Recently, I received some photos of an interesting machine: a prototype of the Power Macintosh 6100, named Teapot 4:30.
A prototype of the Power Mac 6100
The Teapot 4:30 is a prototype of the Power Macintosh 6100 (PowerPC 601) housed in a Quadra 660 AV casing (a machine based on the 68000). It’s an advanced prototype (DVT), very close to the final version. The differences are a few straps on the motherboard (manual modifications) and cosmetic differences, such as the color of the SIMM slots. Obviously, while the casing is similar, some things don’t fit: for example, the Ethernet port (AAUI) takes the place of the video output. I’m not sure if the optical drive is original (the date and model match), but it has aged better than the rest of the casing. Lastly, this is one of the slowest PowerPCs available from Apple: a 60 MHz PowerPC 601 without L2 cache.
Teapot 4:30
The casing
The ports
A strap on a chip
The motherboard
By the way, if you think you’ve already seen this machine, perhaps randomly on Guillaume Gete’s website a few years ago, that’s normal: it’s apparently the same machine. And if you’re interested, it’s for sale.
