To acknowledge a by-gone, but not forgotten well desinged great Apple Macintosh model. The focus in this guide, is for future purchasers or sellers who may review the expected features of the "classic" platform outside of www.apple.com/support. Second goal, to revive one of the most diverse computers ever made by Apple, though commercially short lived. Here in: "PPC" refers to "Power Macintosh" "PC' refers to "All non Apple computers" "Classic" refers to "pre OS X platforms"*, All provided information deemed reliable or tested.

The Power Macintosh 7600 released in August 6, 1996, and was an adaptation of the models PPC 7300 and little more recent PPC 7500 form class. This classic desktop design was considered a "multi-media" PPC although not related only similar to, those in the Apple Preforma Series. With a hefty shelf price to of about $2100-$3000 retail new. This ADB (apple desktop bus) multi ported Power Macintosh could record and capture video, at (approx 100mb per 10sec video recording) 24fps (24 Frames per second), while the handy (Audio/ video) A/V Module allowed a user to input and output (aka RCA) composite and/or S-video signal paths, with true stereo audio in and out. Making easy post-edits/ Either "uploading" with a Camcorder" then "downloading" to VCR/VTR etc Connection was simple and fast.

Although it was centered on, [as commonly termed as "TNT" architecture], it came loaded with the following features:

*604 132mhz processor

*1.2 GB (3.5" Quantum) hard drive.

*Tray loading 8x CDrom (Apple model 506-a)

*(3.5")1.44Mb Floppy drive.

If that didn't make you want it, you could even expand the front panel to include a second 50pin SCSI hard drive to hold all your movie data, or slide in mount a 100MB+ (Apple/Iomega) Zip drive.

Inside the 7600 models originally shipped with 2mb Video Ram, expandable to 4Mb. 4 mb was needed then for heavy video editing with applications like Adobe Priemere etc.; and still highly recommended for video uses. Some users even chose to bypass the monitor via the DB-15 and connect the desktop unit directly to a Television Via the Composite (aka RCA) connections. Yes, that right a 25+ inch monitor for your mac:) While that was only acheiviable with the VRAM at 4mb It preformed well at 640x480 resolutions. It boasted 8 DIMM Slots for expanding Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) to 512MB.(Before the early release of 128mb DIMMS, Once they appeared 1024MB RAM was acheivable). Some debate arose from that period and may exisit today in the Mac Community, as to what type of RAM to use.

RAM of either Extended Data Out (EDO) and Fast Page Mode (FPM), BOTH are acceptable and EVEN enterchangeable. Some reported increases in RAM preformance were noted by "Interlacing" the on-baord DIMM slots. (A1) to (B1) to (A2) to (B2) respective with remaining 4 slots respectivly. RAM cycled 60/70ns 4/k refresh was common.

And still even If all this weren't enough the PPC 7600 could also accept upgrades in 3 avail. PCI expansion slots. Use of an ATI Rage PCI or Radeon Video accelerator, Networking card and or A P/C compatibility card (For running DOS aps etc), were a few of these options. Making it a true POWER PC. In addition to the video ports, Connections included support for:

• 10 BASE-T Ethernet, via AAUI interface OR Standard Ethernet T-15 Connector
• ADB printer
• Modem port
• ADB periferal (Keyboard) port.
• 1/8" headphone jack or Line level Audio out for an Apple Talk Microphone.

The case design was often praised in magazine and (early Internet) BBS services, but many overlooked the ease of self service with this unit versus the much earlier PPC7200. When compared side by side the improvments in design are obvious, these among the basic architecture of the Power Macintosh 7600.

From that period Video Conference caught up with OS 9, and the PPC 7600 thrived by means of then costly upgrades, but with improved towering models 8500/9600 and the attempts "cloning" the mac, Umax etc. and almost forogtten by the release of G3 based machines. With Faster still processors evolving and 4-10 GB ATA conversion from SCSI; soon the PPC 7600 faded in history. After the short lived Cloning era, which in some ways, gave rise to present day Apple PPC successes. The same is true today, as way back then, with Intel based Macs are running Windows better than "PC"s. You can search the internet for macintosh PPC 7600 bench test results, as much of those related to the PPC 7600 are still available in press releases, user blogs, and support sites.

For the do-it-yourself-er, I will be expanding this posting with a step by step guide to help 7600 into to the present day by means of a few upgrades and software updates. If you like, share this guide with a friend or vote for this guide in its current state as you see fit.Thanks for viewing.