The Power Macintosh 6500 is a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

designed, manufactured and sold by

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

from February 1997 to March 1998 as part of the

Power Macintosh The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006. Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...

family. It was introduced with speeds of 225 and 250 MHz, with two faster models at 275 and 300 MHz being added a couple of months later. The 6500 uses the same "InstaTower" case as the

Power Macintosh 6400 The Power Macintosh 6400 (also sold under variations of the name Performa 6400) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from August 1996 to August 1997. It is the only Macintosh mini-tower system to be branded as ...

, and is also internally similar. However, there are some differences apart from the faster processor: The 6500 has no RAM soldered to the logic board (the 6400 had 8 MB, which also explains its higher memory ceiling), and uses a different graphics processor. Models from 250 MHz upward also include video in/out capability, some of them with a hardware-accelerated Avid capture card. Some models also include a

Zip drive The Zip drive is a removable floppy disk storage system that was introduced by Iomega in late 1994. Considered medium-to-high-capacity at the time of its release, Zip disks were originally launched with capacities of 100 MB, then 250 ...

. The

Power Macintosh 5500 The Power Macintosh 5500 is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from February 1997 to March 1998. Like the Power Macintosh 5260 and 5400 that preceded it, the 5500 is an all-in-one design, built around a Po ...

uses the same logic board in a 5200 style all-in-one case. According to Apple, the Power Macintosh 6500 was the first personal computer to reach . This milestone was announced in conjunction with a three-day "technology fair" from April 4 to 6, 1997 at

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

, co-hosted by Apple and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. The 6500 was discontinued in March 1998, a few months after the

Power Macintosh G3 The Power Macintosh G3 (also sold with additional software as the Macintosh Server G3) is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from November 1997 to August 1999. It represented Apple's first step towa ...

Mini Tower was introduced.

Models

Introduced February 17, 1997: * Power Macintosh 6500/225 * Power Macintosh 6500/250 Introduced April 4, 1997: * Power Macintosh 6500/275 * Power Macintosh 6500/300 Introduced September 15, 1997:
All machines include a 12×

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

drive and a 33.6 KB/s modem. * Power Macintosh 6500/225 Home Edition: 4 GB hard drive. $1,600 USD. * Power Macintosh 6500/250 Home Edition: 4 GB hard drive. $2,000 USD. * Power Macintosh 6500/275 Home Edition: 4 GB hard drive. $2,500 USD. * Power Macintosh 6500/275 Small Business Edition: 4 GB hard drive. 48 MB memory. Internal 100 MB

Iomega Iomega (later LenovoEMC) produced external, portable, and networked data storage products. Established in the 1980s in Roy, Utah, United States, Iomega sold more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks, including the Zip drive floppy d ...

zip drive The Zip drive is a removable floppy disk storage system that was introduced by Iomega in late 1994. Considered medium-to-high-capacity at the time of its release, Zip disks were originally launched with capacities of 100 MB, then 250 ...

. $2,800 USD. * Power Macintosh 6500/275 Creative Studio Edition: 4 GB hard drive, 32 MB memory, 512 KB L2 cache, Avid Cinema card, Apple Video System, TV/FM Radio System. * Power Macintosh 6500/300 Home Edition: 4 GB hard drive. 64 MB memory. $3,000 USD.

Timeline

References

External links

The 6400 Zone
a 6400 and 6500-specific resource site
Power Macintosh 6500
at apple-history.com

an

at EveryMac.com {{Apple hardware before 1998 6500 6600 Macintosh towers Computer-related introductions in 1997