page_title: Power Macintosh
section_title: Centris 610
hierarchical_section_title: Power Macintosh / Models / 1994-1997 / Centris 610
context_page_description: The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. as part of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006.
  Described by MacWorld Magazine as "The most important technical evolution of the Macintosh since the Mac II debuted in 1987," the Power Macintosh was Apple's first computer to use a PowerPC processor. Software written for the Motorola 68030 and 68040 processors that were used in Macintoshes up to that point would not run on the PowerPC natively, so a Mac 68k emulator was included with System 7.1.2. While the emulator provided good compatibility with existing Macintosh software, performance was about one-third slower than comparable Macintosh Quadra machines.
  The Power Macintosh replaced the Quadra in Apple's lineup, and were initially sold in the same enclosures. Over the next twelve years, the Power Macintosh evolved through a succession of enclosure designs, a rename to "Power Mac", five major generations of PowerPC chips, and a great deal of press coverage, design accolades, and controversy about performance claims.
context_section_description: The Centris 610 form factor is a low-profile "pizza-box" design with a height of 3.4 inches, intended to be placed on a desktop with a monitor on top.
  Power Macintosh 6100/60, 60AV, 66, 66AV, 66 (DOS Compatible)
caption: The Power Macintosh 6100/66, a version of the first Macintosh to use a PowerPC processor.
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