Apple Computer Inc is next week expected to bolster its Power Mac line with a 110MHz PowerPC 601-based 8100/110 that it hopes will leave Pentium in the dust. According to MacWeek, it is likely to be announced next week but to ship in limited quantities initially. It will retain the 256Kb level two cache, but memory is expected to start at 16Mb and a 2Gb disk drive. The paper says tests performed with Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operations’ MacBench 1.1 show a 23% improvement in processor speed and 32% improvement in floating-point work compared with an 8100/80 – and a 60% boost to the existing high-performance video subsystem with some graphics tests performing as much as 80% faster with the 110MHz chip. The sole configuration of the 8100/110 will cost $6,000. At January’s Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple is expected to up the 6100/60 to a 6100/66 and the 7100/66 to a 7100/80, while maintaining the present prices on the machines.
