Performa. The name suggested performance. Performance
suggests fast. Fast suggests - well, good enough for your whole
family.
That's probably why you bought it. If you bought it because some
salesperson suckered you into thinking it was great for Photoshop,
I'm sorry. You really got the wrong Mac. Maybe the dealer got
6300 mixed up with 7300.
These aren't bad Macs, but compared to the 7300 and 7600, they are nothing. Compare them to a 68K
Mac, and you will see that the PowerMac Performa is quite a step
up.
Little did you know that that when you turned it on for the
first time you might experience frequent crashing and freezing for
the next five years.
Don't worry, it's all covered by the Apple Repair Extension
Program. There was a major motherboard and cache issue with some of
the 5200 and 6200 series Performas. Apple released a
program to test for it. This appeared on the Mac OS 7.6 CD and
later. It is called "5XXX/6XXX Tester." It checks your motherboard
and cache/ROM SIMM for the problems. If you have the problem, bring
your Mac to an authorized service centre, where they will fix it
for free!
This is not applicable to the 6360, which uses a different motherboard with
PCI architecture, along with a different power supply to support
the new motherboard.
If you don't have an x200 Mac and are thinking a x200 may be for
you, make sure you check the machine out and run the 5XXX/6XXX
Tester before you buy. If it comes up with a possible problem,
don't buy it! You would just be taking time bringing it to an Apple
Authorized Service Provider, and it is better to get one that
doesn't have the problem (of course, if you get the one with a
problem for an exceptionally good price, say $30, don't pass it
up!).
People also sometimes try to pass off these Macs as "great for
graphics" and "great for games." Let's rephrase that: "great for
viewing picture files" and "great for little kids games." There is
no way you are going to run Photoshop on and be satisfied with the
speed. You are not going to want to play any of the newer games
either. Be sure you know what you are buying.
Also, with prices on PCI PowerMacs coming down, it may be time
to look at Macs like the 7200 at only about $125, and even the
beige G3 desktop at roughly $600 on
eBay. I am trying to say that
you shouldn't pay much. Don't pay over $125 for a 6200 or 6300, and
don't pay over $250 for a 52/5300, unless of course the RAM and HDD
have been upgraded significantly.
A word about hard disk upgrades. The x200 series uses IDE hard drives, but it only supports
certain types. Some older and some newer IDE drives will not
work.
If the front panel is falling off your 6200 or 6300, there are
two things that I have done that might help fix it. Sometimes the
metal chassis inside on the right side where the clip goes in gets
pushed down from a heavy monitor sitting on the computer. If you
take a screwdriver and bend the chassis back up a little (from
where the right clip of the front panel goes), the front panel
might fit in better. If one or both clips on the panel itself are
broken, I would take a strong tape, such as duct tape, fold it
(double, so it is sticky on both sides) in small, narrow pieces and
stick them along the sides of the front panel. Do this under the
panel, in the places where the panel meets the computer. Replace
the front panel and press down on the area you taped. Although not
perfect, it is a good temporary fix which will last several months,
if not years.
If you are planning on running Mac OS 8.5, I will let you know
that it isn't going to be fast. Some things you may run into are
sluggishness in the Finder (slow when moving folders, apps,
emptying trash), problems with Appearance (if you set a theme that
uses different fonts and a desktop picture, the computer will slow
down), and slow startup and shut down.
So what OS should you use? I wouldn't go with 7.5.1, which came
with all of these PowerMacs when new, or 7.5.3, which still has
some bugs in it. 7.5.5 (which was a revision meant mainly for Power
Macs) and 7.6.1 work well, although they are not nearly as stable
as 8.0 or higher. With that said, I would use OS 8.0 or 8.1. Mac OS
8.1 provides a couple benefits, such as the ability to use HFS+
volumes. Before you install your new OS, be sure you have at least
16 MB of RAM; 24 or more is preferred.
Want to connect to the Internet? If you don't have the Internet,
you are missing a major part of computing today. To connect to the
Internet, you will need either a modem or an ethernet card. If you
are at home and have a telephone line, you will need a modem.
Removing the Modem
Most of these Macs shipped with an internal 14.4 or 28.8 modem.
If you have one, pull it out. Removing the back panel is different
on each of the two x200 form factors. On a 6200 or 6300, pull down
the tabs in the back of the computer, and pull away the door. On a
5200 or 5300, unscrew the screws on
the back of the computer and pull away the back panel. Then it
becomes the same for both computers. Swing down the little metal
handle (press it down and swing it out toward you) and pull on it.
You will have to pull hard. The motherboard should slide out. The
modem is the card with the telephone jack on it. It will be the one
(looking at the computer from the rear) to the far right side.
Carefully pull it out and wrap it in an antistatic bag (if you
don't have one, use aluminum foil - it's not as good as a static
bag, but it provides some protection). Push the motherboard back in
the computer and remove the port cover on the modem port. Snap the
handle back up and replace the panel.
The reason you want to remove the modem is so you can use a
faster external one. The internal "modems" that shipped with these
Macs use your processor to control the modem, which doesn't leave
it free to do other things it should be doing, and your Mac gets
seriously bogged down.
Look for a 28.8, 33.6, or 56K US Robotics external modem. Other
companies make modems, too (such as Hayes, Global Village, or
Rockwell), but I find that US Robotics modems work very well, don't
depend on software to work (unlike Global Village modems, which are
useless without their software), and are generally plug and play.
(Just choose the modem in the Modem control panel to match the
modem you have.)
Ethernet
If you are at a school or office and you have a T1 line, or are
at home and have DSL or a cable modem, you will need to buy an
ethernet card. The x200 Macs can use two types of cards. You can
buy a "Comm slot" card, which fits where your modem was, or you can
buy an LC PDS card, which fits in the LC PDS slot. Both types of
cards work equally well. If you need your PDS slot for something
else, go for a Comm slot card. If you need the card in a hurry
(Comm slot cards seem to be harder to find) and don't need the PDS
slot, go for the LC PDS card.
Software
As far as browsers and email go, use either Internet
Explorer/Outlook Express 4, or Netscape Navigator/Communicator 4.
If you have 32 MB or more RAM, use IE/OE 4.5. If you have 40 Mb
more, you can step up to Communicator 4.7, which uses about 15 MB
of RAM. If you decided to upgrade all the way and have 64 MB of
RAM, use any version of IE/OE or Netscape you want (except for
Netscape 6, which requires a 604e or faster [G3 recommended] with
64 MB of RAM and still has a lot of bugs).
Memory
I recommend upgrading your RAM to at least 32 MB. You can do
this by installing one 32 MB 72-pin SIMM in either of the two slots
or two 16 MB 72-pin SIMMs. Because you do not have to install SIMMs
in pairs, if you choose the 32 MB SIMM and want to upgrade later
you can simply add another SIMM.
What Not to Do
And of course the "What not to do to your Mac" part - and I did
this to mine. I wanted to install an ethernet card (LC PDS) in my
5215CD. I took a screwdriver and twisted apart the metal from the
plastic on the inside of the PDS port cover to remove it. Ouch! The
plastic part broke. If I ever want to remove the ethernet card, I
will have no port cover.
When installing cards, be sure you are careful when removing the
port covers on the x200 Macs. (That goes for most of the LC series
as well.) Of course, some other no-no's are spilling things into
your Mac, carrying your Mac upside-down, throwing your Mac,
dropping your Mac off a ten story building....
Mac OS 8.6 Caution
One other "caution" when installing software. I decided I would
upgrade to OS 8.5 after running 7.5.1 for four years without ever
reinstalling the system. I perform the upgrade, and it works fine.
Then OS 8.6 came out, and I decide to upgrade. I then realize I
can't. The installer won't update my system for some strange
reason. I ended up having to completely reinstall my system from
the beginning. I later found out that the main reason it wouldn't
install was because I had the TelePort/Gold IIv control panel in
the System Folder. Make sure you remove that when installing
software, it seems to get in the way.
There are currently no G3 upgrades available for the x200 Macs,
making these the only PowerMacs that cannot be upgraded to G3. The
only possible way they could do it is through the ROM/Cache card
slot, which would need a pass-through adapter. Hopefully in the
future someone will come out with an upgrade; there are many users
who like their old Macs. They don't want to buy new ones, but they
do want G3 performance. Even without G3 upgrades, these Macs are
still decent.
Of course if you want to do Photoshop, get something more
powerful, but for basic internet, word processing, and email, the
x200 series works great.
Further Reading
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are
those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb
Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one
may not work for all.
unless otherwise noted. All
rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are
trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh,
iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are
Additional company and product names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
: We allow and encourage links to
any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a
frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for
publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission,
and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be
edited for length, context, and to match house style.
: We don't collect personal
information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the
information we have with others. For more details, see our
