Macintosh Performa 5200
The Performa 5200 (which in some markets was also called Power Macintosh 5200 LC) is an all-in-one low-cost PPC machine (it was the first LC model with a PPC chip, the 603e). Unfortunately, to save money Apple opted out for some hardware quirks, such as adapting the motherboard from the Quadra 605, with a slower 25 MHz bus, and using a slow 8-bit bus for the IDE controller (the SCSI bus was only for the optical drive).
Also, many of these models were recalled to perform a motherboard replacement, otherwise they would not be able to run any Mac OS newer than 7.6. There was a warranty extension program to do so, unfortunately one of the models I own never undertook such service (and the extension has long expired).
The 5200 was my first PPC Mac (it was going to be trashed, since no-one knew this was a soft-power machine - they just flipped the switch behind the machine, and nothing (expectedly) happened. After connecting an ADB keyboard and pressing the power button, it came to life!
Later on, I was offered another 5200, but this time it was an heavily reinforced one: not only it had the motherboard replacement under that extension program (and therefore does not have a serial number in the case), but the previous owner added a full 64 MB of RAM, a fast 60 GB IDE drive, and also TV/AV and Ethernet cards. With a remote I later got (a Sony remote will work as well) it works perfectly as a TV!
Summing up, the Performa 5200 is a compromised machine, but if one knows its limitations, it can be still quite useful! (I am now using it to remotely administer this web server, using Timbuktu and AppleTalk)
Model-related links
http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=5200&sort=date&performa=off&order=ASC
Low End Mac article on the 5200
Specifications
- Processor: IBM PowerPC 603 @ 75 MHz (integrated FPU, 256 kB L2 cache);
- Memory: 64 MB (maxed out);
- Other I/O: single 1.44 MB 3.5'' floppy drive ("SuperDrive"), 60 GB IDE HD, 4x SCSI CD-ROM drive (tray-loading), external SCSI (DB-25), Ethernet card on comm slot (RJ-45, 10baseT), LC PDS slot (empty), TV tuner and video I/O cards, serial "round" ports and ADB connectors;
