900 News

Mark H. Anbinder wrote a few details about the new Quadra 950 last week, and since then we have learned more news about what will happen to the 900. Sometimes Apple keeps such machines around at a lower price point, but in this case, the 900 is simply toast. Apple discontinued the Quadra 900 and has removed it from the price list as of 18-May-92. Apple said that current backlog and contractual obligations will be fulfilled, which I suspect is legal-speak meaning that they will keep selling Quadra 900s that are already in the channel, and if you’ve ordered one, you’ll get it, supplies permitting.

One interesting note on this – as far as I can see there’s absolutely no reason why you would want a 900 over a 950 since the 950 is shipping now too. One person on the nets reported that he had a 900 on backorder and by complaining to the campus computer store, they gave him a 950 immediately for essentially the same price. So if you’re waiting for a 900, run, don’t walk, to your dealer and ask for a 950 instead.

If you’re debating whether to spring for the Quadra 950 now or wait for the next hot machine, it’s my impression that the 950 will remain at the top of the Apple product line for a while as they concentrate more on the middle range with a machine to replace the IIsi and IIci. The next machine to push the envelope might be the so-called Cyclone Mac, which will sport some of the new technologies that Apple has been showing recently, including QuickDraw GX and Casper (along with a helpful DSP chip) as well as with direct memory access, faster I/O ports, and a true 32-bit architecture that will provide sizzling performance. I want one already, and I don’t know any more than that yet.

Information from:
Mark H. Anbinder — TidBITS Contributing Editor