Apple's FIRST Mac with Intel Inside

I'm surprised I didn't remember this sooner.

Over a decade ago, Apple designed and sold a Macintosh with an Intel 486SX processor. Called the Macintosh Quadra 610 DOS Compatible, it had both a Motorola 68040 and a 25MHz 486SX.

Apple sold it as a full-featured Mac that could also run DOS and Windows, and it did. Users could boot both OS's simultaneously and switch between them with a key command. It was fairly successful, and Apple made several "DOS Compatible" and "PC Compatible" Mac models. I think the last one had a 200MHz PowerPC and a Pentium-knockoff.

IIRC, Apple found that people who bought them spent most of their time using it as a Macintosh.

http://lowendmac.com/quadra/q610dos.shtml
http://www.byte.com/art/9504/sec12/art1.htm (Review of later model)
http://www.byte.com/art/9504/img/412072a1.htm (Picture from above review)

That simultaneous Mac/DOS boot thing with the seperate monitors is sweet!

There is an idea they should revive... If nothing else just for kicks.

technologist said:

I'm surprised I didn't remember this sooner.

Over a decade ago, Apple designed and sold a Macintosh with an Intel 486SX processor. Called the Macintosh Quadra 610 DOS Compatible, it had both a Motorola 68040 and a 25MHz 486SX.

Apple sold it as a full-featured Mac that could also run DOS and Windows, and it did. Users could boot both OS's simultaneously and switch between them with a key command. It was fairly successful, and Apple made several "DOS Compatible" and "PC Compatible" Mac models. I think the last one had a 200MHz PowerPC and a Pentium-knockoff.

Click to expand...

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I think that OrangeMicro made a DOS Windows card that was compatible with the g3s running OS 8. I don't think the dos card compatibility ever made the leap to G4s and OS9 though.

jhelm007 said:

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I think that OrangeMicro made a DOS Windows card that was compatible with the g3s running OS 8. I don't think the dos card compatibility ever made the leap to G4s and OS9 though.

Click to expand...

U are right!! OrangeMicro did make a DOS card, except it was 180MHZ and was mainly sold in mac clones. as you said, it never made it pas OS 8.6.