Second Class Macs & Road Apples

Centris: The name, not the computers

one

Dan Knight - 1998.01.12

Second Class Macs are Apple's somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they're not really bad - simply designs that didn't meet their full potential. (On our rating scale, the more brown apples, the worse the hardware.)

Apple created the shortest-lived line of computers with the Centris series. Introduced in February 1993 as a midpoint between the Mac II and Quadra series (Centris, central, middle), Apple eliminated the name that October.

The Centris line comprised three models: the 610 (20 MHz 68LC040), the 650 (25 MHz 68040), and the 660av (July 1993, 25 MHz 68040). All were competent performers.

In October, Apple renamed each as a Quadra and bumped the 610 to 25 MHz, the 650 to 33 MHz.

Apple's other great naming fiasco, the Performa (implying performance?), lasted much longer.

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