The Macintosh Quadra 630 (also sold as the Macintosh LC 630 and Macintosh Performa 630) 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 techn ...

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 July 1994 to October 1995. It was introduced as the replacement for the Quadra 610, and was the least-expensive computer in the

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

lineup with prices starting at $1,199 USD. While Apple's transition to

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple– IBM� ...

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

s had already begun with the introduction 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 t ...

a few months prior, the 630 was built around the older

Motorola 68040 The Motorola 68040 ("''sixty-eight-oh-forty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 series, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060, skipping the 68050. In keeping with general Motorola nam ...

and 68LC040 chips. Two reasons were cited for this: One, the older chips were less expensive; and two, PowerPC-native education software was almost non-existent at the time. Also, existing PowerPC software had yet to be translated to non-English languages. The 630 was the last new

Macintosh Quadra The Macintosh Quadra is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1991 to October 1995. The Quadra, named for the Motorola 68040 central processing unit, replaced the Macintosh II family a ...

introduced, though the earlier

Quadra 950 The Macintosh Quadra 950 (also sold with additional software as the Workgroup Server 95) is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from March 1992 to October 1995. It replaced the Quadra 900 that was introduced s ...

remained available longer. It was discontinued with no direct replacement; while the 630's form factor was retained with the Power Macintosh 6200 introduced a few months earlier, but with an entry price of $2,300 it cost nearly twice as much. The Power Macintosh 4400 was Apple's most inexpensive Power Macintosh, but at $1,725 still cost several hundred dollars more than the 630.

Hardware

Form factor: The Quadra 630 introduced a new case design to the Macintosh family. On the front, a headphone jack and volume up/down buttons are included, a first for the Macintosh. There is an infrared receiver, intended for use with the remote included with the TV tuner card included with the Performa 637CD and 638CD models. The case's motherboard is accessible by opening a cover at the bottom rear of the case and sliding out a drawer that the motherboard was mounted on; this similar to the LC 575. Memory: All 630 models have 4 MB of memory soldered on the logic board. Depending on which logic board is in the system, there is either one or two

SIMM A SIMM (single in-line memory module) is a type of memory module containing random-access memory used in computers from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. It differs from a dual in-line memory module (DIMM), the most predominant form of memory ...

slots. In all cases, the first SIMM slot requires 80 ns non-parity chips, with a refresh rate of 2k or better, and 4, 8, 16 or 32 MB SIMMs will work. The second slot supports single-sided SIMM cards only, up to 16 MB in size. Maximum memory is therefore 52 MB for two-slot systems, and 36 MB for one-slot systems. Hard drive controller: One of the big differences, when compared to some of the previous Macintosh models was the choice of the internal hard drive interface; conforming to the standards of the

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...

platform, cheaper but slower IDE drives were used instead of SCSI for the first time. An external SCSI port was still available, and the CD-ROM used SCSI internally, but the 630 used an older controller that was much slower than the ones used in higher-end Macs of the time. Video: One external monitor is supported through a DB-15 connector. A non-upgradeable 1 MB of DRAM is soldered to the motherboard; this provides resolution of up to 640×480 with 16-bit color, and 832×624 with 8-bit color. A separate video card is required for 24-bit color or higher resolutions. The choice to use

DRAM Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxi ...

instead of

VRAM Video random access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a computer monitor. This is often different technology than other computer memory, to facilitate b ...

saves money due to its commonality, but results in lower performance and increased chance of flickering. In their testing, ''MacWorld'' described the video performance of the Quadra 630 as "mediocre". CD-ROM: Models equipped with a CD-ROM use the Apple CD 300i plus, a 2×-speed SCSI drive capable of reading 656 MB and 748 MB data CDs as well as audio CDs. The caddy tray from the Quadra 610 is replaced with a tray-based loading mechanism. Remote control: Models equipped with the TV/video system included a Sony RMC-A1

remote control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...

; consequently, the remote would control both the Macintosh and any compatible Sony television at the same time. Performance: MacWorld Magazine ran benchmarks at the time of the Quadra's release and reported that performance is similar to a

but slightly slower than the

800 __NOTOC__ Year 800 ( DCCC) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was around this time that the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years, so f ...

Models

The Quadra 630 has different names depending on its target market: Macintosh Quadra 630 for professional and business use,

Macintosh LC The Macintosh LC is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from October 1990 to March 1992. Overview The first in the Macintosh LC family, the LC was introduced with the Macintosh Classic (a repackaging o ...

630 for the K-12 educational market, and

Macintosh Performa The Macintosh Performa is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. The Performa brand re-used models from Apple's Quadra, Centris, LC, and Power Macintosh families with model ...

630 for the consumer and higher-education markets. The Performa 630 was sold with several slightly different model numbers, depending on included hardware and software features. Some models included a 14"

Shadow mask The shadow mask is one of the two technologies used in the manufacture of cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions and computer monitors which produce clear, focused color images. The other approach is the aperture grille, better known by its t ...

CRT called the Apple Performa Plus Display. Introduced July 18, 1994: * Macintosh Quadra 630: 68040 processor at 33 MHz, with 4 MB of RAM, and a 250 MB hard disk. A 2× CD-ROM was available as an option. $1,199 USD. * Macintosh Performa 630:

FPU FPU may stand for: Universities * Florida Polytechnic University, in Lakeland, Florida, United States * Franklin Pierce University, in New Hampshire, United States * Fresno Pacific University, in California, United States * Fukui Prefectural Un ...

-less 68LC040 processor at 33 MHz, with 4 MB of RAM, and a 250 MB hard disk. Sold in the consumer retail channel. $1,449 USD. * Macintosh Performa 630CD: Same as the Performa 630, with a CD-ROM drive. $1,849 USD. * Macintosh Performa 635CD: Same as the Performa 630, but with 5 MB RAM, 2× CD-ROM, Apple Multiple Scan 15 Display and a modem $1,849 USD. * Macintosh Performa 636: Same as the Performa 630, sold only to the higher-education market. $1,349 USD. * Macintosh Performa 636CD: The Performa 636 with a CD-ROM, sold only to the higher-education market. $1,649 USD. * Macintosh Performa 637CD: The 636CD with the monitor, and a 350 MB hard disk * Macintosh Performa 638CD: The 637CD without the monitor, but with a TV/video-in card instead - The Performa 638 CD/V shipped with TV tuner card and 15" Multiple Scan Display. Introduced November 3, 1994: * Macintosh LC 630: Same as the Performa 630, sold in the K-12 education market. $1,299 USD with 4 MB RAM; $1,949 with 8 MB RAM and a 2× CD-ROM. Introduced April 3, 1995: * Macintosh LC 630 DOS Compatible: Same as the LC 630, with an additional 486DX2 processor at 66 MHz and dedicated RAM on a

Processor Direct Slot A processor direct slot (PDS) is a slot incorporated into many older Macintosh models that allowed direct access to the signal pins of a CPU, similar to the functionality of a local bus in PCs. This would result in much higher speeds than having t ...

card. This adds the ability to run

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

and

Windows 3.1 Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows 3. ...

applications; both operating systems are included with the package. Only sold in the K-12 education market. $1,899 USD. Introduced May 1, 1995: * Macintosh Performa 630CD DOS Compatible: Same as the Performa 630CD, but with a second RAM slot, 8 MB RAM standard, 500 MB hard disk, and a DOS emulation card in the PDS slot. * Macintosh Performa 640CD DOS Compatible: Same as the Performa 630CD DOS Compatible, sold bundled with a monitor and modem. Not sold in the U.S.. Introduced July 17, 1995: * Macintosh Performa 631CD: Like the Performa 630CD, but with a second RAM slot, 8 MB RAM standard, 500 MB hard disk and sold bundled with a monitor and modem

Timeline

References

630 Year 630 ( DCXXX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 630 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the ...

Quadra 630 Quadra 630 Quadra 630 Quadra 630 Computer-related introductions in 1994 it:Famiglia Macintosh Quadra#Lista Modelli

Hardware

Models

Timeline

References

External links