???? – 1991retired
Macintosh IIcx
“No screws, no fuss, no fanfare — it just snapped together and quietly left”
“Six months of tower duty, then a quiet handoff to the 950. A pioneer's exit.”
The Macintosh Quadra 900 arrived in October 1991 alongside the Quadra 700 as the first members of Apple's Quadra family, running on the Motorola 68040 processor. It was also the first Apple computer to stand in an 18.6-inch mid-tower case, a form that PC makers had embraced as ideal for departmental servers. For anyone needing serious Mac muscle in a serious chassis, this was the machine.
Its reign was brief: by May 1992, barely six months after first shipments, Apple retired it in favor of the very similar Quadra 950 with its faster 33 MHz 68040 and improved graphics. The 900 didn't fail so much as make way, its tall frame paving the road for every tower Mac that followed.
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“No screws, no fuss, no fanfare — it just snapped together and quietly left”
“Low Cost, Low Color, full heart — the Mac that let everyone in.”
“It layered memory on memory, previewing every goodbye in real time.”