Transitions

Anonymous Freak

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 12, 2002
5,608
1,398
Cascadia
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The "transitions" lineup.

Original Macintosh - the OG. Motorola 68000, 128KB RAM.

Power Macintosh 7100/66 - the mid-level system in the launch lineup of PowerPC systems. Started the transition from 68k to PPC. Had to run 68k code in emulation.

iMac G4 - One of the initial systems that could only boot Mac OS X, had to run Mac OS 9 apps via the "Classic" environment. (Yes, the first OSX-only MDD/FW800 Power Mac G4 came out a month earlier. It's big and unwieldy and doesn't look as nice in this lineup. And the Aluminum PowerBook G4 similarly came out slightly earlier, but I wanted to keep this lineup desktops. :p)

iMac Core Duo - The launch Intel system (announced and available to order the same day as the MacBook Pro Core Duo, but the iMac started shipping weeks earlier.) Started the transition from PPC to Intel. Had to run PPC code in emulation via Rosetta 1 - couldn't run Classic, so can't run 68k code at all.

Mac mini M1 - The desktop system in the launch lineup of Apple Silicon systems. Started the transition from Intel to ARM. Have to run Intel code via Rosetta 2 "translation" - can't run PowerPC code (but then again, neither have a decade's worth of Intel systems - and for a couple years, can't even run 32-bit Intel code from the Intel transition.)


Sorry, can't do a similar portable lineup - my Macintosh Portable died years ago and was sold to someone who was going to try to repair it; and while I do presently have an Apple Silicon MacBook Air in my possession, it's a Christmas present for someone else, and I'm not opening it.


The interesting thing is the timing. 1984 -> 1994 -> 2003 were basically a decade each. Then 2006 for Intel, so either 12 years or 3 years depending on if you count the Mac OS 9 -> Mac OS X as a transition. Then 2020 for Apple Silicon, a 14 year gap. Although I would argue we had a stealth transition in there with the move from 32-bit to 64-bit. Yes, 64-bit predated Intel with the G5, and 64-bit Intels came out less than a year after the launch Intels - but with the removal of all support for 32-bit code, and the slow march of machine-exclusion based on "how 64-bit it is", it was a slow crawl of a transition.
 
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Nice collection. Too bad Apple doesn't have a consumer/prosumer display currently for the Mini, that's the only thing that looks out of place. I have a lot of Macs that were made right on the transition from PPC-Intel (2005-06) and I'm slowly filling in the missing pieces.
 
velocityg4 said:
Great transitions setup. All it's missing is an LC with a IIe card. For the Apple II to Mac transition.
Click to expand...
Ooooh. Hadn't thought of that. My IIe card is in my Color Classic. It is kind of funny that the "Apple II to Mac" transition was so much later than the Mac's release, though.

(And Apple made more money from the Apple II line than the Mac line until... 1990 if I remember correctly.)
 
Anonymous Freak said:
Ooooh. Hadn't thought of that. My IIe card is in my Color Classic. It is kind of funny that the "Apple II to Mac" transition was so much later than the Mac's release, though.

(And Apple made more money from the Apple II line than the Mac line until... 1990 if I remember correctly.)
Click to expand...

Probably to do with the various Apple II models costing way less than Macs. They also had a huge catalog of software. Plus there were a lot of existing customers, businesses and schools, already heavily invested in the Apple II.

I remember my buddies dad had a IIgs. It was loaded up with a RAM card, Transwarp GS, Color Monitor, Hard Drive and Joysticks. The most impressive was an external audio mixer. Where he could sample and mix a wide range of audio with the IIgs. I have no idea what it was called. But it was very impressive. It had a bunch of sliders on it.

He'd crow about how even though the IIgs was older. It was still faster and superior, specifically for audio work, than any Mac. Because of that audio hardware. This was around 92. 68040 Macs were out by then. I guess that kind of audio hardware wasn't made for Mac.

Anyways, that IIgs and the GS/OS inspired me to get a Mac. It was just mind blowing compared to the IIe, DOS and Windows. Plus I was going to copy a bunch of software. That's when I found out that although the OS looked the same and the IIgs was an Apple. That a IIgs and a Mac were not the same thing. 😢
 
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Very nice AF! Love the 14" AV monitor on your 7100. Those speakers were surprisingly good.
 
Nice to know I'm not the only one who has the dented in speaker grille on the 14AV. (I've attempted to glue them in place multiple times over the years.)
 
Nice collections. I have the 2020 iMac, which is likely to be the last Intel Mac, if that counts for anything!

I also used to have a 2003 Power Mac G4, which was the last to boot OS 9. I regret selling it.
 
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