Apple Power Macintosh 6500/250 vs Apple Power Macintosh 9600/300

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Power Macintosh 6500/250 compared with Power Macintosh 9600/300

	ApplePower Macintosh 6500/250	ApplePower Macintosh 9600/300
Overview
Released
Released	1997	August 1997
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC 603e 250 MHz (Power Macintosh 6500/250)	PowerPC 604e 300 MHz (Power Macintosh 9600/300)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	1
Graphics
Graphics	–	IXMICRO Twin Turbo 128M8 (8 MB VRAM)
Memory
Memory	32 MB or 48 MB	64 MB (better)
Storage
Storage	4 GB	4 GB
CPU
CPU	250 MHz PowerPC 603e with 32 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 cache and a 50 MHz system bus	300 MHz PowerPC 604e with 64 KB L1 cache, 1 MB L2 cache, 100 MHz cache bus and 50 MHz system bus
GPU
GPU	Built-in video uses 2 MB SGRAM; Apple lists 24-bit colour up to 832 × 624 pixels and 8-bit colour at 1280 × 1024	Bundled IXMICRO Twin Turbo 128M8 PCI video card with 8 MB VRAM; Apple lists output up to 1600 × 1200 pixels
Memory type
Memory type	32 or 48 MB in Apple's Canadian configurations, with two 168-pin DIMM slots and 128 MB maximum	64 MB standard with twelve 168-pin DIMM slots, expandable to 768 MB according to Apple
Storage type
Storage type	4 GB internal ATA hard drive, 1.44 MB floppy and 12× CD-ROM in Apple's Canadian launch configurations; a Zip drive was fitted to some bundles	4 GB internal SCSI hard drive, 1.44 MB floppy, 24× CD-ROM and built-in Iomega Zip drive
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Two PCI slots plus communications, TV and video-input expansion slots; the communications slot carried a modem in some configurations	Six PCI slots, one occupied by the bundled graphics card; pre-wired 5.25-inch SCSI expansion bay and two 3.5-inch drive bays
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	Ethernet, headphone jack	Ethernet
Back ports
Back ports	Apple Desktop Bus, DB-15 video, external DB-25 SCSI, two serial ports, 10BASE-T Ethernet, audio connections and front headphone jack	Apple Desktop Bus, external DB-25 SCSI, two serial ports, AAUI and 10BASE-T Ethernet, DB-15 video on the graphics card, stereo audio input and output
External displays
External displays	–	Bundled graphics card supports one external display at up to 1600 × 1200 pixels
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in stereo sound with integrated subwoofer, as described in Apple's Canadian launch notice	–
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Apple lists 16 × 7.8 × 16.9 inches (height × width × depth) and 44.5 lb	Apple lists 17.3 × 9.7 × 17.3 inches (height × width × depth) and 35 lb
Power supply
Power supply	–	Apple lists a 560 W maximum
In the box
In the box	Apple support lists 17 February 1997 as introduction. Its 4 April 1997 Canadian launch notice confirms the 6500/250 available immediately, but does not establish that as its first on-sale date; released is therefore year-only. The photographed seller unit's installed components were not used for the original configurations.	Apple's 5 August 1997 announcement says the 9600/300 was available immediately worldwide with Mac OS 8. Its support sheet lists original system software as 7.6.1.